Changing wifi mode on XB7 gateway

The two WiFi bands have recently been combined into one with the Comcast gateway devices. Some devices get confused and don't know how to see / talk to combined bands.

If you are not using any Xfi Pods, you can try separating the 2.4 and the 5.0 bands and give them two different broadcast names / SSID's;

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/change-wifi-mode-admin-tool-xfinity-xfi 

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/issues-connecting-devices-wifi-network?linkId=123534437 

Associate the devices with the 2.4 band's SSID (broadcast name) and password.

Hello @Froid1955! Thanks so much for taking a moment out of your day to leave a post on our community forum! I hope our amazing expert's help, got you taken care of! If not let us know so we can get you taken care of and back to enjoying your services! 

I had the same issue when trying to add new LIFX products to my network.  All of my existing 20+ lights were working, but I could not add any more products.  I deactivated and removed my xFi Pods and I used the xFi app to separate my network bands by assigning them different names and passwords. Reset the gateway, even removed some of the existing lights from the network and tried to re-add them - no luck.

I attempted to deactivate the 801.11"ax" protocol as suggested on this forum.  I could not deactivate this protocol as this is one of the settings that is now managed by xFinity.  It was suggested that xFinity Tech Services could adjust this setting for me, so I bit the bullet and reached out to xFinity.  This is not something I ever want to do as I have found them to be less than helpful.

After an hour chatting online, restarting my gateway, being chastised for separating my network bands when xFinity had decided to manage those settings for me, asking for Tech Services to either allow me to select the protocols on my 2.4gHz band or to have xFinity to set them according to my directions, they decided to set up an appointment for a technician to come to my home to investigate the situation.

I was impressed that I was actually able to get an appointment for a tech to come to my home the following day.

The next morning, I received a text from xFinity that they thought that they had resolved my issue and to inform them if I would like to cancel the technician's appointment later that afternoon.

I tried once again to add a new LIFX product to my network and IT WORKED!  I looked through my network settings to see if I could determine what changes were implemented to allow the LIFX products to be added to the system, but I could not detect any changes from the way I had left the network the previous day:  the network bands were still separated and the "ax" protocol was still active.

I added 8 new LIFX products to my network, recombined the two network bands and reinstalled and reactivated my 3 xFI pods.  All devices are now back to working as they should.

Just for fun, after the network was back together, I tried to add another new LIFX light.  The new light was added and assigned to my network within two minutes.  Something has obviously changed.

How can I assist others in this forum and the LIFX community with this question?  How can I find out what, EXACTLY, xFinity tweaked to allow my LIFX products to work properly?  There are a number of forums on the internet complaining about the recent inability to connect LIFX products to an xFinity Gateway, but I have not seen a definitive answer.  It appears that xFinity DOES have a definitive answer, but they're not sharing.

is there any more info on this? I am having the same exact issue!