Need Help to Force clients to 5Ghz w/ AC86U SmartConnect & AIMesh

[Livin]

I just moved from 2 AC86Us running separately (Top floor & Basement, nothing in middle floor) with same SSIDs, ethernet connected...
SmartConnect settings were default and was running fine 80% of the time. The remaining 20% of the time, cams (I have 10) would disconnect and often never reconnect without physical reboot... and even then sometimes not. Once it went offline, it was a crap shoot.

.... after dealing with this for 4 months, I decided to try AIMesh yesterday, and its worse. They all except my Samsung phone & tablet (on diff APs) connect to 2.4Ghz and NONE to 5Hgz... even though they show connected, none will stream/display video when the apps try : LAN app = Blue Iris on PC; Internet/Cloud app = Samsung on Android

I let it settle overnight but that did not help at all. Tried tweaking channels (I have VERY LITTLE interference on 2.4Ghz, and NONE on 5Ghz)... did not help.

How can I setup SmartConnect to force most to 5Ghz? Most devices are 10 to 20ft from either 86U.

thx for the help!

 

[OzarkEdge]

I just moved from 2 AC86Us running separately (Top floor & Basement, nothing in middle floor) with same SSIDs, ethernet connected...
SmartConnect settings were default and was running fine 80% of the time. The remaining 20% of the time, cams (I have 10) would disconnect and often never reconnect without physical reboot... and even then sometimes not. Once it went offline, it was a crap shoot.

.... after dealing with this for 4 months, I decided to try AIMesh yesterday, and its worse. They all except my Samsung phone & tablet (on diff APs) connect to 2.4Ghz and NONE to 5Hgz... even though they show connected, none will stream/display video when the apps try : LAN app = Blue Iris on PC; Internet/Cloud app = Samsung on Android

I let it settle overnight but that did not help at all. Tried tweaking channels (I have VERY LITTLE interference on 2.4Ghz, and NONE on 5Ghz)... did not help.

How can I setup SmartConnect to force most to 5Ghz? Most devices are 10 to 20ft from either 86U.

thx for the help!

If a clean install does not help your clients connect to the preferred band, I would disable Smart Connect and use different SSIDs (and fixed channels) to manually steer your clients to the preferred band. This generally yields a more certain and stable experience.

Also, I had wireless client connectivity issues and reverted to 81858... but then that node died, so it remains to be seen how 81992 will behave once I receive and install my replacement node.

OE

 

[Livin]

If a clean install does not help your clients connect to the preferred band, I would disable Smart Connect and use different SSIDs (and fixed channels) to manually steer your clients to the preferred band. This generally yields a more certain and stable experience.

Also, I had wireless client connectivity issues and reverted to 81858... but then that node died, so it remains to be seen how 81992 will behave once I receive and install my replacement node.

OE

I just removed the AP node and now some clients are connecting to the 5G radio when load balancing is set in SC... but most are still on 2.4

btw, I'm on the latest Merlin FW, .19

ALSO... any thought on needing to adjust the Professional settings for signal power? I had the 2.4 turned down to "Fair" and it still grabs things across my house, up 2 or 3 levels. Will AIMesh auto-adjust these? Considering we cannot get to the Nodes, I hope so!?

 

[K-2SO]

Smart Connect settings are hidden in Network Tools -> Smart Connect Rule. You can play with mostly undocumented sliders there. The best you can do is what @OzarkEdge told you above - separate SSIDs for 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks and manual device assignment. Leave both bands on Performance to keep the range.

 

[Livin]

I removed AIMesh, reset the AP and restored my last seeings (which work well most of the time) - they use the defaults for Smart Connect but have tweaked Professional settings. 7 of the 10 cams connected up nearly immediately and zero lag when I stream from them because they are almost all connecting to 5Ghz; where with AImesh they ALL connected to 2Ghz.

Conclusion: AIMesh SUX. There is no reason that 2 separate APs (3 floors from each other) should perform proper radio connectivity to devices until AImesh is in the mix - then they all connect to 2.4 and never switch even when the 5G radio signal is strong.

 

[bbunge]

Use the wireless mac filter to block the cams from the 2.4 GHZ. I do this to get my Roku over to 5 GHZ. And there is a better AiMesh in testing!

 

[Smokey613]

I use AiMesh, no Smart Connect, same ssid, enabled Roaming Assist, 5g set at -70, 2.4g set to -62. Works great. Maybe my using 2 identical units is what makes my setup very stable and working as expected.

 

[Deldarius]

I myself use Smart Connect, but no AiMesh (1 router).

Between the sheer number of other networks and the less than ideal wifi "acoustics" of my apartment, it took me a while to get things squared away to keep everyone where I wanted them.

I live in an 800sq foot, 117yr old 4 tenant building and I had a time of it keeping my 5GHz devices to stay on 5GHz and not jump over to the 2.4 and camp there. It only got worse if you moved about the apartment. With these settings I have the 5GHz stuff stay put and only move to 2.4GHz outside the apartment. I have connectivity out to my stoop and car.

With running AiMesh you may need to use a Heat mapper to find the signal drop offs to fine tune the band steering triggers.

May this be of some help.