As I understand, it is the device that selects the WIFI band. Distance is a factor as the 2.4 is better for distance and the 5 GHz is better for speed. Some things you can try. Some devices prefer some channels and band width over others so changing them may help. Band width is what I would try first. Since your SSIDs are the same, turn off smart connect, make them different and then go into system preferences, network, WIFI, and un-select automatically select this network for the 2.4 network and on for the 5 GHz network on your iMac. Yes you can turn the 2.4 GHz band off if all of your devices can use the 5 GHz. Another thing to consider is to take other devices off the 5 GHz band that do not need the speed and put them on the 2.4 GHz band to take traffic off of the 5 GHz band to help balance the load.

@beachnorwegian I followed your instructions and went to the system preferences network/wifi page.  Under "network name", there is only one wifi name listed for my router, not a 2.4 and 5g option.  That is by design, per the router's literature.  I only see the two channel desiganations when I go to you web interface.  There, an agent helped me uncheck the "enable radio signal" box for 2.4GHz.  So I think my problem has been resolved.  

 

FYI, my imac is only 20 uninterupted feet away from the router.  When I would sit next to my imac with my iphone, the phone would get 5G designation and my imac would get 2.4.  Weird.  

 

Thanks for reponding.

 

beachnorwegian wrote

@beachnorwegian I followed your instructions and went to the system preferences network/wifi page.  Under "network name", there is only one wifi name listed for my router, not a 2.4 and 5g option.  That is by design, per the router's literature.  I only see the two channel desiganations when I go to you web interface.  There, an agent helped me uncheck the "enable radio signal" box for 2.4GHz.  So I think my problem has been resolved.  

 

FYI, my imac is only 20 uninterupted feet away from the router.  When I would sit next to my imac with my iphone, the phone would get 5G designation and my imac would get 2.4.  Weird.  

 

Thanks for reponding.

@beachnorwegian 

 

If you ONLY have 2 devices, that could be the reason.

 

First part, once you click Smart Connect and turn it on, both SSID's are set to the same name. Once you turn it off, it may not reset, but it should I'd think.

 

Now onto if only 2 devices are connecting. I suspect the iPhone is an AC 802.11 speed device it will always try to go to the 5Ghz SSIS first. Now what is the Mac Network Adapter speed? N or AC?

 

I'll assume the iPhone is always connected but the Mac is not on 24/7.

 

The 'other' tidbit is that Smart Connect uses 'load leveling' it seems. In plain English, it tries to keep the number of devices connected to an SSID even. So assuming the iPhone connected to the 5Ghz (you need to use the Mobile app Tether to verify easily the specific BAND the devices connect to) and you turn on the Mac, it would most likely go to the 2.4Ghz band due to the load leveling. Conversely, if the Mac was connected and on the 5Ghz band, and you came home with the phone, it would go to the 2.4Ghz band.

 

Of course have more devices and depending if they stay connected, not go on or off during the day, that could complicate things.

 

I suggest you 'manage' the SSID's. Reason being that if an N Speed device connects to the 5Ghz SSID and there was an AC speed device connected, the performance of those AC devices could be decreased. So if you manage the bands properly you can ensure the AC devices are all on the 5Ghz band and all others on the 2.4Ghz band.

@IrvSp Hello and thanks for responding to my post.  

 

I can have up to 4 devices running:  Imac, iPad, iPhone, and Kindle.  My Kindle will only run on 2.4GHz.  FYI, there are no other users on my Wifi.  

 

"Now what is the Mac Network Adapter speed? N or AC?"  I don't know.  If it's important, can you tell me where to find this on my computer?

 

"I suggest you "manage" your SSID's."  How do I do this?  My main complaint is that the router keeps moving my priority device (iMac) to the slower 2.4GHz band.  Is there a way to lock the imac onto the 5GHz band?  My remedy thus far has been to disable the 2.4GHz band alltogether.  However, when I want to update my Kindle, I must reenable the 2.4 temporarily.  

 

Thank you. 

IrvSp wrote

 

beachnorwegian wrote

@beachnorwegian I followed your instructions and went to the system preferences network/wifi page.  Under "network name", there is only one wifi name listed for my router, not a 2.4 and 5g option.  That is by design, per the router's literature.  I only see the two channel desiganations when I go to you web interface.  There, an agent helped me uncheck the "enable radio signal" box for 2.4GHz.  So I think my problem has been resolved.  

 

FYI, my imac is only 20 uninterupted feet away from the router.  When I would sit next to my imac with my iphone, the phone would get 5G designation and my imac would get 2.4.  Weird.  

 

Thanks for reponding.

@beachnorwegian 

 

If you ONLY have 2 devices, that could be the reason.

 

First part, once you click Smart Connect and turn it on, both SSID's are set to the same name. Once you turn it off, it may not reset, but it should I'd think.

 

Now onto if only 2 devices are connecting. I suspect the iPhone is an AC 802.11 speed device it will always try to go to the 5Ghz SSIS first. Now what is the Mac Network Adapter speed? N or AC?

 

I'll assume the iPhone is always connected but the Mac is not on 24/7.

 

The 'other' tidbit is that Smart Connect uses 'load leveling' it seems. In plain English, it tries to keep the number of devices connected to an SSID even. So assuming the iPhone connected to the 5Ghz (you need to use the Mobile app Tether to verify easily the specific BAND the devices connect to) and you turn on the Mac, it would most likely go to the 2.4Ghz band due to the load leveling. Conversely, if the Mac was connected and on the 5Ghz band, and you came home with the phone, it would go to the 2.4Ghz band.

 

Of course have more devices and depending if they stay connected, not go on or off during the day, that could complicate things.

 

I suggest you 'manage' the SSID's. Reason being that if an N Speed device connects to the 5Ghz SSID and there was an AC speed device connected, the performance of those AC devices could be decreased. So if you manage the bands properly you can ensure the AC devices are all on the 5Ghz band and all others on the 2.4Ghz band.

s

IrvSp wrote

 

beachnorwegian wrote

@beachnorwegian I followed your instructions and went to the system preferences network/wifi page.  Under "network name", there is only one wifi name listed for my router, not a 2.4 and 5g option.  That is by design, per the router's literature.  I only see the two channel desiganations when I go to you web interface.  There, an agent helped me uncheck the "enable radio signal" box for 2.4GHz.  So I think my problem has been resolved.  

 

FYI, my imac is only 20 uninterupted feet away from the router.  When I would sit next to my imac with my iphone, the phone would get 5G designation and my imac would get 2.4.  Weird.  

 

Thanks for reponding.

@beachnorwegian 

 

If you ONLY have 2 devices, that could be the reason.

 

First part, once you click Smart Connect and turn it on, both SSID's are set to the same name. Once you turn it off, it may not reset, but it should I'd think.

 

Now onto if only 2 devices are connecting. I suspect the iPhone is an AC 802.11 speed device it will always try to go to the 5Ghz SSIS first. Now what is the Mac Network Adapter speed? N or AC?

 

I'll assume the iPhone is always connected but the Mac is not on 24/7.

 

The 'other' tidbit is that Smart Connect uses 'load leveling' it seems. In plain English, it tries to keep the number of devices connected to an SSID even. So assuming the iPhone connected to the 5Ghz (you need to use the Mobile app Tether to verify easily the specific BAND the devices connect to) and you turn on the Mac, it would most likely go to the 2.4Ghz band due to the load leveling. Conversely, if the Mac was connected and on the 5Ghz band, and you came home with the phone, it would go to the 2.4Ghz band.

 

Of course have more devices and depending if they stay connected, not go on or off during the day, that could complicate things.

 

I suggest you 'manage' the SSID's. Reason being that if an N Speed device connects to the 5Ghz SSID and there was an AC speed device connected, the performance of those AC devices could be decreased. So if you manage the bands properly you can ensure the AC devices are all on the 5Ghz band and all others on the 2.4Ghz band.

IrvSp wrote

 

beachnorwegian wrote

@beachnorwegian I followed your instructions and went to the system preferences network/wifi page.  Under "network name", there is only one wifi name listed for my router, not a 2.4 and 5g option.  That is by design, per the router's literature.  I only see the two channel desiganations when I go to you web interface.  There, an agent helped me uncheck the "enable radio signal" box for 2.4GHz.  So I think my problem has been resolved.  

 

FYI, my imac is only 20 uninterupted feet away from the router.  When I would sit next to my imac with my iphone, the phone would get 5G designation and my imac would get 2.4.  Weird.  

 

Thanks for reponding.

@beachnorwegian 

 

If you ONLY have 2 devices, that could be the reason.

 

First part, once you click Smart Connect and turn it on, both SSID's are set to the same name. Once you turn it off, it may not reset, but it should I'd think.

 

Now onto if only 2 devices are connecting. I suspect the iPhone is an AC 802.11 speed device it will always try to go to the 5Ghz SSIS first. Now what is the Mac Network Adapter speed? N or AC?

 

I'll assume the iPhone is always connected but the Mac is not on 24/7.

 

The 'other' tidbit is that Smart Connect uses 'load leveling' it seems. In plain English, it tries to keep the number of devices connected to an SSID even. So assuming the iPhone connected to the 5Ghz (you need to use the Mobile app Tether to verify easily the specific BAND the devices connect to) and you turn on the Mac, it would most likely go to the 2.4Ghz band due to the load leveling. Conversely, if the Mac was connected and on the 5Ghz band, and you came home with the phone, it would go to the 2.4Ghz band.

 

Of course have more devices and depending if they stay connected, not go on or off during the day, that could complicate things.

 

I suggest you 'manage' the SSID's. Reason being that if an N Speed device connects to the 5Ghz SSID and there was an AC speed device connected, the performance of those AC devices could be decreased. So if you manage the bands properly you can ensure the AC devices are all on the 5Ghz band and all others on the 2.4Ghz band.

 

 

 

 

 

beachnorwegian wrote

@IrvSp Hello and thanks for responding to my post.  

 

I can have up to 4 devices running:  Imac, iPad, iPhone, and Kindle.  My Kindle will only run on 2.4GHz.  FYI, there are no other users on my Wifi.  

 

"Now what is the Mac Network Adapter speed? N or AC?"  I don't know.  If it's important, can you tell me where to find this on my computer?

 

"I suggest you "manage" your SSID's."  How do I do this?  My main complaint is that the router keeps moving my priority device (iMac) to the slower 2.4GHz band.  Is there a way to lock the imac onto the 5GHz band?  My remedy thus far has been to disable the 2.4GHz band alltogether.  However, when I want to update my Kindle, I must reenable the 2.4 temporarily.  

 

Thank you. 

@beachnorwegian 

 

The speed is the 802.11 Network speed rating. Generally today on recent hardware that would be N, AC, or AX. It is part of the specification of your devices for the Network connection.

 

Easy to manage it yourself. TURN OFF SMART CONNECT. You might need to change the SSID's to reflect the band, usually '-2' and '-5' after the name. That is if the SSID name is 'myrouter' on the 2.4Ghz band and you enabled Smart Connect, the name you gave the 5Ghz SSID would be replaced with 'myrouter'. Once you disable Smart Connect it might not restore the old 5Ghz SSID. So just add the -2 and -5 to the respective SSID's. Now all you need do is delete or forget all your present Network connections and create new one. For the Kindle, connect it to the 2.4Ghz SSID (the one with the -2) and all the other to the -5 SSID. Done!

Thank you