Adjust Wi-Fi settings on your Android device, specifically for the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
Adjust Wi-Fi settings on your Android device, specifically for the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
My Google skills are failing me and I'm wondering if anyone knows the answer to this. I'm basically trying to get my phone to always prefer connecting to the 6ghz band on my 6e router while I'm near enough for signal, while still connecting to the 2.4ghz band when I'm out in the yard. Right now it seems to always default to 2.4ghz and I have to force it onto 6ghz whenever I want more speed. Too much detail version: Spoiler Early in the pandemic when my whole family was working and taking classes from home I splurged on an absolutely overkill mesh to reduce our headaches as wiring our house wasn't practical at the time. I got the crazy expensive Linksys Atlas Max 6E three pack and our wireless coverage and bandwidth problems were solved. It got great 2.5ghz coverage over our entire yard, and 5ghz performed great with 6ghz mainly used as the backhaul. Like most people the majority of our devices are on the 5ghz band so this worked well. Fast forward and we moved desks around as people returned to school/work with me being the last remote work hold out. The new positions put one of the nodes in poor signal and I used this as an excuse to finally wire our old house for ethernet and put the nodes on a wired backhaul. All great, so happy to have my daily drivers for work and personal use hard wired again for the first time in ages. Now that the 6ghz band is freed up I'd like to use it for the few devices that can to clear out the 5ghz band even more. My phone runs great and gets like 850+ megabit on 6ghz, but the problem is it defaults to the much slower 2.4ghz band even when I'm right next to one of the nodes. I don't want to forget/disable the 2.4 ghz band because I love being able to use it to get good speed (~180 megabit) outside (we don't have great cel coverage here). The current version of WiFi settings doesn't have a prioritization option anymore, and most of the play store WiFi apps I've looked at, A. seem a little sketchy/questionable and B. only seem to have an option to prioritize 5ghz networks. I'm not sure how they determine a network is 5ghz and maybe I can just add my 6ghz network to a list in one of those apps or something, but figured I'd ask here before installing random wifi apps from the play store.
This involves several factors. Does the router combine both frequencies into a single SSID? If yes, you can't really change it—your device will join the 6GHz network automatically when specific criteria are satisfied. Some routers let you split the channels, which your model appears to support. (Are there other networks listed in your network settings?) Many devices prioritize certain connections based on range, usage patterns, and manual actions. You might find a more advanced access point like the Unifi U6-Pro useful. It offers band steering and lets you adjust each channel's strength, helping devices connect to the strongest available frequency most of the time.
There are two primary methods for managing this: router/AP settings (when supported) and device-level adjustments. Not every router or access point offers band steering features, which can prioritize certain devices or restrict them to specific frequency ranges like 2.4, 5, or 6 GHz. Some networks combine all services—such as cable and DSL—into a single device. The user can check for band steering options on any new devices they acquire. Certain gadgets support applications that let users fine-tune their preferred bands, while others don’t. Devices usually select among available bands based on signal strength and speed, so it’s likely a device chooses a band because higher frequencies struggle to penetrate walls or travel far compared to lower ones, assuming transmission power remains consistent across bands. I rarely experience 5 GHz wireless at distances over 40 feet or through multiple interior walls, so I wouldn’t expect similar performance on 6 GHz unless the router supports much stronger signals.
I thought I had finished the response, but it seems this discussion has become a bit outdated. I recently set my phone to manually run at 6GHz for a short period. My router doesn’t combine bands into one SSID; each frequency gets its own (2.5GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz plus guest options). Because 2.5GHz offers better coverage, it’s the first one detected when I arrive home and stays active unless I switch to 6GHz or restart my phone or change the Wi-Fi setting in that range. I might just ignore the 2.5GHz network and connect only to the 6GHz one, which would mean losing access to Wi-Fi outside my yard. I think it’s reasonable to keep using 2.5GHz without major issues. Ideally, I’d want my phone to utilize more available bandwidth and favor the less congested channel, but there’s no real risk from having extra devices on the limited 2.5GHz spectrum. This feels like an optimization challenge—I notice more available data when indoors and would like the system to automatically choose the best channel.