With the proliferation of IoT devices, we no longer have to manually perform the tedious duties of turning off lights and closing blinds. Someone who has experimented with the Internet of Things for any time will understand what I mean. A standard procedure for configuring an IoT device eero turn off 5ghz consists of the following actions:
Open the manufacturer’s app on your mobile device.
To initiate an action with an Internet of Things device, press a button.
The app then prompts you to switch your phone’s WiFi settings to match the one the IoT gadget broadcasts.
The IoT device “kisses” your phone.
Return your mobile device to its original WiFi setting.
At this stage, the IoT gadget will try to join your phone’s authentic WiFi network. This is how many new Internet of Things gadgets connect, but some just don’t, and here’s why. IoT devices often only have a 2.4GHz radio, whereas the network your phone is connected to likely uses the 5GHz radio of your WiFi router. In a moment, I’ll explain why some people can overcome this difficulty while others cannot.
With older, non-mesh routers, you might give each radio a unique name—the eero turn off 5ghz one SSID and the 2.4GHz one another. If you accomplished this, you could switch your phone to the 2.4GHz network during the initial setup of the IoT device so that it would recognize the correct radio, and then switch back to the 5GHz network after you were finished.
This solution worked but resulted in continuously seeing two WiFi signals for the same router, which was aggravating. A few years ago, I remembered spending hours on the phone with Belkin, trying to reconnect some antiquated Wemo switches to our network after replacing a router. I eventually realized that the switches could only connect to a 2.4GHz network.
Each Mesh Router Uses a Unique SSID
People are increasingly switching to mesh routers from more typical WiFi routers with several access points. If your Internet of Things gadget can’t link up, it’s likely because you haven’t given it a unique SSID for each of your router’s radios. When troubleshooting with some Internet of Things (IoT) device manufacturers, I’ve been advised to move far away from my router. They say WiFi signals at a lower frequency (2.4GHz) go further than those at a higher frequency (5GHz). To install an Internet of Things (IoT) switch outlet, I find myself in the backyard, near the ivy, trying to prevent my excellent WiFi signal from penetrating the chimney, which I know is lined with metal. It was unsuccessful.
In an unrelated matter, would you like to have the means to recall that low frequencies travel further (and better through walls) than high ones? You know how, if someone blasts their audio in their car, it can be heard down the street? In this case, the low frequency is to blame. A piccolo can’t be heard from a mile away.
Why do some internet of things gadgets connect to mesh routers while others don’t?
I promised to explain why some Internet of Things (IoT) devices, although having just 2.4GHz radios, can connect to mesh networks that broadcast a single SSID across both frequencies while others are unable to do so. For the past few years, I’ve been discussing this with Dave Hamilton of the Mac Geek Gab, and on a recent program, he laid out his theory for why this is happening.
According to him, the ones that aren’t doing it right are the ones in which the IoT device scans the WiFi signal to which your phone is linked and establishes a connection with the MAC address of the radio, which is most often the eero temporarily disable 5ghz radio. MAC addresses are used to determine the identity of a piece of hardware and should not be changed unless necessary. Your lightbulb may have selected your 5GHz radio’s MAC address, but the device can still not establish a connection because it operates on a different frequency.
Those who are succeeding are showing a higher level of intelligence. As with their less savvy counterparts, they begin by locating the WiFi signal to which your phone is connected. However, unlike those other viruses, they don’t steal the MAC address, focusing solely on the SSID. With a 2.4GHz radio, the IoT device will automatically be given access to the correct radio frequency as long as the SSID is set correctly on the WiFi router.
Exists a Way Out of This Predicament?
What should you do if an Internet of Things device won’t connect to your mesh router?
Select Troubleshooting from the menu that appears when you tap Settings in the eero app’s lower-right corner. My device won’t connect” is the first item in the Troubleshooting section. When you click that, you’ll see a beautiful big blue button that says, “Temporarily pause 5GHz,” followed by three paragraphs outlining very much what I just stated.
If you choose this, a timer will begin counting down the 15 minutes your disable 5ghz eero network will be down, giving you plenty of time to hook up that less-than-stellar piece of Internet of Things hardware. You may notice a slowdown in speed during this period, but otherwise, your other devices should function normally.
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