What's with 5ghz? Nothing I own uses it...

[Roveer]

I've got a Netgear R7000 AP. I've noticed that nothing I own connects at 5GHZ. We've got a few ipads, laptops, tablets etc. Now, they aren't the newest of equipment so that might be the reason but my laptop was less than a year old.

Are very few devices coming with 5ghz radios?

Roveer

 

[htismaqe]

Almost all of the Applie iOS products of the last 2 or 3 years, as well as most name-brand Android devices are shipping with 5Ghz radios.

Laptops, depending on the brand, are one of the notorious cases where the manufacturer is skimping on the wireless radio. I have a 4-year old HP laptop that has an Intel dual-band card but I have three 2-year old Acer's that are 2.4Ghz only.

 

[sfx2000]

I've got a Netgear R7000 AP. I've noticed that nothing I own connects at 5GHZ. We've got a few ipads, laptops, tablets etc. Now, they aren't the newest of equipment so that might be the reason but my laptop was less than a year old.

Are very few devices coming with 5ghz radios?

Running two SSID's?? - the Netgear default, if I recall correctly doesn't do that...

 

[Klueless]

I've a 5 year old Acer Aspire 5750-6493 laptop. Bought it new, bought it cheap and it runs N over 5Ghz just fine. Guess I just lucked out!

 

[htismaqe]

Running two SSID's?? - the Netgear default, if I recall correctly doesn't do that...

It's been over a year since I played with the R7000 but the default was two separate SSIDs. IIRC, it was Netgear and Netgear5g.

 

[Roveer]

The R7000's (and possibly others) are notorious for needing a factory reset after firmware upgrades. I really didn't want to do that becuase I've got it set up as a WAP and would have to pull out the laptop and set up a switch to reconfigure. The other night I noticed the 5ghz radio showing up as not active. Nothing I did would activate the radio. So I did the factory reset and reconfigured. Now at least half of my stuff is connecting at 5ghz.

Roveer

 

[htismaqe]

Well, that's good news!

 

[bobsilver]

The latest R7000 firmware V1.0.6.28_1.1.83 has a new function called Smart Connect. If you enable this it will automatically place devices on the best band. Either 2.4 or 5ghz. It also makes the SSID's the same for both bands so you only see one. I been using it with my IOS devices and can confirm it works quite well. Near the router I am on the 5g band at AC speeds. At the end of my house it switches to the 2.4 side at slower speeds. Give it a try. Really simplify's things.

Bob Silver
Netgear Networking Advisor

 

[htismaqe]

So is there some special sauce behind that? Because when I set my SSIDs the same with the R7000 or WRT1900AC or whatever, that's exactly how it works. I'm wondering if they've added something to it, or just made identical SSIDs a "checkbox".

 

[thiggins]

So is there some special sauce behind that? Because when I set my SSIDs the same with the R7000 or WRT1900AC or whatever, that's exactly how it works. I'm wondering if they've added something to it, or just made identical SSIDs a "checkbox".

This is a two-radio implementation of Broadcom Smart Connect.

It's supposed to actively band-steer devices vs. having the client decide which band to connect to. It's also supposed to load balance the two bands.

 

[htismaqe]

Sounds like a completely unneeded feature to me.

 

[thiggins]

Sounds like a completely unneeded feature to me.

To experienced uses like you, yes. But the majority of consumers can't properly manage their networks.

You're going to see more efforts like this. Smart Connect was a start. Qualcomm's Wi-Fi SON is the next step. Consumer networking vendors are finally recognizing that multi-AP networks are needed.

 

[htismaqe]

Even to the novice user, how is SmartConnect on a dual-band device (short of that device having multiple 5Ghz radios) any different than just setting the SSIDs the same and letting the client decide?

If it really worked and worked well, that would be one thing. But the vast majority of real world reports suggest it's just as much hit-and-miss as letting the clients do it.

 

[thiggins]

Even to the novice user, how is SmartConnect on a dual-band device (short of that device having multiple 5Ghz radios) any different than just setting the SSIDs the same and letting the client decide?

It should be. Clients have no way of balancing the load or selecting a band based on link rate. Only the AP can make those decisions.

I agree Smart Connect implementations have had mixed results given the stubbornness of some clients.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Don't forget about the "Good Neighbor Policy" that older generation routers and current ones have to deal with. Theres more then letting the end user set up SSID names. Channelization and dealing with neighbouring routers is also a factor. SC or band steering also is supposed to take this and other things into account that the "majority" or novice end user may not understand or know about. SC is trying to simplify wireless connections for connected devices. For those who understand or advanced user knowledge, then they can just disable SC. My 2 cents.

 

[htismaqe]

Don't forget about the "Good Neighbor Policy" that older generation routers and current ones have to deal with. Theres more then letting the end user set up SSID names. Channelization and dealing with neighbouring routers is also a factor. SC or band steering also is supposed to take this and other things into account that the "majority" or novice end user may not understand or know about. SC is trying to simplify wireless connections for connected devices. For those who understand or advanced user knowledge, then they can just disable SC. My 2 cents.

Pretty much every router I've tried in the last 2 years has the ability to auto-select channels based on neighboring channel usage.

About the only benefit I can see to SC on a straight dual-band device (like the AC1900 R7000) is load balancing, and that assumes it actually works correctly.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Auto channel has been around for a while now and again, based on how it works and channel usage depends on what it ends up picking. Sometimes Auto Channel can't deal with WiFi congestion, thus Channel Width also comes into play and Auto channel may cause a fall back to 20Mhz as well.

SC is mainly for using a single SSID name and based on channel usage and device support and interference's will dictate what SC uses for each device connected. Again, mostly to simplify home users experiences and less user setup interactions for the average home users. Ya, when it works it works. Other Mfrs have begun implementing SC in there routers over the past year.
https://meraki.cisco.com/blog/2011/04/using-spectrum-wisely-with-band-steering/

 

[htismaqe]

When you're getting into multiple 5Ghz radios (or 3.6Ghz as the case may be) on a single device, SC has a definite use case and benefit.

The original comment from me was based on Netgear implementing SC on the R7000, which has a single 5Ghz radio. Netgear could be using time and resources on better things, IMO.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Negear isn't the only one using SC on dual band routes now. I think SC should be able to handle 2.4 and 5Ghz as I presume this maybe what Mfrs are attempting to do for dual band and tri band routers as the like.

 

[htismaqe]

I know they are. I just see it as a waste of time, especially when some of these manufacturers have so many other important things to address.

Thank God for DD-WRT, I guess.