Different SSIID for different radios/ VS Home automation stuff

Hardware
1

A lot of home automation stuff likes 2.4GHz, and if you have your other router’s radios turned on then setting it up in HomeKit is a fool’s errand.

I’ve figured out how on my router how to temporarily turn off the other radios. What I’m wondering is if I should have different network names for the different radios, or will the other devices think they are on separate networks since they have separate names, or will they figure out there are all on the same HomeKit network since they can all see each other.

2

I prefer the same SSD for 2.4ghz and 5ghz. After HomeKit setup where it’s helpful to pause the 5ghz, the band steering should work fine. The network name doesn’t matter as far as devices communicating with each other through the router/HomeKit hub, only whether the router is set to isolate 2.4ghz from 5ghz (and it most likely is not set to do that.)

3

It will depend on the router and setup, but usually different wireless network names means that they have different IP ranges and therefore are different networks. This may cause problems.

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4

I live in a relatively new suburb. When I first moved in there were two or three other houses out in this field with us, but now it’s a full blown “subdivision” with the houses all having about 8’ between them. The homes are larger too (2500sq ft and up), and I know a few “IT folks” who have access points, mesh systems etc setup.

The 2.4GHz is pretty jammed up around here. With my 2 Ubiquity access points, I find having a separate SSID for the 5GHz makes my connections faster on my devices where I explicitly choose the WiFi. If I assign both the 2.4 and 5Ghz to the same SSID, certain devices like my iPhone and our main AppleTV will sometimes jump on the 2.4GHz and refuse to give it up. When I run speed tests I can get between 10 and 80 Mbps.

If I create a separate SSID for the 5GHz and specifically choose that in the device settings, I get much faster speeds with the AppleTV usually hovering around 255Mbps.

I think optimal network setup often relies on some trial and error because it depends on your surroundings, how busy the area is etc.

I’ve not had any issues with separate SSID’s for the 2.4 and 5, but whenever I’ve tried to meld them together I noticed significantly slower speeds on devices because they do favour signal strength over speed. Seemingly when the difference in strength is negligible because yes, 5Ghz can be less reliable signal-wise; even if that’s not been my experience with my setup.

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5

Wifi Explorer is great for this sort of thing.

NetSpot might also be useful if you have a laptop, but I never got to try it out myself.

Both are available on Setapp, if you have it.

6

Just a bit of looking under the hood complexity. Wi-Fi bands and network SSID names are different from actual networks at the LAN level.

Yes, different Wi-Fi bands or SSID names can be mapped to different networks, and some SSID’s can have station isolation turned on (aka “guest mode” where each wireless device can only communicate to the Internet but not see or talk to other wireless devices), but there is a lot of nuance to all of this.

There is also legacy issues with the original Wi-Fi spec for 2.4 GHz devices that imposes additional bandwidth limitations and reliability issues. Later versions of 2.4 GHz spec fixed most of those really bad issues (like a broken device hogging the airwaves preventing any other device from communicating) but there are bad devices out there which is why some geeks prefer to avoid 2.4 GHz devices completely or create separate SSID wireless networks for them.

However, soap-box on, the inability to onboard new smart home devices to the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi without turning off or suspending 5 GHz Wi-Fi networks with the same SSID, is really a basic bug in the implementation of many smart devices firmware which the manufacturers do not have the will to fix.

Band-steering, often confused with this issue, is not the same thing and does not solve the same problem.

The root cause of all these issues is that Wi-Fi gives final (and often the only authority) to make all these technical decisions in the hands of the end device, not the router or Wi-Fi infrastructure.

Your iPhone, laptop, or smart device has the final “say” in which access point or which speed band to connect with and which one it thinks is “closer” or “best”, regardless of what the Wi-Fi equipment, which has a global view of all traffic, bandwidth rates, channel usage, etc. thinks.

In practical terms, imagine if driving on public roads each driver/car can choose to do anything they like. Traffice lights, on-ramps, off-ramps, lanes, are all “advisory” but not “compulsory”. That’s the situation with Wi-Fi.

Band-steering is a feature where the Wi-Fi system recommends to the end device that it move to a different frequency band or access point, but the device is under no obligation.

It’s like driving with a partner in the passenger seat telling you to change lanes because they think the “other” lane is faster, but you have the ultimate authority to follow their advice or ignore it.

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7

I’ve found that to be the case, too.