miketh's profile

Frequent Visitor

 • 

18 Messages

Wednesday, February 12th, 2020 5:00 PM

Closed

Network Naming

We had one "old fashioned" modem.  Connected it (via cable) to a wifi mesh system.  Wifi system name was "Johnwifi".

 Then condo had Xfinity bring fiber to each unit.  The installer kept the name "Johnwifi" on the new combo modem/router - but renamed mesh system "Johnwifimesh".   All our devices are looking for "Johnwifi".  "Johnwifimesh" covers the whole large condo.  The Xfinity router does not. Can I simply change the name on the modem/router to something else (eg.  "Xfinityrouter") and rename the mesh system back to "Johnwifimesh"?   Would be a lot simpler then reinstalling about 10 devices.   Many of them are speakers that need to be on same wifi network.

This conversation is no longer open for comments or replies and is no longer visible to community members.

Contributor

 • 

89 Messages

5 years ago

I think you really need a bit more detail to get an answer.

 

 - How did you create the wifi mesh network?

 - How did the devices on the wifi mesh network access a router or did they ever need to route outside your condo?

 - What type of devices are using the wifi mesh network besides speakers?

 - How is the device with 'Johnwifimesh' connected to your network?   What device is it?   What firmware is it running?   

 

What I think you really have is simple wifi network and for whatever reason, the new Xfinity device is not able to reach all of your remote devices.    My limited understanding of mesh networks (Z-wave) is that all but a few devices are capable of routing traffic on the mesh so if you truly have a wifi mesh network I would think that means all devices that can reach the new Xfinity device on 'Johnwifi' are not also routing devices, the mesh network is non-existent, but those devices would still 'work'.  I think that your 'old' device that is now using ESSID 'Johnwifimesh' is a router/wifi device right?  If so, you *could* turn it into a wireless Access Point (AP) but that generally requires running some 3rd party firmware and you would need to cable it back to the Xfinity device.   You would change its ESSID to be 'Johnwifi' and your devices would start working.

 

Maybe I'm jumping the gun here.   Maybe your 'other' devices have bound to the radio of your old device and you need to tell them about the new Xfinity device.   Again, more detail would really help in figuring out what the problem is and how to solve it.  

 

  

forum icon

New to the Community?

Start Here