Hub 3. How change to 2.4ghz

[lyneyh]

My smart plugs require initial setup on 2.4ghz only. 
how do I do this. The link I click asked for password. I have tried the settings one on bottom of hub, wifi password & virgin media one 

help please 

[jbrennand · Accepted solution]

First.... Do a Hub “pinhole reset” - first make sure the 2 passwords on the Hub sticker are still there and legible first ! Disconnect any ethernet cables from the Hub (leave the coax connected), and then with the Hub still "switched on" throughout, press pin in firmly with paper clip/SIM tray tool or similar "thin thing" and hold it firmly for at least 60 (a timed sixty) seconds, release the pin, leave for 5’ to stabilise - dont manually switch it off at any time. Passwords and SSID’s will reset to those on the sticker.

Then...

Go into the Hub’s settings. Type in  http://192.168.0.1  into your web browser’s url box and login with settings password on the Hub's base sticker (or your own if you changed it). Then in Advanced>wireless signal >smart wifi - tick the disable “channel optimisation” box or “Smart Wifi” box and save settings.  May be different pathways and wording on the 3 Hub types
Then, go to advanced>wireless signal>security, rename the 2.4 & 5 GHz network ssid's.  Just type over to change 'em to whatever you like and something that will differentiate them (e.g - Billybob2 & Billybob5) Try to avoid spaces and periods in the SSID names as they can cause issues with certain devices. Use the same password for simplicity,  Then, apply settings and restart the Hub.  Your 2 wifi networks will now be clearly separated - and you can then select the network you want each device to connect to… individually from the "available networks" list on each of your devices. 

Note all your wifi devices will need re-connecting to the new SSID's and passwords.
All things being equal, 5 GHz is always better/faster and subject to less congestion/interference (and is better for iDevice speeds than the 2.4 one - although the 2.4 one has the better "range" and will be needed when the 5 GHz drops out of range and some older/cheaper/dumber devices can only use this one. 

You should also use a wifi analyser App (or Airport Utility on iOS) to check which 2.4 channels are being heavily used around you and move yours to one of numbers 1,6,11 that is least so, but it wont help if there is other interference.

See if these changes help - you will lose any “seamless roaming” benefits but it may not matter and you can always change the settings back by doing a " pinhole factory reset " if you prefer the way it was - or it doesn’t help.

[lyneyh]

Thank you. It worked. I got confused about naming them (not sure about what to name them & need different passwords) so I just enabled 2.4ghz only & left it at that. All working fine  

[Tudor]

Not a good idea to turn off the 5GHz band, mobile devices work much better using this. 
To split the bands in the settings just give each SSID a different name, like myhome-2 and myhome-5 you can use any name whatsoever, but steer clear of most special characters. As to the passwords they can be the same or different, it’s up to you. Also it’s best to turn off smart/intelligent WiFi as this can cause some problems. If you ever have VM pods both bands must be active with one SSID and smart/intelligent WiFi turned on. 

[lyneyh]

Thanks for the update. I will try do this. When I enable 5ghz however the Smart plugs stop working. 
shoud I just rename the 5ghz? Leaving the 2.4ghz set up ? 

[jbrennand]

If you disable "smart wifi" (as above)that will stop the smart plugs getting confused with having the 2 bands being broadcast and should connect ok on its limited 2.4 frequency