Some devices cannot connect to 2.4

I recently installed a couple additional WiFi light switches (not sure if this is related) and had to cut power to the part of the house that powers the router. When everything was powered back up all seemed to work fine and connect without issue but now a few of my devices, my iPhone, kindle and only one Echo will not connect to the 2.4 GHz band. it’s not an issue with the phone because that can connect to the 5 GHz but my Kindle and echo can only connect to the 2.4 so now they are essentially useless. I tried restarting, resetting the router and for a minute my phone connected back to the 2.4 and then dropped off again. Says unable to join. Every other device in the house can connect to the 2.4 except for my phone, Kindle and echo. Any ideas or suggestions?

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EG

Expert

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112.9K Messages

4 years ago

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

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

(edited)

CCAbbie

Problem Solver

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1.4K Messages

4 years ago

@John_ca052510 [Edited to match username, remove PII] Thank you for taking the time to reach out with your concerns. EG has some great tips you can try.

Something else you can try is to forget the Wi-Fi network on the devices that aren't working, reboot them and then attempt to reconnect. Please let us know if any of those tips do the trick!

(edited)

John_ca052510

Regular Visitor

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6 Messages

4 years ago

Thanks for the tips but still no connection.

My bands (the 5.0 and 2.4) are separated, always have been. My iPhone recently has been able to connect to the 2.4 ghz band again just out of the blue but I could not get internet service even though I was connected. Had to switch back to the 5.0. Also my Kindle paperwhite still has NOT been able to connect. It only has the 2.4 option. It can see the network just won't connect. I tried the reboot/restart on the Kindle as well as a restart on the Gateway router and it just will not log on. I keep getting an error suggesting my internet is down but obviously it is not. I did follow the suggestion to "forget" the network but still won't connect. I have other devices in the house that randomly lose connection. My AppleTV lost connection just the other night and was bouncing back between networks but could not connect. Had to reset the router. Other devices (smart switches and light bulbs) just randomly lose connection too. Usually they reconnect after a router restart but that's becoming annoying. It's a 3x a week thing now. I shouldn't have to restart my router that often. I believe there is an underlying issue with the router/modem. As for my kindle for now I can use my phone as a hotspot and it will connect to the internet that way.

XfinityJamesC

Official Employee

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2.4K Messages

Greetings, @John_ca052510 [Edited to match username, remove PII]! I hope your week has been treating you well. Thanks so much for taking a moment out of your busy day to leave a post on our community forum. I'm sorry to hear you're having issues with your wireless network, but you have definitely come to the right place for assistance.

I actually had a similar issue with some of my smart home devices last year.
The 2.4 GHz WiFi connection between your devices and the Wireless Gateway can operate on one of a few channels. Typically, your Gateway will detect and automatically connect using the optimal channel to provide the best WiFi signal at any given time. This selection is based on several factors, including the number of other devices currently using a particular channel, the distance from the device to the Gateway, etc. There may be instances when the channel being broadcast does not match the channel your device is expecting. This seems to happen more often on older, 2.4 GHz devices, for some reason, but you may want to try manually changing the WiFi channel in your advanced settings, and see if your 2.4 GHz devices can connect to it. Please let me know if this helps:

If you have an xFi Gateway, visit https://comca.st/3ukqMWw or open the Xfinity app, and sign in with your Xfinity ID and password.
Select the Connect tab.
Select See Network.
Select Advanced Settings.
Select 2.4 and 5 GHz WiFi.
If you would like to select a specific WiFi channel, select Edit next to 2.4 or 5 GHz. A dialog window will appear.
Choose the channel number from the Channel drop-down. To complete the change, select Apply Changes at the bottom of the dialog window.

(edited)

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
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4 years ago

user_2d8cf1

Visitor

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1 Message

It would help if you posted this on your website instead of "check your wifi password" and "turn it off and turn it on" or "make sure you're not in airplane mode". Anyone living in today's world knows those options. I had to make my phone a hotspot in order for my Kindle to have wifi. Please fix these problems instead of making it the customer's issue or saying the device is too old. I ordered a new Kindle and had the same problem.

4 years ago

XfinityThomasC

Official Employee

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2.8K Messages

Please send a private message with your name and service address by clicking on the chat icon at the top right of the page. Then select the Xfinity Support tab to start the chat session.

4 years ago

EG

Expert

•

112.9K Messages

WHAT TAB ??

Click "Sign In" if necessary
Click the "Peer to peer chat" icon or https://forums.xfinity.com/peer-to-peer-chat
Click the "New message" (pencil and paper) icon
The "To:" line prompts you to "Type the name of a person". Instead, type "Xfinity Support" there.
- As you are typing a drop-down list appears. Select "Xfinity Support" from that list.
- An "Xfinity Support" graphic replaces the "To:" line.
Type your message in the text area near the bottom of the window
Press Enter to send it
[Permission from and credit given to BruceW]

(edited)

I am not a Comcast Employee.
I am a Customer Expert volunteering my time to help other customers here in the Forums.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.

Was your question answered? Please mark an Accepted Answer! tick

4 years ago

user_134b68

Visitor

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1 Message

Unfortunately, James' solution up above is no longer an option. Xfinity has now taken away the ability of a customer to control 2.4 vs. 5 GHz, thus eliminating our ability to get a 2.4 GHz only legacy device (back) onto the network. Unfortunately, the customer support people don't know that happened, and then they tell you that the "super tech" people will call back and, of course, they don't. So, I may have to go get my own WiFi 6 device and bridge the devices.

4 years ago

Mallen39

Visitor

•

1 Message

4 years ago

I have had all of these problems on my phone/devices and pretty much every time I've wanted to use my printers because they can only see the the 2.4 connection but the actual connection doesn't work when connected IF it even shows up in the list a lot of times it doesn't. This all started when comcast made me upgrade to the latest wifi router. They really need to address the issues on their site clearly so that customers aren't scouring the internet/forums looking for a solution. When I installed the new router I had immediate connection issues with my printers, security camera and iPhone. My computers (apple) just jump between whatever connection is working fine sometimes its not even on my wifi connections but the actual "xfinity" one. Multiple times a day my internet goes out. It's becoming quite irritating.

There are a few things I have done to fix the issue.

1. Separated my wifi connections (for those of you that haven't yet)

Download the xfinity app

Click the CONNECT tab at the bottom of the screen

you should see your network name at the top

under your network name you should see

(see network) click that.

In the top right of the screen you will see a pencil icon click it

From there you will be able to separate your networks.

2. Changed wifi channels

logged into my router at http://10.0.0.1/

username: admin

password: password (unless you have already altered this)

Go to the list on the left. CONNECTION/WIFI

You should see your wifi names at the top with edit buttons to the right.

Edit the one you wish to change your channel. The settings look like the ones below.

Under channel selection take it off of automatic and select a number if you want.

Wireless Network:

Enable

Disable

Network Name (SSID): mywificonnectionname2.4

Mode: 802.11 g/n

Security Mode: WAP2-PSK (AES)

Please note 802.11 n mode only compatible with AES and None encryption!!

Channel Selection: Automatic Manual

Channel: 6

Channel Bandwidth: 20 20/40

Network Password: *********************

Show Network Password:

Broadcast Network Name (SSID): Enabled

3. after doing all of this I sometimes still have to completely restart my gateway through the xfinity app to get the 2.4 connection to actually work. Not sure why the reset is necessary but it is whenever it goes out. Its really annoying tho.

(edited)

user_JosephC

Problem Solver

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369 Messages

Hi there, Mallen39, thanks sincerely for taking the time to reach out and provide all these details for our team! I'm happy that you were able to find all the steps needed to make your network more usable including separating the network bands and channels, however, the fact that you still need to reset your router in order for your hosts to discover the 2.4 network is a bit concerning. To confirm, where do you have this router located exactly in relation to your devices when this happens? Also, do you know if there are potentially any obstacles in your home that could be blocking wireless signals such as metal infrastructures, etc.?

(edited)

4 years ago

Eyegon

Visitor

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3 Messages

4 years ago

I recently had the same issue.

I hve a new XB7 gateway. 2.4 and 5 GHZ bands are combined. Printer would connect to gateway but not to computer; light bulbs, Rodo Vac, would not connect to gateway. I solved by going to gateway admin page (http:/10.0.0.1) and temporrarily disabling the 5GHZ band,, connecting all my devices , them re-enabling the band. Everythin works fine after taht.

Your Home Network

John_ca052510

Some devices cannot connect to 2.4

EG

CCAbbie

John_ca052510

XfinityJamesC

user_2d8cf1

XfinityThomasC

EG

user_134b68

Mallen39

user_JosephC

Eyegon

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