Splitting 2.4 and 5

[Chinkamon]

I have some smart devices that run on 2.4 but because the channels are combined they can't find the WiFi at all, spoke to WiFi experts who flat out told me you cannot split them, don't use another router as it'll stop working, yet my father has WiFi with another company and he has split 2.4 and 5, is it true if I get another router instead of Vodafone it will stop working?

[nrbrook]

I needed to do this to set up some Meross garage door openers. These only operate on 2.4ghz, and require the phone to be on 2.4ghz too. Since I'm using these with HomeKit, and the first iPhone to support 5GHz is the iPhone 5, there was not much option to use an older device. Fortunately, it is possible to split the WiFi even if the option is disabled. Vodafone, if you are reading this, please don't "fix" this because it is required to set up some devices! Instead, make the option available through the UI!

1. go to the WiFi settings page in the router web interface
2. You may need to reset the router to factory defaults. I did reset it when testing below, so if it doesn't work without resetting, then try resetting to factory defaults.
3. Right click anywhere and select inspect element. If this isn't available, Google "developer console <your browser>" to find out how to bring up the development console
4. In the javascript console, run the following command (paste and hit return):
   document.querySelector("#wifiGen-sel-freq24 [value='2.4']").selected=true
   
5. This will select 2.4GHz only in a hidden dropdown. The UI won't appear any different, but click the "Apply" button and the change will be applied.
6. Do whatever you need on 2.4GHz. For me, this included connecting the Meross door openers to WiFi, and updating the firmware (before updating, they would not work when I reverted the WiFi configuration)
7. When you are ready to go back to 2.4/5/6 go back to the WiFi settings page and run the following command:
   Home hub (original): document.querySelector("#wifiGen-sel-freq24 [value='2.4/5']").selected=true
   Home hub 2: document.querySelector("#wifiGen-sel-freq24 [value='2.4/5/6']").selected=true
8. Apply the settings and your router will revert to the combined WiFi bands.

[xm3]

Hi there , I was wondering if I could use your method to have maybe the premium wifi be 5/6ghz only and the compatibility one 2.4ghz only, how would I go about doing this? thanks. 

[nrbrook]

Sorry only just seen this. Yes you can. The query has now changed. For main wifi, you now use

document.querySelector("#wifiGen-sel-freq1 [value='2.4']").selected = true

For guest wifi change 'freq1' to 'freq2'. For premium, use 'freq4'. The values can be '2.4', '5', '2.4/5' and '2.4/5/6'

[Pisicuta]

There is another link regarding this subject. Assuming your router is the same as mine, then it is not possible to split the 2.4 and 5Mhz at the router. I got round this by buying a tp-link extender that had separate channels (TP-Link AC750 Universal Dual Band Range Extender). I then set up a wifi password to the extender that is only for the 2.4Mhz channel and I use that to set up my smart stuff.

[Jayach]

That seems a sensible "work around", it wouldn't need to be a dual band extender/access point, a single band would be fine.