Removing 5Ghz

[nophead]

I have a problem with 5GHz wifi because it doesn't go through walls well and in my study where my TV is there is a stronger signal from next door that causes the TV to stutter. Normally I just turn 5GHz off on my router as I have no need for it and it only causes problems. It seems Google doesn't allow it to be turned off. Does anybody know if I can physically disable it? I.e. by opening the hub and removing or destroying the 5GHz section? 

[MichaelP]

Hello @nophead 

Google/Nest WiFi use the 5GHz band to communicate with each other via an 802.11s wireless mesh. This uses the same 5GHz radio as clients. So, disabling it entirely really isn't an option.

I will say that TVs are fairly notorious for having rather poor WiFi implementations. If you can find a way to connect that TV to your network via Ethernet, you'll probably have a more reliable experience. Barring that, you may be able to experiment with the placement of your Google/Nest WiFi units. You haven't specified what you have or where they are, but in a case like this, assuming you have a two-pack or three-pack Google WiFi or Nest WiFi system, I would start by trying to follow the recommended placement advice: primary (the Google/Nest WiFi unit connected directly to your internet service) placed as close to the center of your home as possible and then any mesh/secondary units placed one or two rooms away from the primary so they are close enough to get a solid 5GHz connection themselves. From there, they can provide both 2.4GHz and 5GHz coverage to more distant clients.

[nophead]

The TV is only 3.5m and one wall from Nest Wifi, which is in centre of the house downstairs. The point is upstairs.

The problem is there is a solid wall between all my downstairs rooms to support the upstairs rooms. 5Ghz doesn't go through block walls very well. On the other hand I have good 2.4Ghz coverage for all the house and the gardens,  which is plenty fast enough for HD TV.

I get interference from a NowTv router, which must be a lot more powerful. I assume it comes from nextdoor but that means through two twin skin walls as the houses are detached with a about 2m gap.

What I find odd is all 5GHz signals seem to be on the same channels wherever they come from. And they come and go all the time. When the Now TV gets to around the same signal strength as Google the TV starts to stutter.

Most of my house is on hard wired Ethernet. I have a total of 40 Ethernet ports but it seems crazy I need to hardwire everything when I have a mesh system with full coverage at 2.4GHz.

Yes I can put the TV on Ethernet through the mains but that means wasting power on two mains access points. Other than that I would need to drill holes through wall, etc.

[Jeff]

Hi, nophead.

Sorry for the frustrating situation you're seeing with your network connections. As MichaelP said, there's no way to disable the bands, so placement experimentation might be the best method for dealing with this. Aside from that, more or less points could help unless your sources of interference are that strong. As far as a settings issue, you can also try disabling any preferred activities to see if that has any impact and also experiment with device priority to see if it does anything.

Thanks.

[nophead]

It actually has been working fine this week.

It all worked fine for a year but it seems the neighbours got a Now TV subscription and it must come with a more powerful router but I can't see it now, so perhaps they moved it.

[Jeff]

Hopefully things stay stable and reliable, nophead.

Before calling this one resolved, let's give it a few days to see if the stability remains. If things take a turn for the worse, let me know.

Thanks!

[nophead]

One issue is that with 2.4GHz the channels move around to avoid each other. 

Why are all 5GHz routers on the same channels when there are far more to choose from?

[MichaelP]

Hello @nophead 

There are surprisingly few real options for 80MHz wide 5GHz channels without using the restricted DFS rules. In the U.S., they use the higher channel that allows more transmit power, while in other regions they use the lower channel since the higher one isn't allowed. Aside from avoiding DFS, all of the nodes have to be on the same 5GHz channel as each other because they only have one 5GHz radio, and it has to talk to 5GHz clients as well as the (hidden) 5GHz mesh interconnect.

[Jeff]

Hi, nophead.

I just wanted to jump in and see if you needed anything else on this. Thanks to MichaelP for all his input and info here. If you need more help, nophead, just let us know.

Thanks.

[nophead]

After the TV gave problems the Point also said it couldn't see the Nest for a few days but since then all has been fine. The signal strength of the neighbour's NowTV router is now only -90dBm at the TV and the Nest is -60dBm, whereas it was stronger than the Nest when it was causing problems.

I invested in the Google system because the Wifi from my ISP's router was never reliable. I tried hard wired access points to spread it around the house and managed to get good signal strength on 2.4GHz everywhere but it was never reliable connection wise. For example a devices in the same room as the router would lose connection for no apparent reason. I put it down to bugs in the router and access points.

When I replaced it with the Google Nest system I was very pleased that I get full coverage everywhere and it was totally reliable for a year until I hit these problems for about a week.

I hadn't realised the mesh system relied on 5GHz as I would much prefer not to use it. The Point is in a room with 24 hard wired Ethernet ports, so it is a shame it doesn't have an Ethernet port.

[Jeff]

Hi, nophead.

If you are looking for ethernet ports on your points, the Google WiFi points do have ethernet ports. I know you've already gone with the Nest WiFi point, but if you were willing to pick up another device, a single Google WiFi point could give you that option.

Thanks.

[nophead]

I see, thanks. I thought the Google Wifi system was just an older system. I didn't realise it had Ethernet ports.

Currently it is working fine again. It was just disrupted for about a week after working for a year. If I get problems again I might consider getting a point with Ethernet but that would not fix my TV problem as it is close to the Nest router downstairs. The point serves the upstairs of my house. I suppose I could put the Nest point next to my TV after replacing it, but it gets bonkers when you need one in the next room to the router.  It's just a waste of electricity. If I could disable 5GHz or force my TV to use 2.4GHz the problem would go away.

[Jeff]

Hey there, nophead.

I understand what you're saying about the power usage. As we got the answer to your original question, I just wanted to check in real fast to see if you had any other questions or needs here. If not, I'll go ahead and mark this one as resolved. Let me know if there's more you might need.

Thanks,

- Jeff

[nophead]

Yes the original question is answered and I haven't had problems since either.

[Jeff]

Sounds good, nophead. I'll go ahead and close up the thread, but feel free to reach out once more if you need anything else.

Thanks,

- Jeff