Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Thank you for this post! I have an AXE11000 and could not get my M2 iPad Pro to recognize the 6 GHz band. As soon as I enabled WPS in the router's GUI, the 6 GHz band finally appeared on my iPad. Never would have thought to turn that on.
That’s so weird that you have this same bug as my AXE16000 as I also have a AXE11000 with WPS also turned off and my 6GHz band is showing.

Do you have the lastest firmware for the AXE11000? Do you have the 2021 AXE11000 or the 2022 AXE11000 V2?
 
That’s so weird that you have this same bug as my AXE16000 as I also have a AXE11000 with WPS also turned off and my 6GHz band is showing.

Do you have the lastest firmware for the AXE11000? Do you have the 2021 AXE11000 or the 2022 AXE11000 V2?
Yes, I'm running the latest firmware on the AXE11000. I bought it in mid-2021, so I'm assuming I have the 2021 version.

Firmware version: 3.0.0.4.388_21224-g702a50f
 
Last edited:
Yes, I'm running the latest firmware on the AXE11000. I bought it in mid-2021, so I'm assuming I have the 2021 version.

Firmware version: 3.0.0.4.388_21224-g702a50f
Dang, that makes no sense to me.

Must be some really obscure bug for us to be getting it on different routers and then my AXE11000 works as expected.

Weird.
 


The new iPad Pro models announced last week are the first Apple devices to support Wi-Fi 6E, which uses the 6GHz band to enable faster and more reliable Wi-Fi connectivity. In a new support document, Apple explains how the feature works.

ipad-pro-2022.jpg

To create a Wi-Fi 6E network, Apple says you need a Wi-Fi 6E router that also has its 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands enabled. For the best Wi-Fi performance, Apple recommends using a single network name across the router's 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz bands. Otherwise, the iPad Pro identifies the network as having "limited compatibility," with Apple warning that the "overall experience with some activities over the network might not be as expected."

If you experience any issues with a Wi-Fi 6E network, Apple says you can turn off Wi-Fi 6E mode for that network, and the iPad Pro will no longer use that network's 6GHz band. To do so, open the Settings app, tap on Wi-Fi, tap on the name of the network you are connected to, tap on Wi-Fi 6E Mode and toggle it off. However, Apple says this setting appears only for Wi-Fi 6E networks that use a single network name for all bands.

The new iPad Pro was released today and also features the M2 chip, new hover functionality for the Apple Pencil, ProRes video recording, and Bluetooth 5.3.

Article Link: New iPad Pro Includes Special Mode to Turn Off Wi-Fi 6E
So the problem is though that if you only sport one SSID that combines 2.4/5/6 you will have to run it with WPA3 because thats the requirement for 6E, most devices can't read this. So while your Ipad will be working everything else will stop working. Also note that I actually tested this and so far my Ipad Pro 11 M2 only runs on 6E if I use the 40 band, I cannot run the 80 or 160 band, the ipad won't even show the SSID in my list... needless to say that all my other (pretty new tech) won't see the WPA3 enabled SSID at all. On the 40 band 6E is not really performing well, at this point you can rather use wifi 6 or 5 on the 80 band and get way better results. .. as well keep in mind: 2.4 = long range but slower, 5 Ghz short range but very fast, 6 GHz faster but pretty much no wall penetration possible.. just my 5 cents :)
 
So the problem is though that if you only sport one SSID that combines 2.4/5/6 you will have to run it with WPA3 because thats the requirement for 6E, most devices can't read this. So while your Ipad will be working everything else will stop working. Also note that I actually tested this and so far my Ipad Pro 11 M2 only runs on 6E if I use the 40 band, I cannot run the 80 or 160 band, the ipad won't even show the SSID in my list... needless to say that all my other (pretty new tech) won't see the WPA3 enabled SSID at all. On the 40 band 6E is not really performing well, at this point you can rather use wifi 6 or 5 on the 80 band and get way better results. .. as well keep in mind: 2.4 = long range but slower, 5 Ghz short range but very fast, 6 GHz faster but pretty much no wall penetration possible.. just my 5 cents :)
I’m using 160 on 6 GHz with M2 12.9 iPad with no problem.
 
I'm using an Asus Wi-Fi 6 router with combined SSID and I've never caught my iPhone, iPad or Mac being "stuck" on the 2.4 Ghz band. Not sure if it's the router or the client device that's the deciding factor but never had any issues with roaming.
That's good but the issue is not with Apple devices, some non-Apple devices like the PS5, ecobee, and others do not roam to 5 GHz automatically. Even if they have a line of sight connection to the router, they hang out on 2.4 Ghz indefinitely...

So as the network planner for my house hold, I prefer manual control to steer devices to particular frequencies. I prefer to use different SSIDs for 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz.

But if using one SSID for all frequencies, the Asus Axe16000 (and I believe other Asus routers) has ability to block individual MAC addresses from particular frequency bands...so you can plan your network by steering some clients to 2.4 GHz, others to one 5 GHz radio, and others to the other 5 GHz radio. I live in an area where radar interference is notorious; I would love to use DFS channels only, but only 1 of the DFS 80 MHz bands operate stably...the others are susceptible to radar/DFS frequency hopping.

So what I've done is 1 SSID for 2.4 Ghz, all the IoT devices roam here. I now have 1 SSID for my 2 5 Ghz radios and my 6 GHz radio. For 5 Ghz radio#1 (the lower band) most of my 5 Ghz devices hang out here. This is a non-dfs channel. The benefit here is that the router transmits at a higher power when in non-DFS mode... so 5 GHz penetrates FAR.

My other 5 Ghz radio#2 (the upper band) operates on DFS, clean, with no interference from neighbors per Wifi Explorer, and I get maximum speeds 1 Gbps up/down; so I put the high priority clients on this radio (Apple TV, PS5, etc). In my testing, because I have so many neighbors using the same bands, I only get 70-80% of the Wifi throughput when using non-DFS channel as compared to using a DFS channel. Hence my preference for DFS, if possible.

And with 6 Ghz, the iPad Pro M2 roams to 6 Ghz automatically uses the full 160 Hz no problem, and for my PCs with Intel AX210 6 Ghz radios, you can program the radio (in Windows) to prioritize 6 Ghz over 5 GHz; so it will roam to 6 Ghz automatically and hang out there indefinitely. In Linux I haven't found a way yet to prioritize 6 Ghz over 5 Ghz... but it's not that big a deal. I like 6 Ghz. Clean 160 Hz with no radar interference ...
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: btrach144
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.