Question about Smart Connect

[TheLyppardMan]

I have never tried using the Smart Connect feature, but today my curiosity got the better of me and I switched it on to see what would happen. At the time, there were only about half a dozen wireless devices running on the network, mostly on the 5GHz band, so I expected my Windows 10 laptop, which was literally only about 6 feet from the RT-AX88U to stay on the 5GHz band at the very least, but it didn't and I'm puzzled as to the reason why. I thought the idea of Smart Connect was to allocate devices close to the router to use the 5GHz band and only swap to the 2.4GHz band when the signal became too weak (at least, that's the way that I've heard it described by other manufacturers like Synology). Is that not the case?

 

[miroco]

The hidden settings of smart connect

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/asus-hidden-smart-connect-settings-decoded.39764/

 

[Grisu]

Smart Connect uses auto-channel, so 5GHz will come later than 2.4GHz and if it uses DFS channels first have to test them if free, later it can be changed too.
You have to wait, maybe your clients will change back to 5GHz as soon it is broadcasted.

 

[TheLyppardMan]

Smart Connect uses auto-channel, so 5GHz will come later than 2.4GHz and if it uses DFS channels first have to test them if free, later it can be changed too.
You have to wait, maybe your clients will change back to 5GHz as soon it is broadcasted.

Not quite sure what you mean by "5GHz will come later than 2.4GHz". I did reboot my laptop and it stayed on 2.4GHz, but as soon as I switched off Smart Connect, it reconnected to the 5GHz band automatically.

 

[Grisu]

When powering on the router or after any Wifi changes (enable/disable SmartConnect) it will first turn on 2.4G.
So with SmartConnect it could happen that the router checks for 5G radar and and clients connect to 2.4G. Once they are there they have no reason to change as signal is strong.
Clients make their own decicion where to connect to, router and its firmware can "help" clients to make better choices.