Broadband wifi/tapo devices issues at 2.4ghz

[GRAHAMWARR]

I have tapo plugs and lamps that operate at 2.4ghz. These worked fine when I was on ee but since switching to Vodafone with the 5ghz router I found I have an issue with connecting them to the WiFi at 2.4. I have read various articles about going into the hub and splitting/changing the frequency which I have tried both on the app on my Samsung A53 phone and a desktop pc. I think the issue is with  the 2.4ghz, my phone is not picking up the WiFi signal.

I have tried with the router set at split signal and at only 2.4ghz. I was only about 6ft from the router at the time. I switched off the auto connect on my phone to the 5ghz and set my phone to forget the 5ghz network and it was still not showing on the scan when at 2.4ghz. I have tried entering the details manually still without success. 

So when I go though the tapo app it finds my lamps using the tapo signal but is unable to find or connect the the 2.4 wifi because my phone can't find it. Even when I put in the 2.4ghz wifi details manually when setting up the lamps it still doesn't find it.

Bit of a loss as to why my phone doesn't see the 2.4ghz wifi when it scans for wifi. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[CrimsonLiar]

If you've not mirrored your previous WiFi SSID and password have you been through the setup procedure on your Tapo devices from scratch - because that would be necessary?  During setup Tapo devices use Bluetooth, so you generally don't have the setup issues of some other smart devices.

Even if you have mirrored your previous WiFi SSID there can occasionally be a problem thanks to WEP, which can mean having to set things up again

Generally, with Tapo devices, you do not need to split the SSIDs.

*Not using the Vodafone router, but about 10 Tapo devices (along with various other smarts), SSIDs not split.

[GRAHAMWARR]

Thank you for the reply. With the tapo bulbs I have I go on the tapo app and follow the instructions. The bulbs blink as they should and are found, at this point they temporarily connect with tapo's own wifi then they scan for my vodafone wifi on my phone which can't be found. Without the tapo app my phone fails to find a 2.4ghz signal when the router is set at either 2.4ghz or split the SSID doesn't show on scan.

[VFbroadbanduser]

It's probably because the router is broadcasting 2.4Ghz on channels 12 and 13 which a lot of devices won't see. You need to check and change the channels manually. There is information on this forum of how to do this using an older version of the Vodafone Broadband app.

I also suggest if you use an Android device download the Wifi Analyzer app from the Google PlayStore to see what channels the router is broadcasting on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.

[Ripshod]

I did have problems with my "Smart Home" devices in the beginning, but I never bothered about that because the plan was always to use my own router which works fine with all my devices on channel 13 now.

This is just a suggestion - I can't prove anything because I don't have my vf router any more. For channels 11-13 a router must place the extension channel below the control channel. I believe the vf router is trying to place the extension channels above so using an illegal mode - which in theory should be hardware limited (virtually impossible to implement with international hardware) or hardware protection is actually kicking in and disabling the transmitter.

Anyone want to look into this? The sidebands of a channel 13 signal should never go above channel 14 (in 20 or 40Mhz mode). Can anyone struggling with this install WiFi Analyzer on an android device and scan the 2.4Ghz band and post an image as @VFbroadbanduser suggested above?

[CrimsonLiar]

UK market Tapo devices don't have any issues with channels 12 or 13, that's where my router is sat right now and everything is connected.

What I am finding confusing is that your phone isn't seeing the router's 2.4GHz band - if you use an app such as WiFi Analyser can your phone see those channels?

@Ripshod The extension channels are generally irrelevant on 2.4GHz, and provided there is just a single sub-channel on the control channel up and working then it should all work!  *Nothing is currently connected to my mesh extender, so it's connected to the 160MHz bandwidth router using just 10MHz (so not even a full single channel)!  Mix of different smarts here, probably 6 differing systems, mostly easy to set up, but one or two....

[Ripshod]

Yes, wifi Analyzer sees everything within the bands that's supposed to be there.

@CrimsonLiar the point I'm trying to make is the legal spectrum in the UK for 802.11ac. If somehow a router with no hardware limit and dodgy firmware was to transmit out of band then nothing legally bound to the UK spec would work with it.

Now wifi Analyzer can demonstrate what I mean.

I set channel 9 with the extension channels above I get the following graph. Note particularly where it stops just below channel 14.

 Now look at the graph for channel 13 with the extension channels set below.

 They're identical.

The control channel does what it says - control. The data is carried across the extension channels. So if somehow the router is trying to do something strange like transmit on channel 11 those extension channels would go above channel 14 - an illegal mode in the UK then most devices designed for the UK market would fail to connect, whereas devices designed for the international market, such as mobile phones and laptops, and TVs, would have the hardware in them to make the connection.

I'm not forcing a point, just airing my thoughts.

If the hardware in the vf router was working properly then it would refuse to transmit anything above that 13/14 break - hence me asking for graphs. Despite not being able to change the channels the current channels can be found in the router's status pages.

Indulge me in a little tangential thinking - theories are all we have right now. 

[GRAHAMWARR]

Thanks for the info on the WiFi Analyzer, I did install one. 

All I have done at the minute is change on the Vodafone app on my phone, WiFi to split, nothing more. At the minute the Vodafone app on my phone is showing main WiFi as both 5ghz and 2.4ghz as it should. The only WiFi showing on the analyzer is the SSID for the 5ghz the 2.4ghz is not listed.

I assume its nothing to do with the SSID name, the only difference by default is the 5G included in the name but can't think that would matter they are still both different. I have the router located behind a tv but even when I carry out a scan next to the router it still only finds the 5ghz. I tried my partners Samsung phone and an old Vodafone mobile I had and in each case got the same results no visible 2.4ghz network. Have tried resetting the router but its still the same. 

Unless there is an issue with the router, had router couple moths after switching from ee. 

[VFbroadbanduser]

You can configure what is being broadcast by logging into the router GUI. Select Expert Mode and go into the Wifi settings menu. If you have split the SSID's correctly, then just set the Main Wifi to broadcast 2.4Ghz only and then do the same with 5Ghz Main Wifi 2 and then select Apply. Then you will see two separate networks broadcasting both frequencies.

The other way to do it is switch on the Guest wifi, which is a WAN connection only and only gives internet access with no LAN access and set that to just broadcast 2.4Ghz.

The Guest wifi is good for devices like Amazon Echo's and smart speakers that only need internet access.

[Ripshod]

@GRAHAMWARR could you share a screenshot of that 2.4 graph? Being absent from the graph would indeed indicate an operating mode outside of normal specification.

Anyone else seeing this? We'd need at least a couple more to be 100% sure.