Current routers work in various frequency bands in the same WiFi network. That is, you have a single SSID or WiFi network to which you connect but the device automatically decides which band to connect to depending on what it considers to be best. This has advantages and the main one is that we can connect to the same network and it will assign us the best frequency band. Something especially useful if we do not know the differences or advantages of each one. But it also has drawbacks and may be slowing down your browsing.
If you deactivate the function you can have many advantages and we will explain why.
What advantages does it have
As we say, connecting to the band assigned to us by this “smart” function of the router has many advantages. It is a technology that we find in devices of many brands and in devices that operators install when you contract fiber, without having to buy a separate router.
Among the advantages it offers us is that it allows us to connect to the 2.4 GHz band if we are far away or it will automatically connect us to the 5 GHz band if we are close. The difference between the two is that the first offers us more width or distance but less speed. The second, the opposite: it gives us better speed although it doesn't go as far. And the device will be in charge of choosing one or the other depending on where we are and what suits us best.
There are also other advantages such as the possibility of choosing which one we connect to depending on the clients that have already connected to one band or another. If there are many devices connected in the 2.4 GHz band, it will automatically send the new client to another band in order to balance and not saturate, for example.
Why should you disable it?
But although it has advantages, there are also drawbacks when using the smart function of the router and, as we said at the beginning, deactivating the "Smart Connect" function can help us to have better speed.
Although it is usually connected or activated by default, deactivating it will allow us to choose the frequency band that we want manually using two different WiFi network names or two SSIDs that you will configure from the router settings. This will also allow you to always connect to the 5 GHz band so you will have much more speed preventing it from connecting to 2.4 GHz.
Deactivating the function will also allow us not to be moving between bands. In other words, the router and its intelligent function will not change you from one to another as you move around the house or office, but you will always be connected to it. Generally we will not notice this change and it is not a problem, but it may be the case that there are small cuts when changing from one to the other.
How to deactivate it
Deactivating it will depend on each router model and will depend on the model you have installed, but you can access the configuration from the IP address, in the browser, by entering 192.168.1.1 in the browser. Here, generally, we have to enter our username and password and we will enter the configuration and privacy parameters of the device. You simply have to look for the “Smart Connect” or “Smart WiFi” section and deactivate it.
Depending on the model and brand, this section or adjustment will be seen with one name or another and we will find it in one category or another in the configuration panel.
