Devices can't see router when 5Ghz band is greater than 48

[gil80]

As the title says, "Devices can't see router when 5Ghz band is greater than 48".

But why is this an issue really?
I bought this router in Australia in 2019. I had NO ISSUES connecting my home devices, such as LG OLED CX and C1, Xiaomi Mi10T and other IoT devices to the 5Ghz band when it was set to a control channel up to 149.

Last year I had to move to a different country, so I took the router with me and all of my mobile and IoT devices with the exception of the TVs.
However, now none of my devices can see the 5Ghz band, except my 2018 iPad, when I set the control channel over 48. I'm using the same phone and router but in a different country, and now the phone can't "see" the 5Ghz band unless I use channel 48 or below.

I'm using RT-AX88U with Merlin frimware.
Last week I did a full factory reset to see if it will help, but it didn't.
The region is set to USA, though I'm not residing in the US (I just read somewhere that it's better this way).

Any ideas?

 

[ColinTaylor]

So what country are you in now? Devices connected to a mobile network (i.e. phones) will geolocate themselves and adjust their Wi-Fi channel support accordingly.

I see you previously reported a similar IoT problem with the 2.4GHz band.

 

[drabisan]

That sounds so weird! Least channels are in Rusia and China, but even those regulatory domains are going up to 68 and a bit far away, but that may vary.
I've seen similar problems when laptops "knew" the location is x while wifi was misconfigured to use location y. So laptops/devices will not see anything that's y-x. And that makes sense.
But 48 being the limit...I would definitely would like to learn what country you're in. That if you can share that.

US has one of the least restricted regulatory domains. Some channels can beam most power vs everywhere else. It's not legal to use different regulatory domain than country's you're in (can hate the law, but good old rule - you're in the country you have no ways but to obey the laws of that country - unless you're a diplomat or a military personnel ) so try to change the regulatory domain and see if that makes a difference.

 

[gil80]

So what country are you in now? Devices connected to a mobile network (i.e. phones) will geolocate themselves and adjust their Wi-Fi channel support accordingly.

I see you previously reported a similar IoT problem with the 2.4GHz band.

That sounds so weird! Least channels are in Rusia and China, but even those regulatory domains are going up to 68 and a bit far away, but that may vary.
I've seen similar problems when laptops "knew" the location is x while wifi was misconfigured to use location y. So laptops/devices will not see anything that's y-x. And that makes sense.
But 48 being the limit...I would definitely would like to learn what country you're in. That if you can share that.

US has one of the least restricted regulatory domains. Some channels can beam most power vs everywhere else. It's not legal to use different regulatory domain than country's you're in (can hate the law, but good old rule - you're in the country you have no ways but to obey the laws of that country - unless you're a diplomat or a military personnel ) so try to change the regulatory domain and see if that makes a difference.

The country I'm in is Israel.

 

[sfx2000]

The country I'm in is Israel.

If your device was not certified in Israel, that could be a problem - it was only in 2018 that the MoC opened up the UNII-3 band for unlicensed use (with a lot of restrictions) - most vendors will not recert older equipment due to a lot of reasons (cost to do so, grey market inports, loss of sales to local dealer/distributors)

Prior to 2018 - these were the allowed channels - DFS rule do apply here...

36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64

​

​

 

[gil80]

If your device was not certified in Israel, that could be a problem - it was only in 2018 that the MoC opened up the UNII-3 band for unlicensed use (with a lot of restrictions) - most vendors will not recert older equipment due to a lot of reasons (cost to do so, grey market inports, loss of sales to local dealer/distributors)

Prior to 2018 - these were the allowed channels - DFS rule do apply here...

36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64

​

​

I'm not sure if it means that now, in 2023, the UNII-3 band for unlicensed use is only up to channel 48 in Israel or what?
My TV can't see 5Ghz band when I'm setting the router over 48 and I believe because it is by current regulations, but overseas (Australia) IoT devices and mobile phones to stop seeing above channel 48? is it really due to the fact they pick up the regluation of their current geo-location?

 

[ColinTaylor]

is it really due to the fact they pick up the regluation of their current geo-location?

That's definitely true of mobile phones/tablets because they determine their location from their cellular network connection. There have been multiple posts about this. As for IoT devices, I would have thought not. I would expect them to behave like a normal non-cellular Wi-Fi client and operate on any channel.

 

[drabisan]

The country I'm in is Israel.

That's the exact country were I've seen the "cannot see the channels" in. And that was traced back due to wrong regulatory domain implemented in the APs. Devices were seeing the right country code, yet APs were using channels that were not available in IL reg dom.

 

[gil80]

That's the exact country were I've seen the "cannot see the channels" in. And that was traced back due to wrong regulatory domain implemented in the APs. Devices were seeing the right country code, yet APs were using channels that were not available in IL reg dom.

Is it possible to add the correct channels for my router?
Or is there a region which is similar to Israel in channels?

 

[drabisan]

The problem is somewhere in the beacon there's a country code. Even though the beacon may be sent of channels allowed in IL, you may still have problems with some of your devices.
If you can change the country code to IL.

 

[gil80]

The problem is somewhere in the beacon there's a country code. Even though the beacon may be sent of channels allowed in IL, you may still have problems with some of your devices.
If you can change the country code to IL.

What is that beacon you refer to? Is it in the router or the modem that sends this info?

 

[drabisan]

Beacon is a frame used by any router/AP/repeater to "announce" it's SSIDs among other data.

 

[gil80]

Beacon is a frame used by any router/AP/repeater to "announce" it's SSIDs among other data.

so given this is an open firmware, is it possible to add the required beacon information?

 

[ColinTaylor]

so given this is an open firmware, is it possible to add the required beacon information?

This isn't entirely an open source firmware. It contains many closed source components, the wireless code is one of those. The country code in the beacon is a mostly depreciated option (802.11d) that ought to be ignored by modern clients.

If you have the option to change the region in the GUI then they're your only options. Choose the option which works best for you. In theory Europe should be the closest match.

 

[sfx2000]

The problem is somewhere in the beacon there's a country code. Even though the beacon may be sent of channels allowed in IL, you may still have problems with some of your devices.
If you can change the country code to IL.

Interesting read - what happens when a beacon has the incorrect country code... it doesn't have to be your AP, it can be a neighbor..

802.11d -- Why you should care.

Like many, I recently updated OSX to the latest version. After doing so, I could no longer connect to my 5GHz SSID. Immediately, I'm blaming...

www.mikealbano.com

(lots of other good info on that site as well, worth bookmarking and reading later)

 

[gil80]

This isn't entirely an open source firmware. It contains many closed source components, the wireless code is one of those. The country code in the beacon is a mostly depreciated option (802.11d) that ought to be ignored by modern clients.

If you have the option to change the region in the GUI then they're your only options. Choose the option which works best for you. In theory Europe should be the closest match.

so based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unlicensed_National_Information_Infrastructure it seems that for Israel, it's maxed at U-NII-2A channel 64.