Broadband modernization is not something many of us often do, but when I found that gigabit broadband had finally arrived in my building, I found it impossible to resist, despite the fact that I had no real justification for such speeds. . But hey, gigabit broadband is a gadget, right?
Sure enough, now I'm getting very close to gigabit speeds over an Ethernet connection in my office (see above), and 5 GHz Wi-Fi offers 2-300Mbps for both uploads and downloads elsewhere in the apartment.
However, there was one aspect of the update that I feared ...
The SSID of my old router was a historical accident and I wanted to set a new SSID for the new one. However, my fear of this was that it would break all my smart device connections at home.
In theory, it shouldn't have. All Philips Hue devices talk to the hub, not directly to the router, so they should have been happy. The same was true for the blinds, which also have a connected hub. Other devices should only need the new wi-fi beliefs introduced in the applications.
Theoretical.
But, as we all know, the network - especially the wireless network - is an area of technology where theory and practice rarely match. Sure enough, moving over hubs promptly led to "52 non-responsive devices" in the Home app.
My options seemed to be: One, give up the whole idea and use only the same SSID as the old router; or two, spend many hours delving into the settings of many wireless device applications to update their Wi-Fi connection data.
I started the last approach, but it was too painful. In addition, the whole common phenomenon of wireless networking became known: the things that should have happened were not; things that could not happen did; things would not work for a while, then suddenly they would work; and vice versa.
Which was when I came up with a great solution, even if I say it myself. I went back to the changes I made, then gave a new SSID to the 5 GHz network on the new router, but reused the old SSID for a 2.4 GHz one. Voila, all our smart home devices have been fooled, while we could happily connect all our Apple devices to the 5 GHz network.
There is no real disadvantage in this regard. 2.4 GHz speeds are slower, but this is irrelevant when the only data sent or received are shortcuts and device authentication. All Macs, iPads, and iPhones use the 5 GHz network, and the router views them as a single logical network, so it doesn't matter that the iPhone giving a command connects to an SSID and the device listening listens to it. connects to the other.
You need to verify that the router is working the same way. Most modern ones, but there are exceptions, which consider 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz as completely separate networks. But provided you combine them, this is a completely painless way to upgrade to broadband or change your SSID without breaking all your smart home set.
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