Is "Band Steering" Possible on our routers?

[FreshJR]

Is it possible to have band steering, which would then allow same name 2.4 & 5ghz SSID's but have the router assist in kicking devices from 2.4ghz onto 5ghz.

When I used to have the same name SSID, most clients would connect to 5ghz, remain on 5ghz until signal got low, fallback into 2.4ghz, then they would never attempt to transfer back onto 5ghz. This was true for a lot of devices.

I am wondering if "band steering" is possible on our router to kick poorly configured roaming devices back onto 5ghz that decided to park themselves on 2.4ghz.

If not, I will maintain the solution of separate SSID's. But it would be nice to have even more devices on 5ghz.

Spoiler: skip-able background information

Currently I employ the common workaround of having separate SSID's for my 2.4 & 5ghz antennas and manually connect my devices to the appropriate network.

Devices that will be accessing NAS, performing LAN file transfers, or are dedicated video streaming devices are only allowed on only 5ghz due to bandwidth.

Cell phones are only allowed on 2.4ghz due to extended range.

My iPad's seem to have great battery life in sleep mode. My android tablet on the other hand has about a 3 day battery life in sleep mode. I found out I could significantly increase it's life if I enable a setting to automatically turn OFF wifi while in sleep mode.

The issue with this is that when it wakes up, 2.4ghz SSID's show up right away, while it takes 5-15 seconds for the 5ghz networks to populate. (This happens on all my devices probably due to DFS changes implemented 3-4 years ago).

I was hoping to enable "band steering", then this device could connect to 2.4ghz immedietly, then be kicked off onto 5ghz by the router.

 

[skeal]

Spoiler: skip-able background information

Currently I employ the common workaround of having separate SSID's for my 2.4 & 5ghz antennas and manually connect my devices to the appropriate network.

Devices that will be accessing NAS, performing LAN file transfers, or are dedicated video streaming devices are only allowed on only 5ghz.

Cell phones are only allowed on 2.4ghz due to extended range.

My iPad's seem to have great battery life in sleep mode. My android tablet on the other hand has about a 3 day battery life in sleep mode. I found out I could significantly increase it's life if I enable a setting to automatically turn OFF wifi while in sleep mode.

The issue with this is that when it wakes up, 2.4ghz SSID's show up right away, while it takes 5-15 seconds for the 5ghz networks to populate.

I was hoping to enable "band steering", then this device could connect to 2.4ghz immedietly, then be kicked off onto 5ghz by the router.

Is it possible to have band steering, which would then allow same name 2.4 & 5ghz SSID's but have the router assist in kicking devices from 2.4ghz onto 5ghz.

When I used to have the same name SSID, most clients would connect to 5ghz, remain on 5ghz until signal got low, fallback into 2.4ghz, then they would never attempt to transfer back onto 5ghz. This was true for a lot of devices.

I am wondering if "band steering" is possible on our router will to kick poorly configured roaming devices back onto 5ghz.

If not, I will maintain the solution of separate SSID's.

The only thing I know of that is like what you want is Asus Smart Connect.

 

[FreshJR]

The only thing I know of that is like what you want is Asus Smart Connect.

I'll just have to wait for more client devices to get smarter. Some actually did switch back to 5ghz!

 

[Jack Yaz]

Is it possible to have band steering, which would then allow same name 2.4 & 5ghz SSID's but have the router assist in kicking devices from 2.4ghz onto 5ghz.

When I used to have the same name SSID, most clients would connect to 5ghz, remain on 5ghz until signal got low, fallback into 2.4ghz, then they would never attempt to transfer back onto 5ghz. This was true for a lot of devices.

I am wondering if "band steering" is possible on our router to kick poorly configured roaming devices back onto 5ghz that decided to park themselves on 2.4ghz.

If not, I will maintain the solution of separate SSID's. But it would be nice to have even more devices on 5ghz.

Spoiler: skip-able background information

Currently I employ the common workaround of having separate SSID's for my 2.4 & 5ghz antennas and manually connect my devices to the appropriate network.

Devices that will be accessing NAS, performing LAN file transfers, or are dedicated video streaming devices are only allowed on only 5ghz due to bandwidth.

Cell phones are only allowed on 2.4ghz due to extended range.

My iPad's seem to have great battery life in sleep mode. My android tablet on the other hand has about a 3 day battery life in sleep mode. I found out I could significantly increase it's life if I enable a setting to automatically turn OFF wifi while in sleep mode.

The issue with this is that when it wakes up, 2.4ghz SSID's show up right away, while it takes 5-15 seconds for the 5ghz networks to populate. (This happens on all my devices probably due to DFS changes implemented 3-4 years ago).

I was hoping to enable "band steering", then this device could connect to 2.4ghz immedietly, then be kicked off onto 5ghz by the router.

I ended up using an android app called "Smart WiFi selector" which let you set thresholds and it would effectively kick Wifi off and on to pick up the stronger signal. Not as nice as a router-side solution but it does its job well enough

 

[FreshJR]

I ended up using an android app called "Smart WiFi selector" which let you set thresholds and it would effectively kick Wifi off and on to pick up the stronger signal. Not as nice as a router-side solution but it does its job well enough

Does it physically disable and re-enable the wireless interface, dropping the connection in the process? (Operating System level band hopping would maintain the connection)

 

[Jack Yaz]

Does it physically disable and re-enable the wireless interface, dropping the connection in the process? (Operating System level band hopping would maintain the connection)

Yeah...as I say, not an elegant solution but for my needs I haven't found the connection drop while roaming around the house an issue.

 

[FreshJR]

The only thing I know of that is like what you want is Asus Smart Connect.

Thanks @skeal!

After googling smart connect, it seems "Smart Connect" is Asus's own name for "Band Steering". That was a very simple, yes answer, but it seems my router doesn't support it.

Looks like I know what feature I am looking for in my next router to have more hassle free wireless performance!

With that feature, I will be able to grant the extended range of 2.4ghz to tablet devices while not worrying about them chocking the network with NAS access if they are in range of 5ghz!

Alternatively after a recent test, I see that with ios 11.3 + same name SSID, the devices I tested actually correctly perfer 5ghz (wonder when that happened).

 

[skeal]

Thanks @skeal!

After googling smart connect, it seems "Smart Connect" is Asus's own name for "Band Steering". It was a very simple, yes answer, but it seems my router doesn't support it.

Looks like I know what feature I am looking for in my next router to have more hassle free wireless setup!

With that feature, I will be able to grant the extended range of 2.4ghz to tablet devices while not worrying about them chocking the network with NAS access if they are in range of 5ghz!

Alternatively after a recent test, I see that with ios 11.3 + same name SSID, these devices actually correctly perfer 5ghz (wonder when that happened).

You can adjust Smart Connect settings in the Network Tools section Smart Connect Rules. I used it for a while but don't understand the settings well enough to get it working well.