Since Upgrading Router, Printer and Devices cannot communicate

@Again​ so thank you for posting that link but unfortunately it does not help. Xfinity, in all of its wisdom, has disabled our ability to manually split the channels into two distinct SSIDs. If I navigate to Gateway > Connection > Wi-Fi > Edit 2.4 GHz (or Edit 5.0 GHz) there is the following message:

Wi-Fi Mode, Security Mode, Channel Selection, Channel Mode, and Channel Bandwidth are being managed automatically to help optimize your home Wi-Fi network and improve Wi-Fi coverage. To edit your Wi-Fi Network Name & Network password, please download theXfinity xFi app or visit xfinity.com/myxfi

The app also does not have an option to manually split the channels, and it appears that xfinity has decided to make the customer experience even more fun by shutting down the web interface at xfinity.com/myxfi for good!

As I mentioned in my original post, since "upgrading" to the newer Gateway, even though the printer & all of our computers/phones/etc. appear on the "Connected Devices" list (with the printer on the 2.4 GHz channel and all other devices automatically assigned to the 5.0 GHz channel), none of our devices can communicate with the printer, they seem to be unable to find it on the network.

It is *enormously* frustrating that an xfinity "upgrade" has made our perfectly functional printer unusable (and has now cost us hours of time trying to fix the problem).

@stu_329512​ I should add that I am not even 100% sure that the inability of computers and printer to communicate is due to their being on different channels/bands. But splitting channels (presumably so that we could then manually put the computer on the same 2.4 GHz band as the printer) was the common solution proposed when I looked at forum posts here that people with similar problems had posted over the last year or two.

@XfinityTravis​ It did not help. See my reply to them above.

Hello @stu_329512! You mentioned you can see all of your devices on your network's connected device list. When you attempt to print are you able to bring up Epson's print manager? If the job is pending try restarting your computer or the device being used. This happens to me frequently and does the trick when my Brother printer does not print, but the device can be seen on my network. 

@stu_329512 

See if this link helps.

@XfinityThomasC​ Thanks but I've tried resetting/restarting all devices involved — printer/computer/Gateway — and that has not helped.

@Again​ I know you're really trying to help but providing random links — many of which I've already looked at and most of which are outdated — does not help very much.
I've already mentioned that the Xfinity app does not offer any solutions (I'm not sure why just changing the name of my WiFi network would do anything, since that isn't going to magically allow me to split the bands), and the Xfinity My Account app doesn't offer any option to change anything about the Device, only to restart it (which Ive already done multiple times).

@user_872d42​ Thanks, I guess, but given that xfinity is not allowing me to manually split the bands, why would a factory restore change any of that? (also my Gateway only has two bands, not three, so we are working with different equipment.)

As I mentioned we just recently set it up — so were working from factory settings.

@BruceW​ Thanks for this good idea! But I'm also certain that hotspot is turned off already. In fact the Xfinity My Account app tells me that it is not available for my Gateway, and the other Xfinity app repeatedly fails to load that page.

I have uncovered one other clue, which is that although the printer is supposedly assigned a 10.0 IP address on the network (and this is how it shows up on the list of devices on the Xfinity app, or logging into admin at 10.0.0.1), the printer's own network check confirmation sheet shows it having an IP address in the dreaded 169.254 range, and this is also how my computer sees it as checked by using the “arp -a” command in the macOS terminal app. I know just enough to be able to guess that this discrepancy is indicative of the problem, but not nearly enough to know how to fix it.

Depending on the modem you are using some updates have been made. Please feel free to read over this great link that will shed some light on the new updates: https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/change-wifi-mode-admin-tool-xfinity-xfi

@XfinityPeterH​ this is … the exact same link that @Again provided in the first reply to my question and so yes I have already read it.

@flatlander3​ Ah, thank you, I suspect you have put your finger on what's probably going on here — that our upgraded Gateway is not fully backwards compatible and that's what is causing the printer to have trouble communicating on the network. 

I will give your suggestion a try. (We may even have an old router from before we got our previous gateway, since I tend to put things like that in a bin or box in the basement for later disposal and then forget about them. I'll rummage around this weekend.) One probably dumb question since I've never set up a network within a network: won't the fact that the old router and the gateway will both be sending out signals cause them to interfere with one another?

@stu_329512​  No.  You'll be sending out 802.11 b/g/n with your old dusty router.  You won't mess with 802.11ac/ax on the XB7/8 at all.

I've actually got a few WiFi networks for isolation (trusted/non-trusted subnets with a firewall), and it's not an issue for me.  If you want everything to be able to talk to each other, take your old dusty router and get the manual for it.  See if you can turn off it's internal DHCP server, and then "Forward DHCP requests" to your gateway (10.0.0.1).  It might be called "AP Mode" on some of them.  Old Buffalo routers even had an external switch for it. 

That way, your gateway runs the DHCP server and handles the networking for the internal network.  Everyone ends up on the same subnet and can speak to each other if you want that -- although I do segregate things like streaming devices....and anything that initiates contact with a remote server by itself.  For your printer, you'll want things to be able to see it from the Xfinity network, so forward DHCP requests.  Remember, you'll need to set a unique SSID broadcast ID for it so you know what you are connecting to.

@flatlander3​ Success, it seems! I couldn't find any of the old routers on first hunt through things, but I did find the extender we had used before getting the xFi pods. Plugged it in right next to the printer, reconfigured it (turning off its 5 GHz channel), changed its SSID to "[Name of Home Network] PRINT," and we will just select it when we need to print!
First test of this worked, we'll see if it holds up!

Thank you again!

I would mark @flatlander3's reply above as accepted answer, but when I click on the button for "Mark As Accepted Answer" it does not register! Guess xfinity's unique ability to always have something that doesn't work extends even to the forum interface!

Hi, @user_c7e1f5. I see you're having some trouble connecting your printer as well which I'm sure has been frustrating. I see your previous Gateway had the bands split up to 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. With your current gateway, you should still be able to get this done. 

Please try the following steps:

Using Xfinity xFi

1. Open the Xfinity app and sign in with your Xfinity ID and password.
2. Go to the Connect tab.
3. Tap View WiFi equipment.
4. Under WiFi details, select View and edit WiFi settings.
5. Select 2.4 and 5 GHz WiFi.
6. Select Edit next to the WiFi band you want to update.
   * It's important you rename each band with a different name. For example, you'll do something like Homewifi2 and Homewifi5.
7. Select the new WiFi Mode and/or Channel setting.
8. Select Apply Changes to save your new settings.

Let me know if this helps with your situation.

@MNtundraRET​ I see where the WPA is listed, and I see that the other two (2.4 and 5.0) options show “WPA2/WPA3 Personal” as their choice, but I don’t see where I can downgrade anything (and I don’t see the new one that I just named, with the “6” as an extension).