Wondering if possible: Connect to 5ghz SSID only in windows 7 using USB adapter

[LxMxFxD4]

I have an AE1000 adapter in my laptop which is dual band. I have a client that has a dual band network 2.4ghz and 5ghz in which the 2.4ghz network is only ag while the 5ghz is n. Since the SSIDs of both 2.4ghz and 5ghz networks are identical, windows does not allow me to select the 5ghz band and only shows me the 2.4ghz band as it somehow prefers 2.4ghz.

If anyone knows a method, even if its a registry hack to disable 2.4ghz on my AE1000 or whatnot, please pass it along. My phone (android running ICS) has a selectable band while windows seems to lack this functionality.

 

[evti]

You have to change the SSID on your 5GHz and 2.4GHz networks different things, even if you just add a letter or something on to the end of the name.

 

[LxMxFxD4]

You have to change the SSID on your 5GHz and 2.4GHz networks different things, even if you just add a letter or something on to the end of the name.

As stated in original post, the SSIDs are identical. It is not an option to change them.

 

[JackMDS]

Take a look at the Configure part of the Wireless Connection properties. It might be that in the Driver menu there is an entry to set it to 5GHz only.

Click on the Configure.

😎

 

[LxMxFxD4]

Take a look at the Configure part of the Wireless Connection properties. It might be that in the Driver menu there is an entry to set it to 5GHz only.

Click on the Configure.

😎

Unfortunately I found nothing.

I guess my alternative here is to buy another dual band USB adapter. Do you happen to know of one that might allow me to achieve connection on the 5ghz band in this situation? This seems to be more of a windows connection issue (that I admit must only affect a tiny % of people) than a driver or adapter issue. Since I can't help microsoft fix this, my options at this point are to change adapters possibly. Any ideas?

 

[spidey07]

Or try using the adapter wireless connection manager utility. They normally have much more options than windows native support.

 

[kevnich2]

Why not just change the SSID of the 5ghz band. I have never seen anyone that wants to or even does use the same SSID on both 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands, simply because their usually used for two different purposes. I usually put a number 5 in my 5ghz bands just so my clients know which one to connect to on their laptops. Seems like your taking a much longer route here than is necessary.

 

[spidey07]

In enterprise environments you typically enable the SSID on both the 2.4 and 5Ghz bands.

OP - every driver I've seen allows you to specify a preference on the band and enable/disable ones.

 

[kevnich2]

In enterprise environments you typically enable the SSID on both the 2.4 and 5Ghz bands.

OP - every driver I've seen allows you to specify a preference on the band and enable/disable ones.

I never recommended to disable the SSID. I recommended changing the name so that their names aren't the same. You can change the name of the SSID in about 2 minutes.

 

[LxMxFxD4]

In enterprise environments you typically enable the SSID on both the 2.4 and 5Ghz bands.

OP - every driver I've seen allows you to specify a preference on the band and enable/disable ones.

Well guys it appears that there is just no way to do this with a linksys/cisco AE1000. This morning I put in a WNDA3100 and installed the netgear software. The netgear software allows for the band to be selected. There is NO software for the AE1000 which is why I was unable to do it. Strange. I did have to set the netgear to "enable 5ghz only" to achieve what I wanted, at least thats how I saw it.

So is possible, just not using windows networking only using an AE1000. Thanks for all the replies fellas.