XB6 in Bridge Mode - Ignite STB (Xi6-A) Connects to 5 GHz WiFi but Gets No TV Signal

[D_Barnes]

Not sure if this should go under "internet" or TV" but I'll switch if not aloud here.

So I'm new to Rogers (switched from Bell finally) and my Ignite STB (Xi6-A) connects to 5 GHz wifi but gets no TV signal.
I can manually connect to the 2.4 GHz band and TV works fine, but I'd like to connect to 5 GHz if possible.
My phone and various devices connect to 5G fine (slight hiccup when connecting on my Samsung S9+ saying "internet may not be available" but sorts itself out after a few seconds and then remains stable).

I should mention that I am using my XB6 in bridge mode (used @-G- 's instructions here https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Ignite-TV/Using-the-Ignite-TV-Modem-Gateway-in-Bridge-Mode/td-...) connected to my TP-Link AX6000 router.
IPv6 settings set-up and registering 10/10 on https://test-ipv6.com/ (set up using RogerDave's instructions here https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Archived-Posts/Rogers-IPv6-Status/m-p/373238/highlight/true#M3...)

Now I know bridge mode may be the culprit but I remember when setting up the XB6, before ever installing my AX6000, I couldn't get TV to work on 5G so I switched it to 2.4G.
Also, 5G works through bridge mode on all other devices and ping.canbeuseful.com tests 100 send:1 fail on my phone.

Now for the reason why manually switching to 2.4 on the Xi6-A isn't a fix for my use case.
I have my router set to manually reboot at 4am on Tuesday night every week and when this happens, my Xi6 defaults to 5G and errors out and I have to set it up manually again.
I know I could stop the manual reboot, but it doesn't really fix the issue of 5G not working.

Little more background:

- I have regular wifi 2.4G/5G & a guest wifi 2.4G/5G (so 4x SSID in my home)

- I use guest for printers, smart devices, phones, etc. and I'd like to have the Xi6-A use the guest as well (it connects to the guest 2.4G but then defaults back to regular 5G or guest 5G seemingly random after router reboot)

- 2.4G set to channel 11 & 5G set to channel 161

- i get -57dBm for signal strength on both my 5G wifi through my phone using wifi analyzer

Below I'll post a bunch of screenshots of my settings etc. but does anyone have any insight on this issue?
What could possibly be causing the Xi6-A to not get signal though 5G?
I'll take any and all insight, and I'll try to reply to any requests for further info promptly.

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @D_Barnes.

Welcome to Rogers Community Forums! 😃

Thank you for your splendid post; I appreciate all the details and screen captures. I’m thrilled that you took the time to browse through the forums and used @-G- ‘s and RogersDave’s posts as references.

Now I know bridge mode may be the culprit but I remember when setting up the XB6, before ever installing my AX6000, I couldn't get TV to work on 5G so I switched it to 2.4G.

We should have corrected the 5G connectivity before proceeding with the AX6000 setup. Anyway, do you have more than one Ignite box? Just wondering if the issue is only with one of the boxes. 

I’m not sure if you have WiFi 6 devices, if not can you toggle off OFDMA and change the mode to 802.11 ac? It may not make a difference, but you can test it out.

Otherwise, let’s work on making the box functional on the modem’s 5G. You need to bypass your router and disable bridge mode on the modem. Once the box becomes operational on the modem’s 5G you can resume your custom setup.

@-G-  - any more ideas on this?

Cheers,

RogersMoin

[D_Barnes]

First off, thanks for the assistance/help! and no problem about the info.

I find it helps to give as much info as possible when troubleshooting even if some is useless lol.

I have some time today and my first step is going to be just as you said, to disconnect my router, disable bridge mode and sort out 5G directly from the XB6.
I do only have 1x ignite device the singular Xi6-A. The other ways I browse TV is via phone, laptops and Chromecasts.

If I can sort out the 5G on the modem first, when switching back to the router if the problem persists then I'll take those other steps into consideration (OFDMA/802.11 ac)

Will update this post as I try to troubleshoot over the next few hours.

[D_Barnes]

Ok good news. I disabled bridge mode, and disconnected my AX6000 and my ignite box is connected to 5G wifi from XB6.
I tweaked a few settings that I'll show below with pictures, but basically I changed the wifi names and channels to be the same as what I will be using for the guest network on my personal router (hoping for seamless autoconnect/reconnect to guest network instead of main network).

I also noticed the XB6 5G wifi was set to 80 MHz channel width (not sure if this is default or I did this inadvertently) so I set to to 40 MHz as I've read online it is the best all-around width option.

Below I'll post some screenshots of all my current settings prior to connecting back to my own router and bridge mode.
Will update on how bridge mode goes.

[D_Barnes · Accepted solution]

Ok so great news, I have bridge mode enabled and ignite STB Xi6-A is working perfectly and connected to 5G.
I even power-cycled the Xi6-A and it connects right back to 5G network with excellent connection.

The solution:

- 80 MHz channel for 5GHz has too much noise or interference for my use-case.

- I may have picked 80MHz on ignite originally, (or it comes default that way, I don't remember) but switching it to 40MHz channel did the trick.

- on 10.0.0.1 portal I defaulted channels to 20MHZ for 2.4 GHZ and 40 MHz for 5 GHz
- in bridge mode my AX6000 was using the "auto" setting for channel. Using a wifi analyzer you can see in the screenshots on my original post that auto was setting the channel to 80 MHz channel

- manually switched AX6000 router to use 20MHZ for 2.4 GHZ and 40 MHz for 5 GHz

Now everything works perfectly. No need to disable OFDMA or change to 802.11 ac.
I guess the Xi6-A needs a near perfect connection so 80 MHz with any interference won't cut it?

Also very weird that using Auto mode on my router made it choose 80 MHz. I was under the impression that choosing Auto would allow client connections to dictate the channel width (say 80 didn't work it would try to connect to 40).
I guess I may be wrong about how that process works.
Either way things are working great and I appreciate your help!