Devices Requiring 2.4GHZ

[AlanInAustin]

I have several devices which require 2.4GHz support, among them:

(1) my weather station which broadcasts information to wunderground.com using 2.4GHz exclusively

(2) Logitech Harmony Hub which receives only 2.4GHz

(3) Galaxy S21 cell phones which need 2.4GHz in order to connect with the above.

I have an Galaxy S21 and cannot find how, using the "Home" app, how to activate the 2.4GHz and force devices like my cell to use it (as opposed to 5GHz).

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Alan

[David_K]

There is no feature or setting to force a device to connect to a certain Wi-Fi band. This is because client devices themselves decide which of your Wifi points and which band to connect to, and also when to switch between the bands. Like most Wifi systems, Google Wifi and Nest Wifi use industry standard mechanisms (known as 802.11k and 802.11v) to help devices make these decisions. However, not all devices support those specifications, or if they do, they arguably may not implement them particularly well.

I too have lots of 2.4 GHz only devices and don't experience any issues. If the device only supports 2.4 GHz, it will only "see" and connect at 2.4 GHz. The issue you describe is typically only an issue during device setup, where your phone is connected to the 5 GHz band so cannot see the 2.4 GHz device for setup purposes. You're saying you're having issues controlling them even after setup?

[AlanInAustin]

We have multiple daily use devices which operate exclusively on the 2.4 band. Each one is installed and used via an app on our Galaxy S21 phones.  The phones must be on that 2.4 frequency on a permanent basis otherwise all the devices cannot be connected or used. Therein lies the problem: we need some way to make our phones connect through the Nest using only 2.4. 

With our prior carrier, different SSIDs were used for each frequency so we'd set our phones to connect to "Paper_2.4" (rather than "Paper_5" and all would be well.  With Nest, there is only "Paper" and (as I understand it) our cells go to whichever band the Nest happens to assign at the moment of use. Unless Nest can provide a different SSID for each frequency or there is some way to force Nest to connect certain specific devices to 2.4, we're pretty much stuck -- or store the Nest in the closet and use another wireless router.

I'm not much on networking, but I hope the above helps clarify what problems I'm running into.

[David_K · Accepted solution]

There isn't a feature or setting to do either of the things you suggested I'm afraid. Unfortunately, some poorly designed devices like the ones you have don't seem to handle Wi-Fi networks which use the same network name for all the Wi-Fi bands (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz) very well.

You may be able to tell your Android phone to only connect on the 2.4 GHz band in your phone's Wi-Fi settings. Refer to the manufacturer's support information to see if your phone has this feature.

Alternatively, the waves of the 2.4 GHz band can travel a greater distance than those of the 5 GHz band. Put your phone into airplane mode first (that step is usually key), then move farther away from your router and points. Turn airplane mode off, and your phone may connect to the 2.4 GHz band, allowing you to control your devices. Obviously, this isn't all that practical over time.

Typically, a more permanent workaround for this is to add a 2.4 GHz only access point to your setup, perhaps repurposing an old router just for this purpose. Alternatively, if this is critical to you or you have lots of these types of devices, you would need to consider a different Wi-Fi solution than Nest Wifi as unfortunately Google haven't made any announcements or feature changes to make working with these poorly designed 2.4 GHz only devices easier.

[AlanInAustin]

Thank you.  I'm a networking novice, but in the 30+ years of  home networks I've never encountered a router than didn't allow broadcasting different SSIDs for each frequency so this comes as a real stunner.  It looks like Nest isn't for me.

[dmgutie84]

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@David_K wrote:

unfortunately Google haven't made any announcements or feature changes to make working with these poorly designed 2.4 GHz only devices easier.

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Given that there are complaints on this issue going back half a decade and Google still hasn't enabled the ability to adjust basic settings on their router that virtually every other router in existence allows, I think we can fairly say that it isn't just the 2.4 GHz only devices that are poorly designed.