Setting Alexa smart devices on a new wifi6 router

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Hello!

We are having troubles with the Amazon smart devices sometimes going offline at night.  These devices are using the 2.4Ghz channel and we had a separate named channel so we could tell the difference between it and the 5Ghz channel.   We decided to upgrade to a new WiFi6 router but it appears that the router figures out which channel the device needs automatically when a device connects and sends the correct channel speed.

Will this system work with the older devices which can’t run on the higher speed?  I wish I could name the 2.4 channel and then be able to manually connect my old devices, but the router does not have that option unless I use a guest network.

Are there any recommendations from you folks about the best way to migrate these devices to the new router?

Thanks!

Tom

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It should work although there are some old devices which fail. I’ve done that on a mesh network. What router are you using?

--Joe

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I Purchased a TPLink Dual band router.  One suggestion I received was to disable the automatic switching between 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz, which would allow me to name each connection manually as I had done before.

 

Thanks for your suggestions!

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WStnesler wrote:

unless I use a guest network.

A guest network is usually recommened for IoT devices…it isolates them from the rest of the network.

 

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Interesting suggestion.  I have the capability of turning on each speed with separate  passwords so I could differentiate which devices use each band.

Thanks for your help!

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Ideally, IoT devices should be on their own network.

An example…

Your main network is on 192.168.1.1

So, your guest networks could look something like this…

Guest24 (2.4 Ghz) 192.168.2.1

Guest5 (5 Ghz) 192.168.3.1

In most cases, IoT devices should only talk to the Internet…they should not talk to devices on other networks, or devices on their own network…unless there is some edge case that requires it.

Use strong passwords for the router, and WiFi.

 

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Thanks for the suggestion.  I have never used guest networks before.  Enclosed is a screenshot of my admin settings. What setting do you recommend I turn on?

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Enable Guest Network

Enable Wireless Isolation

WPA2-PSK (AES)

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Ok. Thanks for your help!…:-)

I setup my guest network connections.  I presume I need to leave the “Enable SSID Broadcast” checked.  Otherwise I can’t see that option in my network listing?

 

 

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Some people mistakenly think that hiding an SSID is “security”…it isn’t.

What was mentioned previously (network and device isolation, strong passwords, WPA2 (AES) encryption, and WPA3 encryption…for devices that support it.) are what to focus on.

In fact, if you have devices that do support WPA3, you could set up a guest network…just for those devices.

Some folks set up WPA3 for everything, and then find out that some of their older devices can’t use it…and won’t connect

I broadcast my SSIDs.

There could be many “Hidden Network” entries in your immediate vicinity.

It could be challenging to pick the correct one, especially for mobile devices.

 

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