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RT-BE88U won't connect to smart devices

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portets

Occasional Visitor
Anyone else have this issue? 2 Google Nest Minis plus a bunch of 2.4GHz smart lights and plugs of various brands I connect to using Smart Life on Android. They all connect perfectly to my old TP-Link router. On my new RT-BE88U they will not connect no matter what I do. A couple of them have connected using their in-built alternative method of broadcasting their own SSID to connect to(slow blink vs fast blink). Most won't connect with this method and NONE of them will connect through the normal method. Things I've tried:

Factory resets, multiple
MLO on/off
Smart connect on/off
802.11b on/off
Disabling everything except the 2.4GHz band
All authentication methods, WPA/WPA2/WPA3 etc
20MHz and 40MHz
Alternative Android apps
All RT-BE88U firmware revisions

I love this router otherwise but this issue is very frustrating.
 
Nobody has this issue or has advice?
Okay, I'll bite.

What country are you in?
Are all your smart devices on the Router's primary subnet. Default subnet?
Do any of your smart devices have fixed (static) IP address assignments?
Do you have any DHCP IP reservations set up on your router?

Once upon a time, a forum poster started a thread with similar symptoms like yours. After several posts by those trying to help, it was discovered that the old router (which worked just fine) had a different default IP subnet than the new router. Once the OP changed the new router's default subnet to the old router's subnet, everything worked as it should.

.... just saying TP-Link default IP subnet is different than Asus'.
 
The old router (which worked just fine) had a different default IP subnet than the new router.
Thanks I'll try that. I factory reset my devices though so I'd think they shouldn't care about the subnet?

I'm in the US. My devices have been factory reset and will connect to a factory reset TP-link, but will not connect to my factory reset RT-BE88U
 
Thanks I'll try that. I factory reset my devices though so I'd think they shouldn't care about the subnet?
Generally, I would agree with your assumption.

In other threads describing similar issues, it was found that some IOT devices could not comm on certain "Channels". If it turns out my subnet hypnosis not an issue, then I would try experimenting with different WiFi Channel selections.

ADDED....
Do a search for "IOT Channel" in this forum to see what others have said.
 
Last edited:
Had a similar issue, (amazon Firestick max(on 5ghz), and TP-link smart plug(on 2.4ghz)) i disabled WIFI 7 mode in professional tab and it worked. i re-enabled wifi 7 mode after it was paired and it normally connects now.
 
Had a similar issue, (amazon Firestick max(on 5ghz), and TP-link smart plug(on 2.4ghz)) i disabled WIFI 7 mode in professional tab and it worked. i re-enabled wifi 7 mode after it was paired and it normally connects now.
That's probably one of the few things I haven't tried. Will try tonight
 
I don't own an Asus WiFi 7 router. However, I purchased a basic TP-Link WiFi 7 router yesterday, and I have an Asus RT-AX86U. When setting up the new router, all my devices reconnected including smart plugs and lights.
What I did is just name the SSIDs to the same ones used in the Asus, for the lights, they were on a guest network through asus, with the new router, I set up the iOT network function for 2.4ghz and gave it the same name as the old guest network and they reconnected without issues. Only commenting on this because I have routers of the two same brands and the subnet didn't affect my upgrade. The model I got was the Archer BE3600.

FYI, the smart devices I have are as follows:
x4 amazon echos
x11 Wiz connected bulbs.
x1 Google Nest Audio

When I first got the RT-AX86U, I had all sorts of smart device issues, and that was also true wit the RT-AX82U I tried and returned prior to getting the 86U.
For me, it was an eventual process of Asus fixing firmware bugs, and finding the right settings (hence the guest network)
 
Had a similar issue, (amazon Firestick max(on 5ghz), and TP-link smart plug(on 2.4ghz)) i disabled WIFI 7 mode in professional tab and it worked. i re-enabled wifi 7 mode after it was paired and it normally connects now.
This(mostly) fixed it btw. Not sure how I forgot to try this while I was turning settings on and off. Google Nest Minis connected as normal this way, and so did smart bulbs. Half of my smart plugs connected too but the other half still wouldn't connect until I put them in broadcast mode where they broadcast their own SSID. For some reason this only worked on one of them before disabling Wi-Fi 7, but afterward this worked on the remaining ones. Still some other issue going on but I was able to get around it.
 
You should be using the IoT guest network for IoT devices. What it does basically is setup a 2.4 GHz guest with the most compatible settings possible to improve connectivity with IoT devices running often antique wifi SoCs.
 
You should be using the IoT guest network for IoT devices. What it does basically is setup a 2.4 GHz guest with the most compatible settings possible to improve connectivity with IoT devices running often antique wifi SoCs.
That's what I've been doing, all of these issues persisted on my IoT 2.4GHz-only network. Of everything I tried, only disabling Wi-Fi 7 seems to have partially fixed the issue. Though I can't rule out some of my other changes helped. Now that everything is connected I was able to turn Wi-Fi 7 back on and basically everything back to default settings.
 
Do you have anything plugged on USB3 port with USB3 transmission in place?
 

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