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Interpreting BSSIDs on the Smart Hub Pro and Smart WiFi Pro

linux-ii
Investigator
Investigator

‎03-05-2025 08:35 AM

While troubleshooting connectivity issues on my laptop, I used... 

nmcli device wifi list

 ...to understand what access points were being made available and which one I was connected to.

I was surprised to see 16 BSSIDs, some with no discoverable SSID:

BSSIDSSIDCHANRATE
26:41:FE:83:AB:F3--100540 Mbit/s
26:41:FE:83:AB:F3BH-2441FE83ABF0100540 Mbit/s
26:41:FE:74:F8:F3--104540 Mbit/s
26:41:FE:74:F8:F3BH-2441FE83ABF0104540 Mbit/s
24:41:FE:83:AB:F3EE-HFXPT6100540 Mbit/s
24:41:FE:74:F8:F3EE-HFXPT6104540 Mbit/s
26:41:FE:83:AB:F2BH-2441FE83ABF011260 Mbit/s
26:41:FE:83:AB:F2EE-HFXPT6-Comp11260 Mbit/s
24:41:FE:83:AB:F2EE-HFXPT611260 Mbit/s
26:41:FE:74:F8:F2BH-2441FE83ABF011130 Mbit/s
26:41:FE:74:F8:F2EE-HFXPT6-Comp11130 Mbit/s
24:41:FE:74:F8:F2EE-HFXPT611130 Mbit/s
24:41:FE:74:F8:F9--061 Mbit/s
24:41:FE:74:F8:F8EE-HFXPT6061 Mbit/s
24:41:FE:83:AB:F9--00 Mbit/s
24:41:FE:83:AB:F8EE-HFXPT600 Mbit/s

Even more surprising was that my laptop was connected to the final item on the list, which accounted for the issues I was getting.

I ended up using nmcli to force connection to the best BSSID, but I was left wondering:

  1. Whether it's expected to see so many BSSIDs on a mesh network like this.
  2. What each on likely refers to.
  3. Why Comp appears, despite having disabled it in the wifi admin panel.
  4. How it would have been possible that I ended up on the final item.

As far as I can tell, the BH SSID is likely the one connecting the main hub to the extender, but I have no idea what the SSID which couldn't be found (--) is.

If anybody can shed any light on this it would be useful!

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5 REPLIES 5
JimM11
Brilliant Contributor
Brilliant Contributor

‎03-05-2025 09:15 AM

@linux-ii It is the hidden ssid for the backhaul between devices, you have no access to it!

linux-ii
Investigator
Investigator

‎03-05-2025 09:18 AM

I did think that @JimM11 but I assumed the BH SSIDs were the backhauls, so the presence of the blanks was a bit more confusing to me!

0 Helpful
bobpullen
Scholarly Contributor
Scholarly Contributor

‎03-05-2025 11:15 AM - edited ‎03-05-2025 11:16 AM

@linux-ii - can you  actually see  those 'BH-' or 'Comp' SSIDs when scanning for networks using a Wi-Fi device (the typical way)?

Is your laptop 6GHz capable? If not, I wonder how well it can interpret the  6GHz BSSIDs. What might  offer you some more  clues is to  look at the encryption column in your output e.g. a BSSID that is explicitly 'WPA3' only is  very likely to be 6GHz (as it mandates it). 

I'm using wired backhaul (single extender) and I don't see  the 'BH-' entries when running the same command from a 5GHz *nix machine. 

In way of comparison, grepping for '--' and my named SSIDs gives me 16 entries. I have both Guest Wi-Fi and Compatibility mode (2.4GHz only)  enabled. I'm not 100% that all of these are all the EE  hub mind you as some of the MAC addresses (which I've redacted) look a bit out of sequence.

		bob@minty-boi:~$ nmcli device wifi list | grep -E 'MySSID|--'
        MySSID                Infra  1     130 Mbit/s  100     ▂▄▆█  WPA2 WPA3
        MySSID Compatibility  Infra  1     130 Mbit/s  100     ▂▄▆█  WPA2      
        --                     Infra  1     130 Mbit/s  100     ▂▄▆█  WPA3      
*       MySSID                Infra  149   540 Mbit/s  100     ▂▄▆█  WPA2 WPA3
        --                     Infra  1     65 Mbit/s   99      ▂▄▆█  --        
        MySSID                Infra  1     260 Mbit/s  54      ▂▄__  WPA2 WPA3
        --                     Infra  1     260 Mbit/s  54      ▂▄__  WPA3      
        MySSID Guest          Infra  1     260 Mbit/s  52      ▂▄__  WPA2      
        --                     Infra  1     195 Mbit/s  52      ▂▄__  WPA2      
        MySSID Compatibility  Infra  1     260 Mbit/s  49      ▂▄__  WPA2      
        --                     Infra  1     130 Mbit/s  49      ▂▄__  WPA2      
        --                     Infra  6     540 Mbit/s  44      ▂▄__  WPA2      
        MySSID                Infra  36    540 Mbit/s  32      ▂▄__  WPA2 WPA3
        MySSID Guest          Infra  36    540 Mbit/s  32      ▂▄__  WPA2      
        --                     Infra  36    540 Mbit/s  32      ▂▄__  WPA3         
        --                     Infra  100   540 Mbit/s  22      ▂___  WPA2
linux-ii
Investigator
Investigator
In response to bobpullen

‎03-05-2025 02:36 PM

@bobpullen 

Can you actually see those 'BH-' or 'Comp' SSIDs when scanning for networks using a Wi-Fi device (the typical way)?

Comp all of the time, BH occasionally shows up.

Is your laptop 6GHz capable?

Yep, I've got a T14s and it uses the Qualcomm QCNFA765 (which I'm pretty sure from memory is 6GHz compatible.

Appreciate the comparison as well, it's certainly a strange case.

0 Helpful
bobpullen
Scholarly Contributor
Scholarly Contributor
In response to linux-ii

‎03-05-2025 03:48 PM

@linux-ii - I have a T14 too but it's running Windows and pretty locked down with it being my corporate laptop (else I'd provide an even more direct comparison). May be multiple configs but the one I have is definitely 6E.

I'm inclined to think that my output is probably normal. I have a third party tri-band router so might try that on a rainy day to see what it looks like. There are aspects of your scenario that definitely don't seem normal though: -

1. You should never see the 'BH' SSIDs in normal device availability scans if your extenders are correctly paired and functioning properly. 

2. If you don't have the Compatible WiFi feature enabled then no way that should be showing either.

Not sure what problems you were diagnosing in the first instance but I'd be inclined to go with a full factory reset of everything if I were you (extenders and hub).

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