How to force a device onto 5ghz band

[Gbyars]

Hi,

Can I ask if there is a reason the EE Smart Router can’t separate the wifi bands?

This has caused me a problem, as I have a few devices that need to use the 2.4 GHz spectrum (so I can’t just diable that).

However, my work laptop is often connected only to the 2.4 GHz spectrum (noticable because the download speed is much less tha when connected to the 5 GHz spectrum).
It is in a location where 5 GHz signal is strong, as I previously had BT Broadband which did allow me to split the bands and it had a strong signal there.
Difference is huge - 300 Mbps download versus about 50 Mbps.

I can’t see a good solution to having my work laptop permanently connected to 5Ghz and my other devices that need 2.4 Ghz connected to that.

For now, I am just using my BT Hub instead of the EE Smart router - it works as I need.
I understand internally it is the same device as the EE router - which makes it all the more puzzling why EE havent enabled the bands to be split on their version.
Maybe it will come in a future firmware upgrade.

I’ll keep the EE router to plug in if ever I need support with the line, so I am using original equipment for troubleshooting.

But I am puzzled as to why EE would not enable this feature that other routers have had for years.

[XRaySpeX]

@Gbyars : BT have 2 Smart Hubs, the original & the Smart Hub 2. With the original you can split the WiFi bands, You must be trying (see below) to use that on EE BB. EE's Smart Hub & Smart Router are the equivalents respectively.

You can't use a BT Smart Hub on EE BB due to the incompatibility of BB Usernames acceptable. 

[Gbyars]

@XRaySpeX thanks for the clarification re BT routers.
It all makes sense.

I suspect then that I am using a BT original smart router.
But the good news for me is that it works just fine with EE - the Ethernet cable from my FTTP box plugs straight into the WAN port of the BT router, and all my devices have carried on working as they were when I was with BT, except with the the faster EE speed than my previous BT contract.

In fact, on the day of my switch, I didn’t know it had happened, as the BT router continued to serve perfectly.

Maybe no passwords are needed when plugging straight into the WAN port.

Interesting that the v2 smart hubs from BT and EE both dont allow to split the spectrums - for me a very definite retrograde step.

I can understand why default would be to have them the same, but not to enable the option makes no sense to me whatsoever, I simply cant see a technical reason to have this as a limitation.

Here’s hoping they correct this with a firmware update at some point, In the meantime I’ll stick with the older BT model that serves me well and gives me the full performance of my contract across all my devices.

Thanks again for your input.

[XRaySpeX · Accepted solution]

@Gbyars : I can't see how you are getting away with a BT format BB Username (bthomehub@btbroadband.com) in a BT Smart Hub running over EE BB. Could it be you are using 1 of the earlier BT Home Hubs where the field isn't so stringent? What does your router show as the BB Username?

FYI: 2.4GHZ and 5GHZ Bands BT Smart Hub 2  on BT Community 

[mikeliuk]

Hi @Gbyars ,

Cabling the RJ45 WAN port of your old router to a LAN port of your new router is a perfectly acceptable configuration where your old router obtains a private IP address by DHCP and results in a double-NAT configuration where you have two private subnets. (It would be a problem if your old private subnet clashes with the new one.)

Another way you could make your physical topology work is to bridge your old router to the new router and turn off the old router DHCP server so that your old router simply extends the broadcast domain of the new (best not to change anything if it works). Many routers cannot properly have the WAN interface in bridge mode and more routers are cable of bridging with a wireless connection from old router to new router instead of the wired connection and having the old router as an Access Point (AP). (I guess with DHCP server off on old router, you could also daisy chain switches with LAN to LAN to bridge the new router to the old router/switch but a little more care might be needed.)

I actually have a similar triple-NAT configuration where the outer NAT does not used split SSIDs but the inner two do. Historically I've always double-NATed to ensure no loss of old functionality as I test and configure the new outer router with a new SSID.

Interestingly, the old BT Smart Hub I still have does not have a RJ45 WAN port but the online manual for the BT Smart Hub 2 shows the RJ45 WAN port should be on the far right marked in red and I guess this is the port you have cabled to a LAN switch-port on the new router, and this would be a correct physical configuration as above.

[Mustrum]

How is any of that relevant?

You really should not be spreading irrelevant and inappropriate practices.

[XRaySpeX]

@mikeliuk : What is this rubbish? Where does it come into this thread?

The OP said he is using a BT router in place of an EE router, not as well as. It is plugged straight into the FTTP ONT. The EE router is being kept aside in case of needing support. OP is not enquiring how to use both in tandem or about the vagaries of double NAT.

Why are you again interrupting a perfectly flowing thread with irrelevant nonsense?

Do you ever read the OP & try to address it rather then introducing bugbears of your own to throw everybody off the scent? You constitute a double NAT (your bête noire I conclude) in yourself by redirecting the legitimate traffic of threads into the empty space of your imagination.

[XRaySpeX]

Disruptive interfering individual reported to Mods.

[mikeliuk]

I took the FTTP box to be the fibre router.

The BT router gets an IP address and it doesn't matter how: "But the good news for me is that it works just fine with EE - the Ethernet cable from my FTTP box plugs straight into the WAN port of the BT router". 🤓

[Gbyars]

Hi @XRaySpeX 

Very interesting.
So, I dont know exactly the model of my BT router, it was provided by BT for my new FTTP connection when I moved in in December 2019.
However, it's factory-setting SSID is in the form BTHub6xxxx, so I suspect it is a Smart Hub 6.
Quite an old device.

The broadband username is bthomehub@btbroadband.com, and there is no password set.

But it seems to work just fine.

The management console looks almost identical to the one on the new EE Smart Router, except on the page for customising WiFi settings it has a little button to enable "Separate bands", which is the killer feature for me. Looks like this option is simply missing in later iterations of this software.

I guess the EE router will have more aerials and maybe stronger signal etc, but this old BT device is giving me the full 300 Mbps download and 50 Mbps upload that my EE contract provides in every corner of my house.

Older, but for my purposes, superior.

Simply can't imagine why separating channels is now removed as an option the in latest EE kit (and BT according to your posts).

Thanks for your help in understanding the situation.