Connectivity with smart thermostats

[#1]

I have Plusnet hub 2, with 9 smart thermostats (Herschel) and 4 cameras/lights (Ring). The Herschel devices only connect to 2.4Ghz network and as Hub2 can't do this, I've got a TPlink WiFi extender set up to split the bands.

The thermostat persistently show offline in the Smart life app despite being on and functioning. I cannot tell if the router is unable to cope with multiple parallel reconnections (e.g. if the thermostat server triggers all to seek new IP at same time) or if the issue is because of the use of the extender to broadcast the 2.4ghz band. The ring devices all show online (connected direct to hub not the extender).

Any thoughts on how to remedy?

[#2]

@pmfreeman welcome to the forum

The Hub can support connections from both 2.4 and 5Ghz devices at the same time and able to support multiple DHCP request from various device at once.

Which TP-Link device are you using, does the Hub and TP-link device share the same IP Address range, are they both using the same wireless (SSID) name?

There is a 'Wireless mode' setting on the Hub Two navigate

Home >Advanced Settings >Wireless >Wireless mode - try Mode 2

Mode 2: Some devices can sometimes struggle to use the latest Wireless features, if you have any devices that can't get a good wireless connection, try using this mode. Selecting this mode may reduce the wireless range and throughput but improve connectivity.

HTH

[#3]

@Dan_the_Van thanks for the reply.

I'm using a TP-Link AC750 Mesh Dual Band Wi-Fi Range Extender.  The thermostats can only connect to a network that is just 2.4GHz band, and i could not get the hub to separate the two frequencies (can it actually do this?). So I set the extender up as a separate network name, broadcasting 2.4GHz and 5GHz separately.  i don't know if its using the same IP as the router - i suspect not.  I just used the Tether App.

I'm away from the property currently and I don't know if I can log into the router remotely to change the settings (i.e. over internet, when I'm not on the router's wifi). I tried this once but could not get it to work.  not sure if its possible, or just i didnt do it right.  When i can log in, i'll try Mode 2.

I dont think i can connect to the TP link extender remotely over internet, so i cannot reboot it remotely.  I wondered about putting the router and extender on timers - to turn them off for 1 min ever 24hrs, to force reboots, and see if that allows the devices to reconnect.  So even if i don't know why they go offline, they might be brought back online every day?

I've seen posts about connecting the thermostats to a different router, and connecting that router to the Hub modem/router. I think i've effectively done this with the extender.  But i wondered if installing mesh might achieve the same thing, with a product designed to handle multiple internet of things devices

Another test could be to connect a Ring device to the extender and see if that is similarly affected.  If the Ring devices are affected in the same way, then i'd know the issue was the extender/router and not specific to the thermostat.

[#4]

@pmfreeman 

I have Ring camera and Alexa devices, they work with no changes from the defaults on the Hub Two.

It is possible to turn off either the 2.4 or 5Ghz wireless signal on the Hub but the wireless name is shared with both bands so they can not be split. Changing the Mode setting only effects devices connecting to the hub.

The TP-Link extender is wireless only, so it's connection speed is determined by the backhaul (uplink) connection to the Hub, so if the backhaul speed is 50Mbps any device connected can not be any faster than 50Mbps.

No remote connection available for the Hub but the with TP-Link is might be possible if you have a TP-Link account.

I would hope provided the smart app is on the same wireless network name as the thermostats you should see them.

When I have time later I'll look at the TP-Link device setup guides.