[SOLVED] 2.4Ghz vs. 5.0Ghz

[JKRubenstein]

I have an ASUS router with both 2.4 and 5.0 bands. According to the router and ASUS's setup page, my router is broadcasting both bands. However, no devices can find the 2.4 and I need it, as Sonos speakers can only work on 2.4. The bands have unique SSIDs. ASUS's customer service has had me reset the router to factory settings - which has not solved the problem and other than that, they have had no ideas whatsoever. How do I get both bands to be located by devices?

 

[Lutfij]

Model for your Asus router? You might want to see if your router has any firmware updates pending. Apart from your speaker, you should be able to connect to the 2.4GHz network using a laptop from 2010 or later, to prove that your 2.4GHz network is in fact broadcasting.

 

[JKRubenstein]

RT-AC68U. The issue is that no devices - phones, computers, TVs or speakers can find the 2.4 band - even though ASUS says it's there.

 

[bill001g]

Make sure you use different SSID for 2.4g and 5g so you can really be sure. Some tools only show the strongest signal.

If nothing sees it first be very sure you did not check the box that turns off the radio. Some asus routers have seperate lights for the 2.4g and 5g radios when they are active.

After that you suspect a defective radio. The most common wifi failure in a router is the amplifier part of the chip. This is mostly a hardware function so the radio chip might think it is sending a signal but it never gets to the antennas.

 

[JKRubenstein]

Make sure you use different SSID for 2.4g and 5g so you can really be sure. Some tools only show the strongest signal.

If nothing sees it first be very sure you did not check the box that turns off the radio. Some asus routers have seperate lights for the 2.4g and 5g radios when they are active.

After that you suspect a defective radio. The most common wifi failure in a router is the amplifier part of the chip. This is mostly a hardware function so the radio chip might think it is sending a signal but it never gets to the antennas.

 

[JKRubenstein]

Bands have different names and both lights are lit up on the physical router... But nothing finds the 2.4.

 

[bill001g]

I really don't know how can tell if a router is really putting out a signal. Need a spectrum analyzer to see the energy rather than the data.

I suspect the answer is a new router. You could buy a cheap one that only runs 2.4g and use it as a AP.

 

[Ralston18]

Perhaps an experiment:

Use the MSG command to send out a test message to all windows devices.

At the Command Prompt (admin rights) type "MSG * This is a test" without quotes.

All active network Windows devices (wired, 2.4GHz, 5.0 GHz) should display the broadcast message.

Determine if both the 2.4 GHz devices and the 5.0 GHz devices receive the message.

Reference:

https://www.lifewire.com/msg-command-2618093

[Note: Apple devices will not receive the message.]