Band Steering on XB6 Modem Causing Issues for 2.4 GHz Devices

[ramjetejmar]

I have upgraded my internet service and a new Modem (Ignite WiFi Gateway) was installed.

Over the past month, I have installed some devices on my Wi-Fi network using the Echo Plus. With some of the plugs, I encountered an issue with the compatibility of the device and the Modem having to do with the dual networks (2.4GHz and 5GHz). I went to 10.0.0.1 to find out the names

It appears that the two Networks have in part the same name. However, anything after that is beyond my understanding of this system.

My understanding was that the appropriate network would be assigned to a new device automatically. With some research, I was able to find a go around and install some of the devices.

I am now trying to connect a Wi-Fi Cloud Camera 360Eye(S) but once again, I am getting the error message that the device is not compatible with the 5GHz network.

While searching for a solution, I found out that the possible cause of this would have to do with having both networks with the same name. I would appreciate any help in how to go about changing the names of the two network and whether or not that would affect the already installed devices using the 2.4 GHz.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you may provide.

*** Edited Labels/Title ***

[RogersTony]

Hello, @ramjetejmar

Welcome to the Rogers Community Forums! 😃

Band steering is a great feature that helps simplify Wi-Fi setups for a lot of users but it does tend to cause issues with devices that are only compatible with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi.

One way you can get around this would be to log in to modem like you have and temporarily change the name of the 5G network. Once changed attempt to connect your devices to the 2.4G network. Once they have successfully connected and are working you can change the network name of the 5G network back to what it was before. Your 2.4G only devices should remain connected even after the 5G network name is restored.

Let us know if this solution works for you!

RogersTony

[ramjetejmar]

Hello Rogers' Tony,

I am sad to report that the name change didn't work. I also Reset the Modem after making the name change.

I will try a few more variations when I have more time. I will also have to check the device itself to make sure it is in good condition although I'm not sure how to go about that . . . yet.

Thanks for your reply and suggestion. I appreciate it.

Roger

[-G-]

Could this be due to the "Prefer Private Connection" option being enabled in WiFi settings on the XB6?

I'm truly asking this as a question because I can't find any information as to what this option really does.  If it's the equivalent of what's typically called "AP Isolation" then having this option enabled would block network connectivity between any devices that are connected to the XB6 via WiFi.

[-G-]

"Prefer Private Connection" option is actually in "Connected Devices > Devices"

WARNING:  I still have no idea what this does.  I tried unchecking the option on my XB6 this morning and was then unable to log into the modem again.  I ended up doing a Factory Reset.

[RogersCorey]

Good morning @ramjetejmar!

Have you had any luck getting your 2.4G devices to connect? I was thinking this could be a simple range or interference issue. The 2.4G band can be quite congested or susceptible to interference. Have you attempted connecting while standing close to the modem?

That's a good question @-G-! I'll have to confirm but I'm certain that setting is for traffic management should you be running a public hotspot off your modem. 

Regards,

RogersCorey

[-G-]

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@RogersCorey wrote:

Good morning @ramjetejmar!

Have you had any luck getting your 2.4G devices to connect? I was thinking this could be a simple range or interference issue. The 2.4G band can be quite congested or susceptible to interference. Have you attempted connecting while standing close to the modem?

That's a good question @-G-! I'll have to confirm but I'm certain that setting is for traffic management should you be running a public hotspot off your modem. 

Regards,

RogersCorey

---

IoT devices can be finicky at times.  With mesh networks, lots of users report issues when IoT devices are connected to different nodes on a mesh than the hub/controller or mobile device that is needed for initial configuration.  Same is true for dual-band Wi-Fi.  AP Isolation can also break stuff.

Re: public hotspot: having additional Wi-Fi services enabled on the XB6 with NO WAY for me to turn them off, or having little control over the the XB6's Wi-Fi and firewall are a huge annoyance (and actual pain points) for me.  That's why I enable "bridge mode" on the XB6 and use my own router and Wi-Fi infrastructure.  Given the choice, I'd much rather be using a TC4400 modem.

[User2104872]

Hey all, 

I was wondering if there is a way to connect devices to the 2.4GHz network of my Rogers Ignite internet, given that I have pods? I was told the pods have to use bandsteering so this is probably not possible. Is there a work-around to connect my devices, which must utilize the 2.4ghz?

Many thanks, 

Jason

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @User2104872.

Welcome to Rogers Community Forums! 😃

Thank you for your participation in the Community. When you try connecting the 2.4 GHz only devices, what happens? Any errors?

You can try disabling the 5 GHz network temporarily and connect your 2.4 GHz devices. Once the devices are connected, please enable back the 5 GHz network. You can disable the network by navigating to Gateway>Connection>Wi-Fi>Edit 5 GHz menu. 

Keep us posted!

Cheers,
RogersMoin

[Hito_T]

XB6 - Band steering issue

Hello,

First of all, I apologize that I write a long story here. It's been such a headache dealing with troubleshooting.

I am new to Rogers. I moved into a home so I signed up Ignite bundles. Since the installation of the ignite TV and internet 500u a month ago, I only received 1-2Mbps wifi speed all on my devices that have 5Ghz capability. I also have devices that only have 2.4Ghz as well.

I have communicated to several agents on the phone and live chat so far. A technician hooked up a new cable, because the 1st technician who installed the Ignite re-used a cable that was left by a previous home owner and that was a problem. Wifi speed improved to 20-30Mbps. This tech told me that this was all what he could do and he wouldn't be able to improve the speed more than that, so he suggested me to downgrade the Internet plan from 500u to 150u.
It didn't make any sense to me. He left with this. So I called or talked to an agent via live chat to downgrade internet plan. Then this agent said that the address for my TV is different from my Internet on my account, so they cannot change plan. The agent has been checking on update on the ticket to solve this problem, but it still hasn't resolved and it's been a few weeks!! It's getting ridiculous.

Anyways, I contacted Rogers customer service again to have them troubleshoot my Wifi issue or send a tech to my place.
Online agent said that the band steering in the modem XB6 was not working properly since my Samsung Note 10+ and Tab S6 were not seeing 5Ghz in the Wifi list. So they sent me a tech to replace the gateway.
Then this tech said that the modem has both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz all together so he wasn't sure why he had to replace the gateway. He didn't replace it. He checked the Wifi speed. His phone received 300Mbps, but my phone and tablet still got 20-40Mbps (fluctuating).
He said that there was something wrong with the speed. He said he would send a maintenance guy to check outside, and told me to call him in a few days to if the speed is still slow.
So, nothing improved. I tried to get a hold of this tech and I cannot get a hold of him.

I contacted an agent on live chat yesterday.
This agent was very thorough. He even explained to me a lot how wifi and radio works.
As any of my devices could find 5Ghz on wifi list, He made some changes on the modem and he went over with me resetting it.
I think he disabled the Band steering and separated 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands.
Finally my phone and tablet can connect to 5Ghz, and their WiFi speed is at 500Mbps, which is equibalant t my internet plan, finally. With 2.4Ghz, speed remains around 30-80Mbps.
I tested my laptop with 5Ghz. Wifi speed was around 140Mbps.

I'm pretty happy that I finally got the good speed. Although my question is...

Why the modem's band steering is not working with my most recent devices ??

is it ideal to keep the band steering disabled ?

Thank you,

[-G-]

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@Hito_T wrote:

First of all, I apologize that I write a long story here. It's been such a headache dealing with troubleshooting.
[...]
I contacted an agent on live chat yesterday.
This agent was very thorough. He even explained to me a lot how wifi and radio works.
As any of my devices could find 5Ghz on wifi list, He made some changes on the modem and he went over with me resetting it.

---

What can I say... Wi-Fi is complicated.  It normally should "just work" but when it doesn't, the troubleshooting process can be extremely frustrating, especially when devices refuse to connect or you don't get the speeds that you expect, or when the Wi-Fi throughput drops for no apparent reason.

I think he disabled the Band steering and separated 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands.
Finally my phone and tablet can connect to 5Ghz, and their WiFi speed is at 500Mbps, which is equibalant t my internet plan, finally. With 2.4Ghz, speed remains around 30-80Mbps.
I tested my laptop with 5Ghz. Wifi speed was around 140Mbps.

I'm pretty happy that I finally got the good speed. Although my question is...

Why the modem's band steering is not working with my most recent devices ??

is it ideal to keep the band steering disabled ?

---

Band Steering is not something that you absolutely must have enabled.  It can be a convenience -- you can have a single SSID for both the 2.4 and 5GHz networks and the 5GHz-capable devices will "automatically" connect to that band which (normally) should provide higher throughput and less interference.

Wi-Fi devices discover networks in one of two ways: active and passive scans.  Some wireless clients only perform passive scans; they sweep each channel looking for beacon frames, which are sent by Access Points to advertise their Wi-Fi networks, and either connect to known networks or allow the user to select the network that they wish to join.  With active scanning, the wireless client sends "probe requests" on each channel looking for a response from the Access Point for networks that they wish to advertise.

When Band Steering is enabled, the Access Points do not actively advertise their networks.  If the AP hears a probe request on the 2.4 GHz band, it may not respond to that request unless it has not heard a probe request on the 5GHz band in the last 60 seconds.  (On some AP's, this timeout is configurable.  Implementations might also vary.)  Although this approach works great most of the time, Band Steering can cause problems for some devices.  If a wireless client can only discover Wi-Fi networks through passive scans, it won't be able to connect to an AP with Band Steering enabled.  If a wireless client "gives up" trying to connect if it does not get a response to a probe request on the 2.4 GHz band within 60 seconds, then it will never be able to connect to that AP with Band Steering enabled.  (Those are just some of the scenarios.)  Suffice it to say, the wireless client and the Band Steering implementations need to be compatible with each... or offer users the ability to fine-tune settings to make them compatible.

Please forgive me for over-simplifying the above explanations but, like I said before, Wi-Fi is complicated.  If everything works for you with Band Steering enabled, great.  If it doesn't, disable it.  You'll miss out on the benefits that Band Steering offers but it's far more important that all of your devices are able to connect.

[Jerlevick]

HP laptop and Motorola phones cannot find network

I have Ignite and if connected to the router by network cable there is no problem, but neither an HP laptop nor two phones can reliably find or connect to the network wirelessly

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @Jerlevick. 

Welcome to Rogers Community Forums, and I hope you and your loved ones are doing well!

Thank you for posting the connectivity concern in the Community. We need more information about your devices to diagnose the issue. 

Can you please provide the WiFi connectivity supported on all of your devices? 

We look forward to hearing from you. 

Cheers,
RogersMoin

[MadDogg]

Season’s Greetings,

Rogers pods deactivate 3rd party wifi extender. I have the Rogers ignite Gateway modem/router and 3 Rogers pods on each floor of my house.

I also have a Netgear wifi extender that has the dual band feature that allows me to manually connect to either the 2.4 or 5G band.

Here’s my issue; I have certain devices around the house that require a connection to the 2.4G band (weather station, smart plugs etc.)

Everything was good until a few days ago when my weather station and smart plugs stopped working as they wouldn’t connect to the network, I’m convinced that this was caused by the addition of the 3 Rogers pods.

My understanding is that the pods connect to the modem and they rely on distance/strength to amplify the signal thus creating a “mesh network” and automatically change the band based on this distance.

However, I can still see the dual bands from the Netgear extender on my network, but when I select 2.4G to reconnect these devices they won’t connect. My only reason for keeping this extender is to support these 2.4G devices.

I know there is a way to split the bands from the Gateway modem/router via the ignite wifi hub but since installing the pods this feature is disabled on the app.

Is there some sort of work around to keep my pods connected AND enable my wifi extender?

Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Gdkitty]

The extender, has 2.4 and 5 on it?
Its almost like its preferring the 5 on it, and then not extending the 2.4?? 

If your not really needing the range per say on the extender itself, are you able to disable the 5 on the extender?  Then it should only do the 2.4.


Its interesting on how/what IoT smart devices work/not work with the band steering on.
I have..  probably about 15 devices?  I know a good 2/3 of them say they are 2.4 only.
None of them have had any issues so far with band steering and connecting.
Even when i switched the pods (from the original EERO to the current ones)

[sumitd]

Hi

Having an issue with the 2.4 band on my XB6 modem - basically it has disappeared. After all the various restart/reset/changing 2.4 SSID names solutions were exhausted - a technician visit was arranged.

The technician adamantly insists that you can't have different names for 2.4 and 5 ghz bands! "I have the same modem at home, and you cannot do it!" is his reasoning!

What sort of technicians do you have?

[RogersMaude]

Good evening @sumitd,

Welcome to the Rogers Community and thank you for your post! 

I am sorry to hear the technican visit for situation pertaining to your modem band steering led nowhere. We appreciate you took the time to bring this up to our attention.

For assistance with your issue, please check out some of the following threads:

• Band Steering on XB6 Modem Causing Issues for 2.4 GHz Devices (for example this post)
• How to disable or turn off Band Steering?
• Connecting a smart bulb and smart plug to Ignite TV Wi-Fi (although it may not be your particular issue, the suggestions offered might be relevant).

Please don't hesitate to post a detailed message of the particular situation you need assistance with. Our Community users and Resident Experts are always eager to help!

RogersMaude

[tbuehl]

It seems my ignite router is set up to automatically manage the 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz channel allocation.  The router gateway management portal will not allow me to make any changes such as renaming the 2.4Ghz channel or broadcasting the SSID for the 2.4Ghz channel.  Can anyone help.  I would like the router to broadcast both channels so that I can assign devices manually.  Cannot set up my smart devices otherwise.  Help?

[Datalink]

@tbuehl I know that your post was moved to this thread, so the question is whether or not you have an XB6 modem with the Ignite TV service.  If so, call tech support and ask the tech support rep to disable Band Steering and Auto Channel assignment.  After Band Steering has been disabled, you should be able to rename one of the wifi networks in order to separate the 2.4 and 5 Ghz networks. 

The tech support rep might tell you that this can't be done, however, there was a recent post from another customer who had tech support disable Band Steering and Auto Channel.  So, it can be done, just a question of finding the right tech support rep who knows how it can be done.  Most likely its a hidden enable/disable function in their modem option menus, just have to find it. 

If you have a Hitron CODA-4582 modem, log into the modem and:

1.  navigate to the Wireless .... Advanced tab.  Disable the Band Steering in both the 2.4G and 5G tabs and save the setting.  

2.  navigate to the Basic Settings and 2.4G and 5G tabs and select an appropriate channel or channel groups.  That will disable the Auto channel setting.  Save the changes on each tab.  

3.  Rename one of the networks, either the 2.4 Ghz or 5 Ghz as desired.  Save the changes.  

4.  Reboot the modem, using the ADVANCED .... DEVICE RESET .... Reboot function. 

[-G-]

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@tbuehl wrote:

It seems my ignite router is set up to automatically manage the 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz channel allocation.  The router gateway management portal will not allow me to make any changes such as renaming the 2.4Ghz channel or broadcasting the SSID for the 2.4Ghz channel.  Can anyone help.  I would like the router to broadcast both channels so that I can assign devices manually.  Cannot set up my smart devices otherwise.  Help?

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If you have Ignite WiFi Pods installed (or even associated with your account) then I'm almost positive that neither you nor tech support can disable band steering or auto channel selection.

If you do not have Pods installed, then I believe you can disable band steering using the Ignite WiFi app.  (When you edit the network name, there should be an option, "Use different names and passwords for 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi".  Having different names configured will disable band steering.)

[Moern2000]

I bought a bee LG SmartThinQ washing machine in the fall and is has a smart function. I was able to connect to my old Rogers network but since I have changed to ignite I cannot get it to connect. Any suggestions?