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> Solve one problem only, and solve it well. I unfortunately discovered that my brand new Brother printer can only communicate over 2.4 GHz wifi, which conflic

> Solve one problem only, and solve it well. I unfortunately discovered that my brand new Brother printer can only communicate over 2.4 GHz wifi, which conflicts with the 5 GHz my phone requires (my router can only do one at a time, and there's no way I'm switching as needed). So USB it is. It's one of their cheapest inkjets (MFC-1010DW), but I selected it for features more than price. Wish I had read the documentation. I would have purchased the next model up. Nicely compact compared to the ~10 year old Canon that died recently.

iamflimflam1 3y ago
This is going to become a bigger problem over time. A lot of the embedded chips that provide WiFi only supported 2.4GHz. There’s a whole bunch of devices that just aren’t going to work.
hales 3y ago
> my router can only do one at a time, and there's no way I'm switching as needed That's abysmal! Every 5GHz Wifi AP I've ever come across lets you run both PHYs at the same time. Please, on my behalf, sternly talk down to your router. Even ignoring the massive issue of device compatibility: 5GHz and its protocols do not have anywhere the range and penetrating power of 2.4GHz. When I walk outside my house I can keep watching videos, but my laptop does this by transitioning to the 2GHz radio link modes.
- octacat 3y ago
  oh, I actually needed to check routers recently. Prices like 5 years ago but specs for cheaper models are "slightly broken". Like 2.4+5 router, but only 100MBit ethernet (and full AC speed for wireless). So, you kinda have "cheap" models, but to get a real usable router you have to pay the full price. Marketing.
- anonymouskimmer 3y ago
  It's an 8 year old SBG6580-2 with radio button selection for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz on the web interface. I bought the cheapest one guaranteed to work with Xfinity to save on the rental costs. I'll upgrade when they force a move from DOCSIS 3.0. Just like I'll upgrade my cheapest smart phone with a replaceable battery when they force a move from 4G (or finally make a workable phone with a physical keyboard again).
  - amluto 3y ago
    Eww! Whenever you replace it, get a separate AP and modem. Also, DOCSIS 3.1 modems come with queue management. You may benefit significantly from an upgrade even if nothing else changes.
  - vGPU 3y ago
    Just spend the $150 on an omada eap670 and call it a day.
- pdntspa 3y ago
  In a lot of places 2.4ghz is unusable because of the density of networks transmitting in the space. I live in a SFH in a lower-tier metro and only 5ghz is performant
  - filterfiber 3y ago
    Most cheap wifi modules are all 2.4ghz, so printers, iot stuff, etc will almost certainly be 2.4ghz. Like 1$ cheap. > only 5ghz is performant Most of these barely need any bandwidth. A printer is possibly on the higher end of bandwidth, but I think the number of printers that support 5GHZ is possibly still single digits.
  - spookie 3y ago
    Doesn't help that Bluetooth is on the same spectrum
jrockway 3y ago
The main function of the popular ESP32 microcontroller is to preserve 2.4GHz WiFi for the next 20 years.
- filterfiber 3y ago
  Are there any microcontrollers in the 1$ to 5$ range with 5GHz? And/or documented microcontrollers that are purchasable in the states? Won't 2.4GHz have better range anyway over 5GHZ?
  - jrockway 3y ago
    The ESP32-C5 has dual band support: https://www.espressif.com/en/news/ESP32-C5 https://www.espressif.com/en/news/ESP32-C5 I think that 2.4GHz having longer range is a myth. When I worked on WiFi for Google Fiber we tested it pretty extensively and didn't see any common building materials that attenuated 2.4GHz more than 5GHz. Historically, the problem was that routers often selected low-power channels for 5GHz. If you use a channel where the maximum power is permitted, 5GHz is just as good. The 5GHz band plan is kind of complicated. You will want to ensure that you get a 160MHz channel. How you accomplish that varies by region, unfortunately.
    - filterfiber 3y ago
      Hopefully it becomes available soon. Oddly the C6 was announced before the C5 I think is only now making it's way onto devkits. > When I worked on WiFi for Google Fiber we tested it pretty extensively and didn't see any common building materials that attenuated 2.4GHz more than 5GHz. Huh interesting, I might have to play with that at some point (I'm hoping either ubiquiti or openwrt will let me do that).
tass 3y ago
It’s pretty typical for printers (and a huge amount of iot devices) to only support 2.4GHz. I’m a little impressed that this is the first device you found this incompatibility with. There’s some standalone dual-band access points on sale this weekend for <$40 right now which would solve your problem.
- anonymouskimmer 3y ago
  > I’m a little impressed that this is the first device you found this incompatibility with. Don't be. A comprehensive list of our WiFi-capable devices are two smartphone models, the printer, and two laptops that are plugged in to wired connections. Edit: Forgot about the two wireless work laptops. For our purposes the 10 foot USB cable solves the problem fine.
  - fuzzfactor 3y ago
    I got one of the Brother laser types a couple years ago, hooked it up to a single PC using the USB cable, then shared that PC's printer with the rest of the network. Since Wifi on the printer was not in use at this point, it was then possible to simultaneously connect an additional wireless PC when needed, directly to the printer using the printer's Wifi-Direct alternative. Interestingly, the printer was connected to the USB socket of a Windows XP client, but I had also ended up adding some Windows 8, 10, & 11 PC's to the network through time. IT was not optimistic since the new printers have no drivers for Windows XP, plus this was a discontinued model havng no drivers newer than Windows 8 either. Windows 7 drivers worked fine for XP, Windows 8 drivers worked for Windows 10, so everything was good. When Windows 11 came out, there was a notice on the Brother website advising that you would need to wait over 30 days before they would be posting compatible drivers. When they did post the W11 drivers, they were the exact same files that had already been released for W10 years earlier. Apparently the factory only needed to confirm there were no show-stoppers when installed in W11, with no modification of the drivers needed.
    - anonymouskimmer 3y ago
      Thanks, I'll see if I can get printer sharing working.

iamflimflam1 3y ago

This is going to become a bigger problem over time. A lot of the embedded chips that provide WiFi only supported 2.4GHz. There’s a whole bunch of devices that just aren’t going to work.

hales 3y ago

> my router can only do one at a time, and there's no way I'm switching as needed That's abysmal! Every 5GHz Wifi AP I've ever come across lets you run both PHYs at the same time. Please, on my behalf, sternly talk down to your router. Even ignoring the massive issue of device compatibility: 5GHz and its protocols do not have anywhere the range and penetrating power of 2.4GHz. When I walk outside my house I can keep watching videos, but my laptop does this by transitioning to the 2GHz radio link modes.

octacat 3y ago
oh, I actually needed to check routers recently. Prices like 5 years ago but specs for cheaper models are "slightly broken". Like 2.4+5 router, but only 100MBit ethernet (and full AC speed for wireless). So, you kinda have "cheap" models, but to get a real usable router you have to pay the full price. Marketing.
anonymouskimmer 3y ago
It's an 8 year old SBG6580-2 with radio button selection for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz on the web interface. I bought the cheapest one guaranteed to work with Xfinity to save on the rental costs. I'll upgrade when they force a move from DOCSIS 3.0. Just like I'll upgrade my cheapest smart phone with a replaceable battery when they force a move from 4G (or finally make a workable phone with a physical keyboard again).
- amluto 3y ago
  Eww! Whenever you replace it, get a separate AP and modem. Also, DOCSIS 3.1 modems come with queue management. You may benefit significantly from an upgrade even if nothing else changes.
- vGPU 3y ago
  Just spend the $150 on an omada eap670 and call it a day.
pdntspa 3y ago
In a lot of places 2.4ghz is unusable because of the density of networks transmitting in the space. I live in a SFH in a lower-tier metro and only 5ghz is performant
- filterfiber 3y ago
  Most cheap wifi modules are all 2.4ghz, so printers, iot stuff, etc will almost certainly be 2.4ghz. Like 1$ cheap. > only 5ghz is performant Most of these barely need any bandwidth. A printer is possibly on the higher end of bandwidth, but I think the number of printers that support 5GHZ is possibly still single digits.
- spookie 3y ago
  Doesn't help that Bluetooth is on the same spectrum

jrockway 3y ago

The main function of the popular ESP32 microcontroller is to preserve 2.4GHz WiFi for the next 20 years.

filterfiber 3y ago
Are there any microcontrollers in the 1$ to 5$ range with 5GHz? And/or documented microcontrollers that are purchasable in the states? Won't 2.4GHz have better range anyway over 5GHZ?
- jrockway 3y ago
  The ESP32-C5 has dual band support: https://www.espressif.com/en/news/ESP32-C5 https://www.espressif.com/en/news/ESP32-C5 I think that 2.4GHz having longer range is a myth. When I worked on WiFi for Google Fiber we tested it pretty extensively and didn't see any common building materials that attenuated 2.4GHz more than 5GHz. Historically, the problem was that routers often selected low-power channels for 5GHz. If you use a channel where the maximum power is permitted, 5GHz is just as good. The 5GHz band plan is kind of complicated. You will want to ensure that you get a 160MHz channel. How you accomplish that varies by region, unfortunately.
  - filterfiber 3y ago
    Hopefully it becomes available soon. Oddly the C6 was announced before the C5 I think is only now making it's way onto devkits. > When I worked on WiFi for Google Fiber we tested it pretty extensively and didn't see any common building materials that attenuated 2.4GHz more than 5GHz. Huh interesting, I might have to play with that at some point (I'm hoping either ubiquiti or openwrt will let me do that).

tass 3y ago

It’s pretty typical for printers (and a huge amount of iot devices) to only support 2.4GHz. I’m a little impressed that this is the first device you found this incompatibility with. There’s some standalone dual-band access points on sale this weekend for <$40 right now which would solve your problem.

anonymouskimmer 3y ago
> I’m a little impressed that this is the first device you found this incompatibility with. Don't be. A comprehensive list of our WiFi-capable devices are two smartphone models, the printer, and two laptops that are plugged in to wired connections. Edit: Forgot about the two wireless work laptops. For our purposes the 10 foot USB cable solves the problem fine.
- fuzzfactor 3y ago
  I got one of the Brother laser types a couple years ago, hooked it up to a single PC using the USB cable, then shared that PC's printer with the rest of the network. Since Wifi on the printer was not in use at this point, it was then possible to simultaneously connect an additional wireless PC when needed, directly to the printer using the printer's Wifi-Direct alternative. Interestingly, the printer was connected to the USB socket of a Windows XP client, but I had also ended up adding some Windows 8, 10, & 11 PC's to the network through time. IT was not optimistic since the new printers have no drivers for Windows XP, plus this was a discontinued model havng no drivers newer than Windows 8 either. Windows 7 drivers worked fine for XP, Windows 8 drivers worked for Windows 10, so everything was good. When Windows 11 came out, there was a notice on the Brother website advising that you would need to wait over 30 days before they would be posting compatible drivers. When they did post the W11 drivers, they were the exact same files that had already been released for W10 years earlier. Apparently the factory only needed to confirm there were no show-stoppers when installed in W11, with no modification of the drivers needed.
  - anonymouskimmer 3y ago
    Thanks, I'll see if I can get printer sharing working.