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Google wifi smart home devices

Jeleimeister
Community Member

I am trying to connect smart outlet plugs and smart bulbs and I can’t get my phone off of 5ghz to do this. I am sitting way out behind my house and still can’t connect them when it switches to 2.4 and an extension cord run out to there for the device. Is there any way to turn off 5ghz? I also want my washer and dryer hooked up and I can’t move them outside to do it.

1 Recommended Answer

MichaelP
Diamond Product Expert
Diamond Product Expert

I have TP Link Kasa devices as well, and they work quite well. But, David is right – there are some (poorly designed, in my opinion) 2.4GHz "smart" devices that use a different method for getting set up that does require the phone to be on the 2.4GHz band just long enough to get them configured. The details (in brief) are this: something like a Kasa device can do its own scan for WiFi networks (SSIDs), and the setup app just needs a way to talk to the device during that process to pick the right one and give it the shared password. The device then picks the strongest signal from all of the BSSIDs advertising that SSID and everything works. But, some dumber "smart" devices can't do an SSID scan themselves. They need the phone to tell them exactly which BSSID to connect to. If the phone is on a 5GHz BSSID, that's what the app will give the device, and it won't work, because that BSSID isn't the same as the one being used for 2.4GHz.

The result of all of this is that there are some well-designed 2.4GHz devices that work just fine on just about any network. But, there are also some 2.4GHz devices that are much more troublesome. I try not to reward companies that provide those with my business, but it may sometimes not be possible to avoid. That's where moving far enough away from the network to get the phone on 2.4GHz can sometimes help get a device configured. You often don't need the device to be far away as well, though – you may just need someone to help be eyes and fingers for the device during the setup process. As more and more home WiFi networks start to look like enterprise WiFi networks (multiple access points with both bands, all advertising the same SSID), devices that were designed with these shortcuts will have to be updated.

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7 REPLIES 7

David_K
Platinum Product Expert
Platinum Product Expert
Nest Wifi doesn't have a feature to do that I'm afraid. Some smart home devices only use the 2.4 GHz band and will not be available for setup if your phone is on the 5 GHz band. You may be able to tell your Android phone to only connect on the 2.4 GHz band temporarily in your phone's Wi-Fi settings. Refer to the manufacturer's support information to see if your phone has this feature.
 
The waves of the 2.4 GHz band can travel a greater distance than those of the 5 GHz band. If your phone does not have the ability to switch Wi-Fi bands, try to move farther away from your router and points until your phone moves to the 2.4 GHz band. Then proceed with setting up your smart home devices. 

Ashepherdson
Platinum Product Expert
Platinum Product Expert

Sorry I need to jump in, you shouldn't need to have your phone on a 2.4 GHz band to set up a smart device.. I have many In my home , the router should handle the switching seamlessly.  

David_K
Platinum Product Expert
Platinum Product Expert

Some smart home devices can only connect to the 2.4 GHz band. If your phone is connected to the 5 GHz band, the likelihood is you won't be able to setup the device as your phone cannot communicate with the smart device on the other band.

Ashepherdson
Platinum Product Expert
Platinum Product Expert

Normally, when you set up a smart home device, you power it on, you use the app on your smartphone to find the device( scanning for devices with open wifi spots ), your phone will connect directly to that device (this dropping from your home networking and connecting to the devices network which is 2.4ghz), you then direct the device to connect to the home wifi network, and once connected your phone reconnects to the 5ghz band).  

 

My personal example are my TP link KASA devices.  These run on 2.4, no issues at all getting them onto the network and communicating between the bands. 

 

I am not trying to be argumentative, but the fact is if he is just setting up the devices, it won't matter which band is phone is on as the device isn't on any network when it's being set up.  

MichaelP
Diamond Product Expert
Diamond Product Expert

I have TP Link Kasa devices as well, and they work quite well. But, David is right – there are some (poorly designed, in my opinion) 2.4GHz "smart" devices that use a different method for getting set up that does require the phone to be on the 2.4GHz band just long enough to get them configured. The details (in brief) are this: something like a Kasa device can do its own scan for WiFi networks (SSIDs), and the setup app just needs a way to talk to the device during that process to pick the right one and give it the shared password. The device then picks the strongest signal from all of the BSSIDs advertising that SSID and everything works. But, some dumber "smart" devices can't do an SSID scan themselves. They need the phone to tell them exactly which BSSID to connect to. If the phone is on a 5GHz BSSID, that's what the app will give the device, and it won't work, because that BSSID isn't the same as the one being used for 2.4GHz.

The result of all of this is that there are some well-designed 2.4GHz devices that work just fine on just about any network. But, there are also some 2.4GHz devices that are much more troublesome. I try not to reward companies that provide those with my business, but it may sometimes not be possible to avoid. That's where moving far enough away from the network to get the phone on 2.4GHz can sometimes help get a device configured. You often don't need the device to be far away as well, though – you may just need someone to help be eyes and fingers for the device during the setup process. As more and more home WiFi networks start to look like enterprise WiFi networks (multiple access points with both bands, all advertising the same SSID), devices that were designed with these shortcuts will have to be updated.

Ashepherdson
Platinum Product Expert
Platinum Product Expert

Try this out:

 

Use two Android phones

  1. I renamed my Google Wifi network (I just deleted the last letter of the ssid - "MyNetwork" became "MyNetwor" for example)
  2. On the first phone I turned on the Hotspot and renamed the ssid for that to the original ssid of my Google Wifi network (MyNetwork)
  3. I changed the password for the Hotspot to the same as my Google Wifi network
  4. On the 2nd phone, I opened the app for my smart home device and tried to add/configure a new smart device
  5. When prompted to connect to a 2.4 ghz network, I connected to the Hotspot (the first phone)
  6. I configured the smart device 
  7. On the first phone, I renamed and disabled the hotspot
  8. I re-renamed my Google Wifi network back to the original name ("MyNetwor" became "MyNetwork")

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi, everyone.

It looks like we got this one worked out with an Accepted Solution. Thanks to all who helped on this. As we have our resolution, I'm going to go ahead and close up the thread. If anyone has any more questions or needs any additional help, please feel free to open a new thread.

Thanks.