EERO compatibility with smart-plug devices?

jc517b  sorry kind of an idiot but I have eero Pro. Sooooo. I have one single wireless network and my device automatically picks the network.  How do  you choose 2.4?? Please help. Thank you also

jc517b I am using an iPhone. My iPhone is always connected 5? How do I ever get connected to 2.4?   Plus my iHome plug shows up in the eero connected devices, I just can’t seem to complete setup in iHome app. I think it’s the 2.4/5 Business. How do you get your iPhone to pick.

Thanks for reaching out johnnygoodface , and welcome to the Community! While there's not a way to actively "force" a device to connect to one frequency or the other, please rest assured that we're actively working on some options that might make setup for devices like these easier in the future. 

For the time being, if a device manufacturer requires the 2.4GHz frequency, then there are a handful of workarounds that can make setup easier. The most straightforward (although admittedly low-tech) is simply to power down any extra eeros and physically move further away from the primary unit – this will help your phone connect on 2.4GHz so that you can proceed with iDevice setup. 

Past that, for any other assistance you need, we'll always be happy to help out directly, so giving us a call at 877-659-2347 is the first thing I recommend if you ever have any immediate questions or concerns with the product. Thanks again for joining us here, and we look forward to hearing any other thoughts and feedback you have!

Kindly,
Drew, eero Community Team

Thanks for posting Wincelee , and a very warm welcome to the Community! If you're having a variety of devices having trouble connecting to the network, then it's more likely that you're seeing an issue unrelated to frequency. We'd definitely like to look into this with you, so please give us a call at 877-659-2347 so we can take a look at the network and offer you some guidance!

Kindly,
Drew, eero Community Team

Thanks so much for bringing these concerns to our attention mstephens77 and sorry to hear about the frustration. I'd like to stress that the eero has no problem authenticating and connecting devices that are 2.4GHz-only, and that 5GHz radio broadcasting simultaneously doesn't prevent these devices from connecting in any way; most of the issues we see in this field have to do with associated mobile apps for these devices that require the phone running the app to also be on 2.4GHz in order to configure the respective device. For 2.4GHz-only devices that are able to be configured manually by interacting directly with the device interface – for instance, using a wireless printer's display screen to configure WiFi – there should be no issue whatsoever. 

For the devices you're having trouble with, I definitely encourage you to check and see whether they can be manually configured without the use of an app, or if the company recommends any workarounds. We definitely appreciate you sharing your experiences and feedback with us here, but for actual troubleshooting assistance with the product, I definitely encourage you to reach out to our support team directly at 877-659-2347. Alternatively, if you'd like to send an email with the details to support@eero.com and put "Community" and my name somewhere in the subject line, I'd be happy to get a senior specialist on the case directly!

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts with us! We're grateful to have you here, and we look forward to any other thoughts and feedback you have – from all of us at eero, welcome to the Community!

Kindly,
Drew, eero Community Team

Drew Thanks for the response.  You are correct in stating that certain apps require both the phone and the device being set up to both be on the 2.4ghz band.  There are few devices out there (wifi switches, strip lighting, etc) that can be hard wired into a computer for manual set up.

I tried again today to set up the device.  This time I walked about half a block away from my home and then verified in the eero app that my iPhone was connected to the 2.4ghz band of the router.  Once this was verified, I tried to configure my wifi device and again it failed.  

What I do not understand is that if I am certain that both my iphone and the device being set up are on the 2.4ghz band,  why my setup is failing?  I was able to set up the device on my Asus RT-AC66U with no issues....but on the eero,  no dice. 

The wifi device I am trying to configure uses WPA2 encryption which is compatible with eero.  Something about the mesh network is preventing me from setting up this device.  

I have done exactly what eero's "low tech" workaround is to thie problem to no avail...

I have reached out to Steve P. at eero and he is escalating my issue up the chain to see if there is anything your Pro Team in Austin can do to help me out.  Unfortunately, I fear that this issue will come up again and again with other customers so I hope eero has some sort of fix in the works,  otherwise we are all going to be relegated to a rather narrow set of wifi offerings that seem to play nice with the eero system.

Thanks for your help!

randge that is such a brilliant idea! I never thought of that approach! 

Thanks for providing this additional information mstephens77 , and sorry to hear you'r continuing to experience some frustration setting up devices.

To clarify, having a single IP reservation set for another device on the network won't cause issues for any other devices attempting to connect, so please rest assured that that likely isn't contributing to the issue you're seeing. In this situation, the most effective way to get to the bottom of this will be to reach out to the support team directly so that we can assist you in a dedicated way! As before, the offer stands for me to get your ticket over to a senior specialist, so please email support@eero.com and put "Community" somewhere in the subject line so I can more easily locate your ticket. Alternatively, we can work you directly by phone at 877-659-2347 if that's what you'd prefer!

We look forward to hearing from you so that we can get to the bottom of this and resolve the issue together!

Kindly,
Drew, eero Community Team

Drew I'm having this exact same issue, I called support and spoke to a nice gentleman called Jose, he helped turn off the 5ghz so my phone and device were on the same band.  Still no joy.  The app sees the device and connects but when trying to initiate it on the Eero network, it's a no go. I'm of the same opinion that this is a limitation of Eero and am contemplating if it's the right choice for me. Of course, if it can be sorted I'll be happy.  Please let me know ASAP as it's limiting me from being able to get set up. 

trevorbyrne There are multiple easy work-arounds.  The easiest is to call support.  An alternative is to use a device that only supports 2.4ghz to add the smart plug.  Another, albeit more difficult, is to move the phone and smart plug to an area where the 5ghz signal is weak or non-existent.

I have more than 100 devices and dozens of smart plugs that are 2.4ghz and these methods work 100% of the time for me.

txgunlover I can set up the device using 2.4ghz by "tricking" my iPhone to use 2.4ghz by walking far away from the hub. That works for a few hours, but inevitably the plug loses connection to the Eero, presumably because the Eero is only using 5ghz in my small house. It might be that the plug is close to one of my eero units. 

Hansenrk look forward to hearing about your test. What worries me is while the plug can connect to either, it still has to match your phone. And who knows when you do the setup, which speed (2.4 or 5) it’s connected to. I think it may be all luck you can get both matching up. Eero needs to make this easier instead of saying it’s the plugs issue because they need a phone app to setup....

Hansenrk If you contact our support department they can temporarily turn off the 5GHz network while you get your 2.4 GHz devices connected. Once you are done we can turn the 5 GHz network back on. Please send an email to support@eero.com with [Community Forum] in the subject line and I'll make sure your ticket is escalated quickly.

Sidney Thanks for offering a possible solution. But the smart plugs I've tried thus far (two different brands) cease to function once they lose any temporary 2.4 GHz connection.  In other words, once the mesh network is running strictly on 5GHz, the smart plug will not be accessed by the Amazon Echo. The smart plugs only communicate with 2.4 GHz (as do some other smart devices apparently). Maybe Eero needs to start making 5 GHz smart plugs that will work with it's mesh. I'd buy them!

Sidney thank you, I will give that a try.  I just wish we had the feature to do this ourselves....

trevorbyrne 

srcp exactly what I did. So far the Nest WiFi I replaced it with is working great.

jtom The above problem is now solved.  Original problem-free connections were made using an iPhone 6, and I tried to reconnect after password change with an iPhone 11.  So, I after hours with WEMO and TP-Link tech help, I tried to reconnect with a 2-year-old iPad, and it worked flawlessly for all devices.  Since the problem affected smart plugs from two makers, it is clear that the problem is with the iPhone-Eero interaction.  Eero, please address this.

BaRaD5 contact the manufacturer of the "magic home led controller" and inform them their install process needs to use the SSID instead of the MAC address of the AP the setup device's (the phone) is connected to.

txgunlover it connectes tho, just wont stay connected