SmartConnect -- what am I missing?

[SteverinoLA]

I've come back to Asus routers and have a 86U router and a AX55 AIMesh node (via 1G LAN). Smart connect is really confusing, even after reading a few web sites trying to explain it.

1) Am I correct that Smart Connect is purely for switching b/t bands, and since I only have 1 2.4G band and 1 5G band, for me it's just swapping devices b/t 2.4 and 5G?

2) I don't even want any of my 5G devices to ever connect to 2.4G, period. How do I configure this in Smart Connect?

3) Likewise, I want every 2.4G connected device that is capable of 5G wireless to promptly switch from 2.4 to 5G. How do I configure this in Smart Connect?

4) The Enable Load Balance toggle appears totally undocumented, and I think it just applies some chipmaker parameters for steering?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[SteverinoLA]

I've come back to Asus routers and have a 86U router and a AX55 AIMesh node (via 1G LAN). Smart connect is really confusing, even after reading a few web sites trying to explain it.

1) Am I correct that Smart Connect is purely for switching b/t bands, and since I only have 1 2.4G band and 1 5G band, for me it's just swapping devices b/t 2.4 and 5G?

2) I don't even want any of my 5G devices to ever connect to 2.4G, period. How do I configure this in Smart Connect?

3) Likewise, I want every 2.4G connected device that is capable of 5G wireless to promptly switch from 2.4 to 5G. How do I configure this in Smart Connect?

4) The Enable Load Balance toggle appears totally undocumented, and I think it just applies some chipmaker parameters for steering?

Thanks,
Steve

And also, how do I identify Smart Connect entries in the log? Is it the entries tagged "hostapd"?

 

[Tech9]

2) I don't even want any of my 5G devices to ever connect to 2.4G, period. How do I configure this in Smart Connect?

Disable Smart Connect and assign your devices to the preferred band. What you're missing with Smart Connect - it's not that Smart. It just connects.

 

[bbunge]

Well, some of us do not agree with Tech9...

Dual Band SmartConnect works just fine in a home network. One good reason to use it is if your 5 GHz detects RADAR and goes off, the clients will switch to the 2.4 GHz and keep working. It does seem counter productive but it does work.
Another recommendation, that causes panic in some circles, is to set the 5 GHz bandwidth to 20, 40, 80, 160 MHz on Auto channel. Most of the time my 5 GHz runs at 80 MHz which is just fine for AC and N clients. When the AX clients connect the bandwidth goes to 160 MHz if it is cleared for RADAR. You can also enable DFS channels and it will work just fine. The 2.4 GHz I set to 20 MHz Auto channel as my neighborhood is poluted with 2.4 GHz routers that use all the channels in the band.

Tech9 will disagree with this but you spent the bucks on a good router, trust it and your clients to choose what is best for them. You may just be pleased! If not you are free to mess up your settings any way you please....

 

[Tech9]

Well, some of us do not agree with Tech9...

Yes, because with your 100Mbps ISP line it simply doesn't matter. You only need Connect, 2.4GHz or 5GHz. You can't really tell the difference without actually checking where your device is connected or run a speed test. 2.4GHz N to common 2-stream client will do 90Mbps.

Tech9 will disagree

This is correct.

 

[SteverinoLA]

I have my channels hard-coded just based on reading other posts here. 2.4G is 11, and my 5G is on 104 (radar sensitive) b/c I live in huge condo w/40+ other wi-fi networks around me, but no one using 104 range. Is this DFS range? And I assumed that if radar came up then my 86U would just remap to another 5G channel, not knock my 5G devices down to 2.4G.

Also, AKAIK I can't tell any device that supports both 2.4G and 5G to only connect to 5G. The device decides, right?

I thought from reading around here letting the router Auto select channels causes interruptions. I have like 30+ smart home devices and had all sorts of trouble last week when I was using a pair of AX55's in AIMesh setup, but then a lot less trouble when I gave up on that and used the other AX55 in AP mode.

However, now I'm back to AIMesh w/86U router and AX55 mesh client b/c it was way too frustrating seeing all my devices constantly connect to the worst AP, and with AIMesh I can just assign every device that doesn't move around to the right AP.

 

[Tech Junky]

104 will use the upper end of the DFS range for 160mhz bandwidth.

When setting things up KISS helps keep things connected. Pick 1 Router and use actual AP's wired back tot he main router. Getting away from consumer "AP"-ish implementations works better w/ less frustrations. Not to mention an actual AP has the capacity for more clients attaching to them and you get up to 8xSSID's per band to segregate the devices to specific bands by SSID name only being on a single band if you so choose.

I keep my printer which only does 2.4 on its own SSID and then everything else floats between the 2 bands as needed.

Going this method relegates slower devices to stick to 2.4 and free up congestion on the 5 band for faster speeds.

 

[Tech9]

b/c I live in huge condo w/40+ other wi-fi networks around me

40+ network visible is not necessarily 40+ networks currently active. Better use 36-48 or 149-161. Channel 104 is DFS range.

 

[SteverinoLA]

Whoa, is that interface the Merlin software here that I haven't tried yet? I don't think I can do what you show w/ASUS WRT.

My AIMesh node (or AP node -- I'm swapping b/t the 2 to experiment) is wired via 1G LAN back to router. All of my devices see about 30 other wi-fi networks to connect to, all via my 449 neighbors here. I've been trying the 36-48 and the 149-161 range and it seems fine, but I picked 104 after using WiFi Analyzer to look where all these other wi-fi networks are operating and it's pretty clear. I did just disable 160mhz after reading your (@Tech9) response to another thread. I only have 1 AX device (MS Surfacebook) and it saturates my 500/500 internet at 80mhz.

 

[Tech Junky]

is that interface the Merlin

No, it's a Zyxel AP interface.

In my instance I manually select 40 which encompasses

as a 160mhz block.

On the 2.4 I went with Ch 8

 

[Tech9]

all via my 449 neighbors here

No. Only a few around your unit. 5GHz signals don't travel very far. Ignore -80dBm networks and below. If non-DFS range works well, stay there.

I have my channels hard-coded just based on reading other posts here.

For 2.4GHz leave your router on Auto for a week and monitor what channel it selects more often. Lock this channel and stay there. Don't change it often.

 

[SteverinoLA]

OK, I'm back to my original question -- how to do stop all my 5G devices from ever connecting to 2.4G, or if on 2.4G then promptly switch to strongest 5G band? Can I do this in Smart Connect using just the stock ASUS-WRT firmware??

 

[bbunge]

Use

OK, I'm back to my original question -- how to do stop all my 5G devices from ever connecting to 2.4G, or if on 2.4G then promptly switch to strongest 5G band? Can I do this in Smart Connect using just the stock ASUS-WRT firmware??

USE Wireless MAC Filter.
I still do not recommend you do.