RT-AX88U Leave Smart Connect OFF if not changing defaults?

[pulp]

I don't really need Smart Connect, I believe, nothing major going on and the laptops downstairs are going fine. Should I turn it OFF or is it being ON without my changing anything, the better option and just leave it as is?

 

[OzarkEdge]

I don't really need Smart Connect, I believe, nothing major going on and the laptops downstairs are going fine. Should I turn it OFF or is it being ON without my changing anything, the better option and just leave it as is?

Smart Connect is suppose to encourage connection to the better signal/band... band steering. It allows using the same SSIDs for all bands. If you disable it, you should use different SSIDs per band.

Using different SSIDs also allows allocating certain clients to certain bands.

If you are using AiMesh with nodes that do not support Smart Connect (AC1900/AC68/AC66 B1), then you should disable Smart Connect and use different SSIDs.

With Smart Connect and same SSIDs, some clients may connect to the lessor SSID/band, or may do so first before changing to the desired SSID/band. Meanwhile, the user will have to inspect the client connection to know what is going on, particularly when something is misbehaving, so now you are troubleshooting Smart Connect every time you have a client or connection issue. So, I prefer to eliminate this connection delay/disruption and/or uncertainty by disabling Smart Connect and using different SSIDs. On the rare occasion I need to connect to the other band, I make that connection manually... manual band steering.

Perhaps some day when everything else is working perfectly, I'll play with Smart Connect again. But not during AiMesh development.

OE

 

[drabisan]

manual band steering.

Perhaps some day when everything else is working perfectly, I'll play with Smart Connect again. But not during AiMesh development.

OE

I used to do that. AiMesh2 solved that problem for me.
You're right, in some scenario it makes sense not to use SC. And in some other cases it's simply annoying to end up in 2.4 on a busy radio.
But in most cases it does makes sense! Especially when devices are having 2 5GHz radios.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I used to do that. AiMesh2 solved that problem for me.
You're right, in some scenario it makes sense not to use SC. And in some other cases it's simply annoying to end up in 2.4 on a busy radio.
But in most cases it does makes sense! Especially when devices are having 2 5GHz radios.

With each AiMesh advance, I think about switching SC ON with same SSIDs... mostly to look fashionable because my client use is fine without it. But I figure I'll at least wait until AiMesh 2.0 is released before adding more uncertainty to it... I can wait.

And I have been wondering how SC and WiFi 6e and tri-bands will operate when I get there in a year or two or three... adding more different SSIDs is not fashionable!

Fashion is often not practical... but it's fun.

OE

 

[tallmansix]

I spent ages reading about the woes of smart connect before using it on my tri-band GT-AC5300 but in the end I've set up tri-band smart connect using default settings and it works exactly as I expected.

2.4 ghz - I have a 4 legacy devices that are 2.4 Ghz only and these are the only ones that ever connect to this band
5ghz-1 - all the "n" devices connect to this (<300 Mbps)
5ghz-2 - all the "ac" capable device connect to this (>300 Mbps)

One SSID just makes it all simple for a household with 20+ wifi devices and in my case it spreads the devices evenly across the 2x 5Ghz bands due to the nature of the devices involved -ie roughly half are "n" only and the other half are "ac"

 

[drabisan]

With each AiMesh advance, I think about switching SC ON with same SSIDs... mostly to look fashionable because my client use is fine without it. But I figure I'll at least wait until AiMesh 2.0 is released before adding more uncertainty to it... I can wait.

And I have been wondering how SC and WiFi 6e and tri-bands will operate when I get there in a year or two or three... adding more different SSIDs is not fashionable!

Fashion is often not practical... but it's fun.

OE

I can give you an scenario that troubled me all the way since Asus decided to go for dedicated wireless backhaul until AiMesh2.
I'm in Europe so power between channels varies massively. High frequency ones are at 1W but with DFS. And 2.4 is crowded as everywhere else in the world.
My low 5GHz channels are borderline useful in some spots of my place. But required by some devices that are not supporting high 5GHz channels.
One solution would be to define an SSID per channel, so 3 SSIDs. Manually switching when needed.
Another solution would be SC. But I couldn't use high 5GHz in SC because of Asus.
So I had the same SSID for 2.4 and low 5GHz, with SC. And another SSID for high 5GHz. And that gives me higher power, enough to the place I was looking for. But manual selection - otherwise it will go into 2.4 and speed was terrible.
Now, without a "dedicated" wireless backhaul I didn't need, I can use SC on all 3 radios. Technically speaking I'm with the same solution I had 2+ years ago and it just works (granted, I still need to reboot my GT router every 2-3 days for stability reasons, but that's ok, it happens over night so nobody cares about it).
Bonus, guest on nodes, but no playdates so no actual need for it

 

[OzarkEdge]

I can give you an scenario that troubled me all the way since Asus decided to go for dedicated wireless backhaul until AiMesh2.
I'm in Europe so power between channels varies massively. High frequency ones are at 1W but with DFS. And 2.4 is crowded as everywhere else in the world.
My low 5GHz channels are borderline useful in some spots of my place. But required by some devices that are not supporting high 5GHz channels.
One solution would be to define an SSID per channel, so 3 SSIDs. Manually switching when needed.
Another solution would be SC. But I couldn't use high 5GHz in SC because of Asus.
So I had the same SSID for 2.4 and low 5GHz, with SC. And another SSID for high 5GHz. And that gives me higher power, enough to the place I was looking for. But manual selection - otherwise it will go into 2.4 and speed was terrible.
Now, without a "dedicated" wireless backhaul I didn't need, I can use SC on all 3 radios. Technically speaking I'm with the same solution I had 2+ years ago and it just works (granted, I still need to reboot my GT router every 2-3 days for stability reasons, but that's ok, it happens over night so nobody cares about it).
Bonus, guest on nodes, but no playdates so no actual need for it

So, fashion is now practical with AiMesh 2.0... cool!

OE