Contributor
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7 Messages
BGW210-700 won't mesh 2.4mhz and 5mhz devices
First question, is why does AT&T not have a technical support number listed anywhere on their website or within the account? Comcast had that ability, even though their tech support was generally pretty bad. Just saying.
Real question. I just switched to AT&T Fiber from Comcast and AT&T provided me a BGW210-700 modem/router. It has the capability to run devices at either 2.4 or 5mhz. I have a Sonos system and an HP printer that all run at 2.4mhz, then I have laptops and gaming systems that run at 5mhz. The credentials for both the 2.4mhz and 5mhz bands are the exact same, but when running this way, my computers and cell phones (5mhz) can't see 2.5mhz devices (printer and Sonos). When I went into the system and disabled the 5mhz option, all devices were forced to 2.4mhz and everything has been working perfectly as normal.
I'm sure folks will agree, I shouldn't have to do that for functionality to be achieved. The modem/router describes itself as being able to internally manage those devices' interconnectivity, but in my case, it's not. I know I could run all on 2.4mhz and not see a huge affect on speed, but I wanted to solve this if it was possible. I've searched online for this and every time I find a forum post that's similar to mine, it's unanswered. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
browndk26
ACE - Professor
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5.6K Messages
4 years ago
Try factory resetting the gateway. Hold the red button on the back until it restarts. Then go into WiFi and confirm that both bands are on and named the same. See if that helps. You can also go into the gateways settings, device, device list and see what bands the devices are connecting to.
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tonydi
ACE - Guru
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9.9K Messages
4 years ago
It's there, but they make you have to drill down many layers to get to it. 800-288-2020 I think they do that because AT&T, like most other big companies, looks at tech support as a giant money pit. Someday, someone will figure out that if you give great service (heck, I'd settle for decent service but can't find it) then that actually makes for happy customers, you know, the SOURCE of their revenue.
As far as your wifi question.....there's nothing to stop you from naming the 5Ghz SSID something different. That disables band steering, but I've come to the conclusion that often times band steering causes more problems than it's worth. Try it and see what happens.
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Super-Bee
Teacher
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22 Messages
4 years ago
ATT tech support 800.288.2020
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Arthurpeck
Contributor
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9 Messages
3 years ago
I'm having this same issue with my HP 8610 which is 2.4ghz only. Now I'm down to 3 choices:
(1) I can deal with switching networks to print but to your point, this is 2020! and explaining that to my wife .....
(2) I can disable the 5ghz radio altogether and deal with the poor performance as I battle all the IoT gadgets for bandwidth
(3) I can get a dual band capable printer for a couple hundred bucks. Guess I could try sending that bill to AT&T.
By the way, I tried setting up MAC filtering to force the BGW210 to always put the printer on the 2.4GHZ radio, but that didn't seem to do anything. It sure looks like the right answer though. Hmmmmm
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tonydi
ACE - Guru
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9.9K Messages
3 years ago
@Arthurpeck You separated the bands by giving the 5GHz bands a different SSID and left the printer on 2.4GHz that didn't fix your printer issue?
I don't know what options are available in the 8610's networking configuration (you need to access the built in web UI at the printer's IP address) but that's where I'd look first for things that aren't related to your WiFi connection and that you don't use. I have one HP printer that has WiFi Direct, which I don't use so I disable that. I disable IPv6, Bluetooth Low Energy, AirPrint, Google Cloud Print and Internet Printing Protocol, none of which I need.
I'll try to make this story short but I was beta testing an HP printer that was really flaky with it's WiFi connection. It would drop off the network with great regularity, never going more than 36 hrs without me having to poke some buttons or power cycle it to get it back online.
I literally spent two months with HP engineers and my router manufacturer's engineers testing firmware changes and changing settings, sending logs and even Wireshark captures. They couldn't figure it out.
One day my main computer couldn't see the printer no matter what I tried so I just nuked the printer installation from Win10 and reinstalled the drivers. That got me back up and printing. It wasn't until about a week later that I realized the printer had stayed online ever since since the day I had reinstalled the drivers!
That was 4 months ago now and it's never dropped since. I have absolutely no good explanation for why that fixed the problem, especially considering that the printer would sometimes lose the WiFi connection in the middle of the night when my PC was powered off!
So, while there's no logic behind this recommendation, try removing and reinstalling the software on your computer(s).
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zsjordan
Contributor
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7 Messages
3 years ago
@tonydi sounds like @Arthurpeck has the exact same problem as I. I've been researching this for over a year and no one has an answer. AT&T tech support is useless here as well (I've called). The furthest I've gotten is an AT&T field tech telling me in person that the router does an absolute terrible job at mitigating 2.4g/5g bandwidth when it relates to printers such as our HP8610.
Having the router run both 2.4g/5g off the same SSID will not allow computers to wirelessly access this printer.
I separated the bands into different SSID's for the 2.4 and 5g. Here's my examples (Britney Watch! and Britney Watch! 5G). In this scenario, I have to have my laptop to the 2.4g network in order to get to the printer. If I'm on the 5g network, no access. If I stay on the 2.4g network then access to some of my other devices is garbage slow.
There are billion posts about this and I have no found one viable answer from anyone. You'd think with such a large number of complaints, AT&T would provide a better modem/router, but that's probably a silly suggestion. At this rate of study, I should have just army crawled in my attic and ran direct line to the printer.
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tonydi
ACE - Guru
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9.9K Messages
3 years ago
Wait, what????? A device connected to the same router as the printer, but just on a different SSID from the printer, will absolutely still be able to print. I have no idea how you have things set up but something is not right there.
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zsjordan
Contributor
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7 Messages
3 years ago
@tonydi - @Arthurpeck myself and slews of others will take any advice you want to give. The settings on my AT&T modem/router are pretty much the same as from the factory (I've even done a factory reset) but the only difference is that I have separated the SSID for the bandwidth.
The 8610 has to be on the 2.4g network because it's 2.4g only.
If laptop is on 5g network, it can't see the printer to print or even to scan. I have tried this on 3 laptops. You can even see the printer on the network when trying to add the printer, but once it's added, you still can't print or scan to it.
If laptop switches to 2.4g network, I can print and scan with no issues.
I've tried resetting to the factory defaults on the printer, no help.
I've tried adding the printer while I'm logged onto the 5g network, still doesn't work.
I've never had a single problem with this printer. It was previously on a Comcast modem and router, which was 2.4g only, and I never had a single problem with it. It is only when I switched to AT&T and received this modem/router that can do both 5g/2.4g, that I started experiencing this unreachable issue.
I've seen this problem with this specific printer and this specific modem/router posted on tons of forums. Both AT&T and the HP forum, and everyone's solution is always to either buy a new HP printer, one that runs on 5g or 2.4g, or buy a better router that can steer the bandwidth better. Any suggestions will gladly be appreciated.
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tonydi
ACE - Guru
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9.9K Messages
3 years ago
Sorry, I've got a boatload of questions if you don't mind.....
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Arthurpeck
Contributor
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9 Messages
3 years ago
1. 192.168.1.78
2. Yes, and traceroute returns the expected 1 hop.
3. If I switch my MacBook to the 2.4GHZ network, yes. Otherwise no. It seems to connect but freezes.
4. I'm an all-Apple house, have been for years.
5. I tried to set up a MAC filter to limit the printer to the 2.4GHZ radio, but that didn't seem to work so I deleted the filter. So at this point I have no MAC filters configured.
6. SmartHomeManager ... I assume you mean the AT&T app? ... Shows the printer connected to the SSID for the 2.4GHZ radio.
7. Last I saw that, the 2.4GHZ network was on ch. 1 and I have no reason to believe it's changed. I'll check later if you like. The 5GHZ network is using channel 53 if I recall correctly ... anyway it was 50-something.
8. I've been trying to discover what ports the printer needs open, but so far no luck. Apple doesn't make discovering those technical details easy.
9. No, not sure what that would accomplish since the Guest WiFi Network would be on the 2.4GHZ radio.
10. The HP Print and Scan Doctor is a Windoze thing. I have found no equivalent for Apple.
I have configured the WiFi Direct feature on the printer and that seems to hold some promise. My wife was able to print from her MacBook yesterday evening. I'll be doing further testing later today.
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