Force Android To Use 2.4ghz Wifi

Most modern routers these days support two Wi-Fi frequency bands. The first uses a 2.4GHz signal frequency. This frequency is dandy for penetrating walls and getting strong signals at greater distances from the router, merely information technology’s relatively tedious. The other 5GHz betoken band is much faster, but signal strength drops off more chop-chop, and objects block 5GHz radio waves more easily.

Ordinarily, your devices will switch between whichever ring works best at the time, simply if you take a reason to lock a device to one band or the other, here are the various ways to do it.

Prepare a Ring Preference in Windows

In Windows, you can fix which band a Wi-Fi adapter should utilise.

1. Right-click on the
   Start Button
   and select
   Device Manager.

2. Expand the
   Network Adapters
   section.

3. Correct-click on your
   Wi-Fi adapter
   and select
   Backdrop.

4. Under the
   Avant-garde tab, select
   Preferred Band
   nether the
   Property label.

5. Next, open the dropdown menu nether
   Value
   and choose which band you adopt.

Do note that the language seems a piddling unlike depending on the version of Windows yous’re using as well as the specific network bill of fare. For example, sometimes the property is called “ring” and the setting lists “2.iv GHz Only” or “5GHz Only” instead of using the term “preferred.”

Fix a Band Preference in macOS

If y’all’re using a Mac and want to make certain that the computer connects to the network of your choice, you lot’ll need to change the social club of preferred networks. Your Mac will attempt to connect to the network higher up on the list of preferred networks first before falling back on the next bachelor option.

This isn’t quite like forcing the network connectedness into one band, but as long as your preferred network is available, the Mac will use it over other bachelor options.

1. Click the
   Apple logo.
2. Select
   Organization Preferences.

3. Select
   Network.

4. Select
   Advanced.

5. Under preferred networks, drag your known Wi-Fi networks into your desired order.

6. Select
   OK
   when done.

If you never want your Mac to bring together a item network, yous can either remove it from the listing or untick the
Auto-bring together
option next to that network. Then, it will only connect if you specifically tell information technology to.

Set up a Band Preference in iOS

iOS devices don’t offer the same blazon of network preference setting as macOS devices, and then at that place aren’t that many options for setting your network preference.

On the bright side, the 2 main options you lot have in iOS and iPadOS are sufficient to get the job done.

1. Open
   Settings.
2. Select
   Wi-Fi.

3. Next to the listed network you lot DON’T want to join, select the
   blue “i” icon.

4. At present, either select
   Forget This Network
   to permanently stop your device from connecting to it or toggle
   Auto-Join
   off and then switching to that network won’t happen automatically.

Since your 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks accept dissimilar names, this should exist enough to ensure your device only uses 1 of them.

Set a Ring Preference in Android

When it comes to Android devices, things aren’t as straightforward as they could be. Some Android phones accept a Wi-Fi priority menu. You tin observe this under:

Settings
>
Network & net
>
Wi-Fi
>
“Overflow Menu”
>
Advanced Wi-Fi
>
Wi-Fi priority.

If you didn’t know, the “overflow” carte is usually a button with three horizontal bars. In some cases, it may likewise be in the menu accessed by borer the iii dots.

Using the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra we had at hand, that setting is nowhere to be found. We suspect that this will be the case for many Android devices with customized, brand-specific versions of Android.

As such, the nigh reliable solution is to utilize a Wi-Fi switching app. These apps take over command of which Wi-Fi network you’re continued to. Do notation that this does involve giving the app high-level permissions.

Based on our research, a prime number suggestion is Smart Wi-Fi Selector, which is a paid application. All the same, the developer does offering a free trial so yous can make sure information technology works for you.

Note:
Take care to only apply apps you lot find on the Play Store that are verified by Play Protect, and have a expect at our Android antivirus list to test whatsoever such app you install. Pay attention to user reviews as well to ensure the app works as described.

Disable a Ring on Your Router Settings

In some cases, you may non desire any device to connect to one of the frequency bands that your router offers. The most foolproof method would be to disable one ring or the other entirely. But keep in heed that some older devices cannot connect to a 5GHz network at all, so if you lot do disable your 2.4GHz network, that’southward likely to cut sure devices out.

Every router or Wi-Fi access point has its brand-specific interface and menu arrangement. So you’ll have to refer to your router documentation for exact information. All the same, the basic process is more or less universal.

1. Open up a
   web browser
   on a device that’s continued to the router.
2. Enter the router’south
   IP address. Here, it’south 192.168.0.1, but information technology will be in your router’s manual or on a sticker underneath the device.

3. Log in to the router. If you’ve never set a custom username or password, the listed default password on a sticker underneath the router should work.
4. Now await for the
   Wi-Fi settings
   section.

5. Inside that menu, there should exist a place to disable individual bands. In the case of this router, the settings were under “Wi-Fi Name & Countersign.”

Now that you’ve switched off the band y’all don’t want, there’south no fashion any device tin connect to it.

Requite the Networks Different Passwords

If you want a device locked to 1 band or the other, then there’s a simple trick to pull it off. All yous have to exercise is open your router settings and then give each ring its password.

And then, on the device itself, make sure to forget the network you don’t desire it to use. Connect to your desired ring, and so it shouldn’t exist a problem anymore.

Consider Ethernet

If the device you want to limit to a specific band doesn’t demand to exist moved around, ethernet cabling may be ameliorate than messing effectually with Wi-Fi settings. If the idea of laying cable and drilling holes in walls is daunting, you also have the choice of using powerline Ethernet extenders, which are a plug-and-play solution. Check out Wi-Fi Extenders vs. Powerline Adapters for more than information.