Selecting 5G channels on Hub Two

[#1]

Overall I get fantastic Wifi speed test results in my normal operating position direct line of sight to the Hub2, I have 2.4G and 5G configured separately.  Speed tests from my mobile App typically 50 -74 Mbps on FTTC.

Sadly this is not the case for my alternative working position where there are a couple of block partition walls in direct line to the router. The Wifi signal strength on 2.4GHz  is very poor and the speed test results virtually unusable and 5GHz acceptable on  certain channels. The Channel Analysis App shows two ranges of 5GHz available as channels  36,40,44,48 with poor or no  signal strength and channels 149,153,157,161 with full signal strength.

Looking into the Hub2 Wiifi settings, the Wifi mode is set to Mode 1, Smart Channels 33-48 only, Channels 149-151 do not appear although the App measures their signal strength My firmware is up to date as Nov 2022.

Is it possible to configure or open up the higher channels these higher channels? Ant helpful suggestions would be welcome.

[#2]

@Walter 

The short answer to your question is no, you can't use them with a Hub 2..

The longer answer as I understand it is that these channels can only be used in the UK for low power applications such as Bluetooth.

[#3 · Accepted solution]

The higher channels can be used by a router in principal (although I don't believe that's always been the case without dedicated licesning).

The useable 5GHz Wi-Fi spectrum is currently split into the following bands.

• Lower-A (the channels you can select on Hub Two)
• Upper-A (subject to regulation)
• B (higer power, subject to regulation)
• C (higer power, subject to regulation)

The regulation of note is something called DFS (Dynamic Frequency Selection). It gets a little involved, but in a nutshell it means that your router is forbidden from broadcasting at these frequencies if certain radio traffic is detected e.g. air traffic/weather radar (can be miles away). Likewise, if your router is using certain channels and detects such events, it needs to move away from using those channels within a certain timeframe. It adds complexity and there are user experience implications.

The Hub Two doesn't have client support for DFS-regulated channels; this makes the 5GHz channel selection a bit redundant to be fair (it probably shouldn't even be presented as an option). The hub uses 80MHz channel width so will be broadcasting across all of the supported channels anyway.

The channels that you're eyeing up are Band C. Higher power = further reaching, which explains why they look appealing.

[#4]

Thanks for your reply Bob, succinct but sad I'll have to do a bit more detecting and rearranging!

[#5]

Thanks for letting me know Baldrick1, not happy to use the thumbs up as I need to do a bit more work here but happy to receive your expedient reply. Many thanks.