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[PhilipD]

Hi

hi All

first post.  Just got this router (cheap off ebay) as i wanted to try a single box setup with wireless AC.  Ive upgraded the FW to 08c (got link from this thread thanks) and have connected over 2.4ghz WLAN SSID but the issue i am having is that the 5G WLAN SSID is not visible to any AC enabled devices on my network.  5G is enabled in the gui and the light for 5g is on on the front panel but i cannot see the SSID at all. 
Anyone had this issue before?  Im new to 5g so am i doing anything wrong?

thanks
Stuart

I expect it is using a high channel number that isn't supported by mobile devices.  5GHz spectrum has a lot of rules and regulations about what can be used inside and outside, and mobile devices often being outside tend not to support all the frequencies of a router that will be used indoors.

To check this, change the 5GHz frequency a manual frequency of 36.

Regards

Phil

[stuker]

thanks Phil.  I switched channels to 36/80 manually as suggested but the SSID is still invisible on the network to all AC enabled devices (MBP, IPHONE 5s, experia android phone, dell pc)  No 5g networks detected using the wifi analyzer app on the droid either.

i actually mailed zyxel support this morning and got a response back saying the 8924 was not an AC device but and n device which is why i wasnt seeing the AC SSID.  I think they must be confused as i can see the 5g config in the GUI and the link light saying 5g on the face plate.

might it be a hardware fault with this particular 5g antenna? 

[PhilipD]

Hi

That's a pitty it wasn't as simple as that.  It could be faulty of course.  The 5GHz is provided by a separate card installed on the main board so that could be faulty leaving 2.4GHz, which is part of the main board, working normally.

Have you tried a factory reset just in case?

The 8324 is only 2.4GHz, with the 8924 being AC so I expect support were getting confused.

If it helps mine is set to 802.11n/ac mixed, I've also set Regulatory mode to 802.11h (this is under the others tab) and channel is set to 40/80 at the moment, although 36/80 works as well.  Security is set to WPA2-PSK, Encryption is AES.

Regards

Phil

[loonylion]

i actually mailed zyxel support this morning and got a response back saying the 8924 was not an AC device but and n device which is why i wasnt seeing the AC SSID.  I think they must be confused as i can see the 5g config in the GUI and the link light saying 5g on the face plate.

might it be a hardware fault with this particular 5g antenna?

802.11n can operate on 5ghz also. the presence of 5ghz doesn't automatically mean it's AC, it could be dual band N.

[stuker]

Hi

That's a pitty it wasn't as simple as that.  It could be faulty of course.  The 5GHz is provided by a separate card installed on the main board so that could be faulty leaving 2.4GHz, which is part of the main board, working normally.

Have you tried a factory reset just in case?

The 8324 is only 2.4GHz, with the 8924 being AC so I expect support were getting confused.

If it helps mine is set to 802.11n/ac mixed, I've also set Regulatory mode to 802.11h (this is under the others tab) and channel is set to 40/80 at the moment, although 36/80 works as well.  Security is set to WPA2-PSK, Encryption is AES.

Regards

Phil

thanks Phil...yes tried a few factory resets with no joy.  Ive also just tried those setting you are using and there is no difference either.  I am leaning towards the hardware issue although if it was hardware i am surprised it appears as a live connection in the GUI.  Ill see what support come back with.
Other than the 5g issues I am pretty impressed with this routers functionality.  It has endless configuration options and the sync rate from the modem is great so i would like to persist with getting it sorted if i can.

thanks
Stuart

[mjgr33n]

802.11n can operate on 5ghz also. the presence of 5ghz doesn't automatically mean it's AC, it could be dual band N.

ok thanks for pointing that out.  On the manufacturers site for this particular product the following wireless specs are listed

System Specifications

Wireless
IEEE 802.11ac 5 GHz with up to 1.3 Gbps data rate
IEEE 802.11n 2.4 GHz with up to 300 Mbps data rate
Wireless Protected Setup (WPS)
WEP data encryption (64/128 bit)
WPA/WPA2, WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK
Wi-Fi scheduling
Multiple SSID (up to 4)

Regardless of whether or not they are AC or N, a 5Ghz device should see your 5Ghz based SSID as long as it is not hidden and of course it can handle the channel and channel width defined. Heck even if the internal antenna in the device was faulty you should still see it if up close albeit probably much weaker signal

Considering you did the best thing already and did a factory reset and you have some 5Ghz capable devices then it would be logical to assume that you bought a duff unit from ebay or something drastically went wrong with the firmware flash, you could try re-downloading the firmware again and try flashing again.

[stuker]

Regardless of whether or not they are AC or N, a 5Ghz device should see your 5Ghz based SSID as long as it is not hidden and of course it can handle the channel and channel width defined. Heck even if the internal antenna in the device was faulty you should still see it if up close albeit probably much weaker signal

that what i thought should happen as well!   I am becoming more and more convinced this is some sort of hardware issue.  Support dont seem to be too hot...the latest i have had back from them is that i should change the 5g SSID to broadcast in B/G/N mode.....nice idea but the problem is that this SSID doesn't offer that option but only a/n/ac and mixed.   Running it in "a" only doesn't work either. I tried to set up an SNMP trap for the 5g interface but that interface not reporting any stats on SNMP.  At least support are responding and hopefully support escalate this to  second or third line soon.  Has anyone ever had anything repaired by Zyxel?

[loonylion]

Support dont seem to be too hot...the latest i have had back from them is that i should change the 5g SSID to broadcast in B/G/N mode.....

technically impossible, b/g are inherently 2.4ghz. a and ac are inherently 5ghz, only n can be either (or both). They use different radio hardware. it sounds like either the router doesn't do 5ghz, or its got a duff 5ghz radio unit.

[roseway]

I've tidied up the quoting in a couple of the messages above.

[mjgr33n]

Support dont seem to be too hot...the latest i have had back from them is that i should change the 5g SSID to broadcast in B/G/N mode.....

technically impossible, b/g are inherently 2.4ghz. a and ac are inherently 5ghz, only n can be either (or both). They use different radio hardware. it sounds like either the router doesn't do 5ghz, or its got a duff 5ghz radio unit.

Does not matter as in the settings for the 5Ghz band there will not be options for b or g, so not like he can do anything technically impossible

But I am digressing, it does seem like there is something wrong with his unit at least on the 5Ghz side

[spudgun]

Sounds like it is broken to me.

2 more things that you might want to try -

1) Change the 5ghz ID to a simple word with no strange characters, no underscores etc. to see if that is causing it
2) Run wifi analyzer on your mobile devices to see if they can see anything broadcasting on 5ghz in your location

[stuker]

Sounds like it is broken to me.

2 more things that you might want to try -

1) Change the 5ghz ID to a simple word with no strange characters, no underscores etc. to see if that is causing it
2) Run wifi analyzer on your mobile devices to see if they can see anything broadcasting on 5ghz in your location

thanks for this.  tried both already.  no weird chars in the SSID.  Wifi Analyzer doesn't detect any 5g SSIDs in the house.  telling i think. SSID is not hidden

[spudgun]

Definitely broken then.....

Unless, there was a case on here of someone who bought one and they got the wrong power supply with it and it wouldn't work properly. Have a quick look at your power supply and see if what Amps it is outputting.

[stuker]

Unless, there was a case on here of someone who bought one and they got the wrong power supply with it and it wouldn't work properly. Have a quick look at your power supply and see if what Amps it is outputting.

power supply says
power output:+12v == 2A

[spudgun]

That's the right power supply then. I'd get it boxed up and sent back if I were you as it sounds faulty