On 01/10/2021 17.19, Dave Howorth wrote:

On Fri, 1 Oct 2021 03:21:30 +0200 (CEST) "Carlos E. R." <> wrote:

...

Hi,

Where I am at the moment I got a new router from a new ISP, that has both 2.5 GHz and 5 GHz bands. And it provides (ISP defaults) two SSIDs, one "normal" and another at 5GHZ. Names like these:

sagemcomXXXX and sagemcomXXXX-5G

This is apparently typical of ISPs here.

Looking at network manager settings, I noticed that I can choose the band, or set it to auto. All the settings are the same, I could use the same configuration, and let automatics choose one or another band - but no, the SSIDs are different.

If it were possible to tell NM in a single profile to use a different SSID for each band, I could do that. The GUI certainly doesn't allow it.

It seems I'd better set the band manually on each of the two profiles (now it is 'auto'), so they don't waste time probing.

I don't know if I should fuse both configs into one on the router, same SSID - or not, I don't know what caveats there would be. And, here there may be later other machines using Windows or Android.

One thing I noticed is that my laptop connects almost instantly. On the old router, it could take several seconds to connect.

And a curiosity: if it can not connect, the XFCE desktop does not recover the open apps of the previous session, it is empty.

Ideas, considerations?

You haven't said what router you have but you need to read its manual, or read its help pages or whatever, in order to find out what facilities it offers and what it recommends.

I haven't yet looked properly at the router. It is a Sagemcom. The web page does not say the model... ah, it is "MTA SIP Sagemcom ST3686" In a support forum they say they do not know where to find the manual. I certainly can not find it at the ISP, nor does google seem to find an official source. At <https://fccid.io/VW3FAST3686/User-Manual/User-Manual-3699673> there is one, with what seems scanned pages, thus not searchable pages. Oh, found a PDF: https://fccid.io/VW3FAST3686/User-Manual/User-Manual-3699673.pdf Good, it has searchable text. Oh! Only 8 pages! :-/ This is not a proper manual. Finally, found the official page: <https://support.sagemcom.com/en/gateways/fst-3686-vodafone> Although my provider is not vodafone proper, but a second name, Lowi. <https://support.sagemcom.com/sites/default/files/2019-04/UE-2017-0604.pdf> This is the conformity declaration. Two pages. <https://support.sagemcom.com/sites/default/files/2019-04/CE-2016-0251.pdf> This is the conformity declaration. Two pages. <https://support.sagemcom.com/sites/default/files/2019-04/CE-2016-0250.pdf> This is the conformity declaration. Two pages. No manual! I have no idea where to get he official manual, complete. Must be a state secret.

Here I have a Fritz!Box and it recommends using the same SSID for both bands and it will then manage transferring devices from one to the other automatically, as long as they are fairly recent and have 11/k and 11/v capabilities.

If you use separate SSIDs then you will have to decide which network to join for each device and they will be stuck on that band.

Of course.

Oh and the 5 GHz band can go down at any time for up to 10 minutes for the router to check for 'priority' radar operating in the area, so automatic switching is very useful. Particularly if like me you sometimes have military helicopters flying overhead at low level.

Didn't know that. The wifi page says I have "450 Mbit / s (802.11b/g/n), 1.3 Gbit/s (802.11ac)". I just changed the SSID of the 5G side removing the -5G off it. My "small laptop" which is the one with 5G, connects find, but I have no idea what frequency it is using (network manager connection information does not say). Ah, "iwconfig" does say it, and it has connected at 5G Hz. Good! My android phone also connects at 5G. I'll leave it this way and see what happens :-) Thank you both for the ideas :-) -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from oS Leap 15.2 x86_64 (Minas Tirith))