Second 5Ghz Radio disabled on BGW 320-500 & 320-505?!

@julerobb1  Hi.  My apologies for a vague post above with no helpful information to bring to the discussion.  

I realize we are talking about the newer Airties 4971 or 4921 units, but I wanted to share my experience with Airties.  

i meant, my last experience with the ATT version of the Airties 4920 extenders was that I could jump on using the Air4920.local website (after factory resetting the Airties and then updating firmware to a custom one from another providers website (not gonna be too specific on the public forum, it’s pretty easy to find with google ),logging on to the default ssid on the extender) and I noticed a whole host of settings and options that were unavailable on the att updated firmware.  Things like,

-using Airties in repeater mode,

-a setup walkthrough that would guide you through setting up bia web gui mode instead of using att SHM or worse— just trying wps or Ethernet without knowing the exact process of setup.

-customize antennae output

but now att, with automatic firmware updates, have configured the Airties to NOT ALLOW firmware downgrades, so we are stuck with the very limited options we have in the ATT Airties WebGUi (webpage).  

it’s a little insulting.  But I assume it is for protection from ourselves….sigh

I love this discussion.   Thank you all for participating!

also, @dave006  Once the Airties have linked up and updated to ATT firmware, is there any way to factory reset to before they updated firmware?  I know most ‘factory reset’ options (including red button reset holding a little over 10 seconds will reset it, but only reset the current factory image to where it was right after the latest firmware was updated).  I have tried the 30-30-30 reset button, but no luck (unplugged hold reset button for 30 seconds, plug in still holding for another 30 seconds, unplug still holding another 30 seconds—heck, this method may be only a myth).

DB

interesting. Im sure if you can figure out a way to get command line access, similar in the sense of the BGW 210 gateways, but in this case either for the 320 or the AT extenders, we might end up re-gaining some of the funcitonality. All you would really need at least for repeater mode and things is probably access to the CLI to set your own SSID, assuming they run the same underlying software. Of course they all use embedded variant of linux , so YMMV, but it cant hurt to throw things at the wall and see what sticks.

its like with the 210, enough tinkering and you'll eventually either get it to do what you want or end up letting out the magic smoke in the end.

Hello,

I started a thread here to try to understand a couple things I've noticed about my BGW320-505.  I was alerted to this thread so I thought I'd stop by and seek feedback from this group.  I'm not a technical person, I'm just curious about what my BGW320-505 is doing and how it might affect devices I have connected to it.

In summary, I've noticed that my BGW320-505 is broadcasting the same 5G SSID simultaneously over two channels.  Note there aren't two separate SSIDs, only one.  My devices connect "automatically" to the SSID over one channel or the other.  The BGW320-505 indicates that all are connected to the same SSID.  There is more detail at the other link.

My working hypothesis is that the BGW320-505 normally broadcasts over a DFS and a non-DFS channel, and the connecting device chooses which channel depending on its capabilities.  Right now, my laptop is connected to channel 52 and my Roku TV is connected to 149.  Roku doesn't support DFS channels and 149 is non-DFS.  Channel 52 is a DFS channel.  Moreover, I think sometimes either the BGW320-505 either broadcasts over a single DFS channel or over two DFS channels simultaneously and this causes my Roku TV to lose connectivity.

As I said, I'm mostly just curious about what's happening so I thought I'd stop by.  Thanks very much for any insight.

I don't think it has so much to do with DFS vs non-DFS.  802.11ac and 802.11ax allow for MIMO, where multiple channels can be used simultaneously.  The two channels in use may or may not be DFS.  You used to could lock your channels on the BGW320, but they disabled that, I think because you would need to enter two different channels.

Yea, the fine feather brained folks that are the software engineers decided it'd be a great idea to disable things and lock down the firmware and remove lots of functionality.

@JefferMC  For me, DFS is relevant because Roku doesn't support DFS.  I think the only reason my TV would disconnect is if the SSID was broadcasting only over DFS channels.  I was hoping to learn that this gateway or its firmware was smart enough to broadcast over at least one non-DFS channel all the time.  I gather what you're saying is that the channels are generated "randomly" (irrespective of DFS or non-DFS status) and they could both be DFS with some probability, in which case my TV disconnects.

If my understanding is correct, then the only fix available is to add my own router with a passthrough connection to the BGW320-505 and set the 5G channel(s) myself.

@julerobb1  Yes, it's particularly bothersome in my case when they remove functionality that causes my service to be disrupted (to my TV). 

Thanks for the feedback.

I didn't mean DFS was irrelevant to you, but irrelevant to the Gateway's choice of channels.  

For anyone still following this, today I checked my wifi analyzer program and noted that the BGW320-505 was broadcasting on two DFS channels -- 52 and 132.  It had switched channels "automatically", overnight.  The last time it switched to two DFS channels was just over one month ago. 

I checked my TV, and sure enough, it had no internet connection.  I logged into the BGW320-505 and chose to "Find the Best Channel" for 5G and it selected 52 and 149.  The TV immediately picked up 149, which is non-DFS

Rather than continue fussing with this, I've switched the TV over to 2.4G.  I'm hoping that congestion on the 2.4G band doesn't affect my TV viewing.

It seems like my cell phones and laptop are capable of dealing with DFS channels but my TV is not.  Roku evidently has no plans to support DFS channels, and AT&T evidently has no interest in allowing us to select 5G channels to solve our own 5G connectivity problems.  For my part, I'll hope that congestion on the 2.4G band doesn't affect my TV viewing.  If it does, I guess I'll have to buy a router that allows 5G channel selection (and maybe allows two channels to be selected) and stand it up behind the BGW320-505.

Certain 5ghz channels mess with my soundbar connection. Very disappointed that I can't select what channels to use. 

It sounds like the problem with your soundbar is similar to the problem with my TV.  I switched my TV over to the 2.4G band and haven't had a problem since, even given the congestion on that band in my neighborhood.  Have you tried switching your soundbar to 2.4G?  (There are no "bad" channels on the 2.4G band.)

If the 2.4G band fails me, I plan to get a cheap 2-band router and stand it up in front of my BGW320-505 and configure it as an access point.   I would then us its (different name) SSID for my TV and would have complete control of its 5G channel.  That would allow my TV to use the 5G band without interruption.