Intel Wi-Fi AX200

Keith Weisshar · Dec 9, 2023

Why does my Intel Wi-Fi AX200 keep switching from 5 Ghz to 2.4 Ghz on Windows 11 23H2 while downloading a large game such as GTA V? Also while downloading the signal strength on the tray icon only has 3/4 instead of full. When I pause the download the signal strength goes back to full but the connection stays at 2.4 Ghz until I manually disconnect and reconnect to Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi driver version is 23.10.0.8.

OAT · Dec 9, 2023

Keith Weisshar said:
Why does my Intel Wi-Fi AX200 keep switching from 5 Ghz to 2.4 Ghz on Windows 11 23H2 while downloading a large game such as GTA V? Also while downloading the signal strength on the tray icon only has 3/4 instead of full. When I pause the download the signal strength goes back to full but the connection stays at 2.4 Ghz until I manually disconnect and reconnect to Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi driver version is 23.10.0.8.

NavyLCDR · Dec 9, 2023

You need to go into the adapter driver settings in device manager and "lock out" the 2.4 ghz band.

BamaInArk · Dec 9, 2023

Hmmm I never knew you could do this within the driver. But in my case I set different SSIDs for the different radios and frequencies.

NavyLCDR · Dec 9, 2023

BamaInArk said:
Hmmm I never knew you could do this within the driver. But in my case I set different SSIDs for the different radios and frequencies.

My Netgear Orbi router does not let me do that.

TraderGary · Dec 9, 2023

@NavyLCDR I too have a Netgear Orbi Mesh router system. I'm trying to think of why I would want to have different SSIDs for different radios and frequencies.

NavyLCDR · Dec 9, 2023

TraderGary said:
@NavyLCDR I too have a Netgear Orbi Mesh router system. I'm trying to think of why I would want to have different SSIDs for different radios and frequencies.

For the exact reason the OP is posting about and for the exact reason why I have to go into my WiFi adapter driver settings and lock out 2.4 ghz. It would be much easier just to be able to set the WiFi adapter to connect only to the SSID that is exclusive to the 5 ghz channel.

TraderGary · Dec 9, 2023

@NavyLCDR Yes, of course that makes sense. What I was thinking was why I would want that. I have devices that are both 2.5 ghz and 5 ghz. I also have family and friends that use my guest WiFi and I wouldn't want to block out any 2.5 ghz devices.

I wonder if my Netgear Orbi is any less efficient when set to use both 2.5 and 5 ghz.

Fabler2 · Dec 9, 2023

NavyLCDR said:
For the exact reason the OP is posting about and for the exact reason why I have to go into my WiFi adapter driver settings and lock out 2.4 ghz. It would be much easier just to be able to set the WiFi adapter to connect only to the SSID that is exclusive to the 5 ghz channel.

Yes. My latest router only broadcasts the Router name so no choice of bands. It leaves it to the device to connect to which band. Hence the device properties to force which band it connects to.
My old TP-Link router use to broadcast TP-LINK_4G and TP-LINK_5G and that made life a bit easier.

BamaInArk · Dec 9, 2023

Some routers are better at bandwidth steering or whatever it's called. Some suggest having the same SSID for all radios makes moving around inside your home better. However as mentioned some routers are better at it than others. This gets more problematic with newer 6E routers with 3 radios.

antspants · Dec 9, 2023

Fabler2 said:
Yes. My latest router only broadcasts the Router name so no choice of bands. It leaves it to the device to connect to which band. Hence the device properties to force which band it connects to.
My old TP-Link router use to broadcast TP-LINK_4G and TP-LINK_5G and that made life a bit easier.

Whats the latest one? Pretty sure most routers let you rename bands?

I’ve never had a router automatically switch a band, I assume @Keith Weisshar that you have looked in the router settings for an auto switch setting? Or would Windows override such a setting?

Fabler2 · Dec 9, 2023

antspants said:
Whats the latest one? Pretty sure most routers let you rename bands?

I’ve never had a router automatically switch a band, I assume @Keith Weisshar that you have looked in the router settings for an auto switch setting? Or would Windows override such a setting?

It doesn't broadcast the different bands by name and that's the thing. It's the device that selects the strongest signal (2.4GHz usually) but if you need to connect to 5GHz you have to change the wireless card's properties settings.

antspants · Dec 9, 2023

Fabler2 said:
It doesn't broadcast the different bands by name and that's the thing. It's the device that selects the strongest signal (2.4GHz usually) but if you need to connect to 5GHz you have to change the wireless card's properties settings.

I know you know what you’re doing, but it’s surprising there is no “Broadcast” option

Fabler2 · Dec 9, 2023

antspants said:
I know you know what you’re doing, but it’s surprising there is no “Broadcast” option

This is all it broadcasts,

It does have the option to turn off either band in the router but then you lose that band and older devices or IOT use the 2.4 band so not really practical. Sure I could change the router or even use an Access Point but I've managed to get all the different devices connected to the bands I want.

hdmi · Dec 9, 2023

This is why I vastly prefer to use separate SSIDs with my Asus RT-AX92U mesh. Band steering is just an old hack, it is mostly obsolete, and, in most situations it creates more problems than it solves. Even when it doesn't, it still forces the non-2.4 GHz devices to rekey with every roam so there's a sacrifice.

An alternative choice that is a fairly common one would be to use a single SSID with band steering turned off. But on a phone/tablet it might not be possible to change the Preferred Band setting and the Roaming Aggressiveness setting. You could always decide to use MAC filtering in the router/mesh as a workaround, but personally, I, don't like to do that because it's tedious, and then you'd also have to turn off the phone/tablet's ability to autogenerate a random MAC. Even if you can get away with, in lieu of using the MAC filtering approach, just setting the power for 2.4 GHz to low in the router/mesh/AP(s) you might all of a sudden start to experience signal stability issues with 2.4 GHz connections, e.g., on IoT devices with weak signals that only can support 2.4 GHz. So there's another potential sacrifice.

NavyLCDR · Dec 9, 2023

antspants said:
I know you know what you’re doing, but it’s surprising there is no “Broadcast” option

antspants · Dec 9, 2023

NavyLCDR said:
View attachment 80722

The ASUS is also pretty simple

antspants · Dec 9, 2023

I've been looking around but none of the solutions will really help Keith because it involves locking in to a band, which I don't believe Keith wants to do.