How to prevent WiFi from connecting to 5GHz BSSID?

Support Network & WIFI
#1

Hi there,

I’m using Manjaro with the kernel 5.8.16-2-MANJARO and i3 as window manager.

The problem that i currently face is that my WLAN connections is very unstable and reconnects every few seconds.

Using dmesg i figured out the problem is that my router has two BSSIDs, one for 2.4GHz and one for 5GHz connections. Every few seconds my system tries to switch from 2.4GHz to the 5GHz which always ends in a timeout. Here’s the output of dmesg. (I replaced the BSSIDs with <2.4GHz> and <5GHz> respectively).

[39480.768607] wlo1: disconnect from AP <2.4GHz> for new auth to <5GHz>
[39480.768790] rtw_8822ce 0000:01:00.0: sta <2.54Hz> with macid 0 left
[39480.769394] wlo1: authenticate with <5GHz>
[39481.208748] wlo1: send auth to <5GHz> (try 1/3)
[39481.314040] wlo1: send auth to <5GHz> (try 2/3)
[39481.420593] wlo1: send auth to <5GHz> (try 3/3)
[39481.527238] wlo1: authentication with <5GHz> timed out
[39481.928088] wlo1: authenticate with <2.4GHz>

Since I don’t have access to the router I gave up on using 5GHz and just want to have a stable connection to the 2.4GHz BSSID.

I used nm-connection-editor to edit the connection and configured Band to be B/G (2.4 GHz) and manualy selected the correct BSSID. Then I saved the config and rebooted my system. But my system is still trying to connect to the wrong BSSID every few seconds.

Does anyone have some suggestions which configuration i might need to change to prevent my WiFi from disconnecting?

#2

I was about to ask the same question as my adapter tends to switch to the 5Ghz band which has less reach in the house

#3

I also noticed that when I save my connection configuration and manually reconnect to my network the network manager creates a new configuration for the same WiFi instead of using my manually configured one. Maybe this is somehow related to the issue?

#4

I’m not sure if the driver you use has an option to restrict the Band used but…

If you are able to modify the BSSID’s of the 2.4G and 5G band connections on your WiFi-router, this problem will not happen at all because you will always connect to the one you selected.

#5

In my case, I use a mesh network and I’m not sure I have the option.
Will have a look though as that seems to be the only option

#6

Ohh PS:
IIRC every BSSID also has a unique WiFi-MAC adress, maybe you could use that in “Restrict to device” setting…

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#7

Can you give me a pointer where to look for this setting? All I can find are instructions to change the mac address of the adapter.

#8

Nice one. I manage to find the Mac address for the 2.4Ghz BSSID
It seems to stick to it now, as far as i can tell

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#9

Could you go into detail how you solved this issue?

#10

It’s in the Network Config window you can access via the icon near your clock in taskbar…

#11

I can’t see such an option, maybe i’m using a different widget.