Clients connecting to 2.4 when they should to 5

[yzT]

If clients are choosing 2.4 even though they are more than capable of staying in 5Ghz, what's the most likely reason? SmartConnect or Roaming Assistant or something else?

I'm using the default SC config:

• 2.4: greater than -62
• 5: less than -82

In fact, what do these number mean? For example, -60 would stay in 2.4 or in 5? What about -70?

The setup is 2 x AX82U. Also, since I disabled RA for testing, I have noticed that the clients stay connected to the farthest AP with poor 2.4 bandwidth, instead of roaming to the nearest node on 5.

 

[bbunge]

It likely means the 5 GHz is getting hit by RADAR and shutting down to clear. If you have the 5 GHz set to 160 MHz and or on a DFS channel, set it to Auto channel at 20-40-80-160 MHz. Also use WPA2/WPA3-Personal or just WPA2-Personal as some clients do not like WPA2/WPA3.

 

[TheLostSwede]

A lot of devices seem to prefer 2.4 GHz over 5 GHz and it's also possible that the devices decide that the signal is too weak and switch to the 2.4 GHz band. WiFi doesn't work as you'd think most of the time and does things without user interaction. I have a device that insists on connecting to a weaker AP on the 2.4 GHz band, despite there being a an AP with stronger signal closer to it. Not much you can do about situations like this, if you can't manually disable the 2.4 GHz on the device itself.

 

[itpp20]

Your best bet is using different SSID's.

 

[yzT]

this is for example one of my MBP right now:

it's literally 1m away from the AP, it should be on 5Ghz.

edit: In fact, it just switched again to 5Ghz

it's constantly switching.

 

[dsring]

You can try a different 5Ghz fixed channel. There may be interference on the channel that you are using. I have my Smart Connect configured like this and it has worked well. It may or may not work for you.