Tenda router has separate dual-band, new firmware combines dual-band into one, AC10 dual-band is preferred

My colleague Xiao Lin complained at his workstation last week that the broadband at home is 300 Mbit/s, but when I measured the speed of my mobile phone against the router, it was only around 90 Mbit/s, making it blurry to watch the live broadcast. The business office checked and said there was no problem with the line. He took it for granted that the router was old and needed to be replaced. I asked him to take a screenshot of the WiFi details of his phone and send it to me - on an Android phone, click on the WiFi currently connected and scroll down. The line "Connection Frequency" is written clearly.: 2.4GHz。

The machine is not broken, it’s the mobile phone that chose the slow lane. His Tenda AX12 combines two frequency bands into one WiFi name by default when shipped from the factory, which is called dual-band-in-one in jargon. There is only one name left, and the frequency band selection is left to the device itself. In order to have a good signal pattern and save power, nine out of ten mobile phones rely on 2.4G. Three hundred megabytes of broadband is fed to 2.4G, and it is considered polite to get ninety megabits.

The Tenda switch has different names for the two generations of firmware.

Uninstalling dual-band is possible in Tenda's backend, but many people get stuck on the first step.: Search for "dual-band-in-one" in the settings, but the old machine can't find it at all. It’s not that it doesn’t exist, it’s that the name has been changed. I looked through Tenda's official AC10 installation guide, and the original text reads "Dual-band in one (or dual-band preferred)" - the two names are used together in the same document, because the interface copywriting of the old firmware and the new firmware are not from the same era.

It's roughly like this: The new WiFi6 machines (AX12, AX3 batch) in recent years are called in the interface Dual frequency in one , made into a switch ； The earlier column interface machines (the AC10 and AC9 batches) are called Dual frequency preferred , to make a check box. I can’t tell which generation of interface the one I have at home is, so there’s a way to do it: The "Broadband Control" that can be found in the background is an old model, and the "Device Management" card that fills the screen is a new model - this is the way I judge it. The article about Tenda speed limit I've used it, and it works every time.

By the way, this function is called differently by different companies.: Mercury calls it multi-frequency integration, I I just helped my cousin's Mercury pass the test last week ； Xiaomi calls it dual-band-in-one. The same name as Tenda’s new model . When I buy a device with only one WiFi name, I usually leave it on.

New interface: Turn that switch in the wireless settings

The path of Xiaolin’s AX12 is like this: Connect your phone to the router’s WiFi, and click on the browser tendawifi.com (knock 192.168.0.1 OK, same door), enter the management password to enter the backend. You can see the "Wireless Settings" column on the homepage. For machines with updated firmware, this section is called "Wi-Fi Settings." Anyway, it's right next to the WiFi name, so you can't miss it.

The first screen you enter is the WiFi name and password. Next to the name box is a "dual-band-in-one" switch, which is turned on by default. Turn the switch to off and the page will immediately change into two sets of frames: There is a set of 2.4G name and password on the top and a set of 5G name and password on the bottom. They are independent and can be changed separately.

There is one detail that Tenda is more stuck on than I thought.: two sets of names Can't fill in the same form . I was lazy the first time and pasted the same name in both boxes. When saving, a prompt popped up and refused to pass. Later I figured it out, the same name would be useless, the router was preventing me from getting confused.

I also checked out the Tenda WiFi App.: The WiFi name and password can be changed in the App. I looked around in the App for the dual-band-in-one switch but couldn’t find it. In the end, I had to go back to the backend of the web page to do it. This is similar to the WiFi timer switch. Most of Tenda's switch functions are on the web page, and the App only deals with status checks and common remote tasks. Remember to type in the browser when operating on mobile phone tendawifi.com , don’t expect the App to give you this entrance.

Old model AC10: Uncheck "Dual-band Optimization"

Before my old AC10 was retired, it had a different set of interfaces.: tendawifi.com Go to the backend, click "Wireless Settings" on the left menu, and then enter the "WiFi Name and Password" sub-page. On the page, there is a line above the name box called "Dual Band Optimization", with a check box hanging in front of it, which is checked by default.

The operation is exactly the opposite of the new model.: The new toggle switch, the old one is Remove the check mark . Once checked, the originally single name box is immediately divided into two groups, one for 2.4G and one for 5G. Fill in the same name for each. There is also a connection point to this hook. I am The article about changing WiFi password on mobile phone mentioned in: When it is checked, change one password and the two frequency bands will take effect at the same time. ； If you want to change the password after taking it apart, you have to change both boxes once. Don't change half of it and miss the other half.

If you can’t get into the backstage, don’t panic. Check it in two steps.: The first is to confirm that the mobile phone is connected to the WiFi of this Tenda and not to the neighbor's network with the same name. ； The second problem is that I can’t remember the management password. I looked at the sticker on the back of the machine and found that the default password for the old Tenda model is empty or lowercase admin. For the new model, I set it myself when setting it up for the first time. I have listed three situations . Even the background page cannot be popped up, go Can't open that article Arrange them one by one.

After the first night of confinement, the house will be lively.

The moment Xiao Lin clicked to save, the whole family WiFi disconnected and reconnected. The real movement is behind. We used the old names for the 9 smart devices in his family - cameras, speakers, sweepers, and two smart light bulbs - for 2.4G. All of them were reconnected without any problem, and none of them were lost. 5G has a new name. It only takes two or three minutes to manually select the new name and enter the password on your mobile phone and TV.

Only the camera in the living room was offline. It wasn't a matter of frequency band. It was because it was hanging on the edge of the signal and reconnecting was half a beat too slow. Don't rush to poke the reset hole. If the power is turned off for half a minute and then turned on again, it will probably come back on its own. As long as the old name of a sweeper, which is a 2.4G target, does not change, it has no idea what happened at night - the equipment distribution network only recognizes 2.4G. I wrote a special article .

This is the most valuable part of dismantling dual-band: The slow IoT remains in the old name of 2.4G with zero reconfiguration, while the fast mobile TV rushes to the new name of 5G. The name is just one sentence, use the old name for 2.4G, add a 5G suffix at the end for 5G, don’t use a Chinese name, some old equipment cannot be found. If you have a lot of devices at home, leave half an hour for them to reconnect one after another before dismantling them, and don't do it after 10 p.m.

Still stuck after disassembly? Let’s first look at how many spaces are left for 5G

Xiaolin sent a screenshot of the speed test that night. The mobile phone in the living room has 280 MB, which is beautiful. The next day, he went one step further and connected his bedroom TV to 5G. As a result, when watching 4K, the TV would spin in circles from time to time. The bedroom is separated by a load-bearing wall, and there are only two 5G slots left. The negotiated speed dropped from 2,400 to more than 800, and the actual speed was around 130 MB. It fluctuated to 30 or 40 MB during the evening peak, and the 4K code stream was unbearable. The 2.4G at the same location has 70 MB, which is stable.

Don’t be too rigid about the two 5G slots. This is a physical feature, not a setting issue. 5G drops hard through walls, while 2.4G is slow but stable. I have separated and calculated the two frequency bands in the actual measurement article. . Later, the TV in the bedroom was connected to 2.4G, and 70 MB was more than enough to feed 4K code stream, and there was no loopback. The same goes for mobile phones. When I walk into the house, the signal drops to two bars, and I manually switch back to the 2.4G network, which is more comfortable than holding on to 5G.

I advise you not to bother with the third type of family.: There are only three devices in the whole house, and the names are the same. ； Elderly people at home have fixed computer usage habits. If they take them apart, they have to teach them again. ； All IoT devices run smoothly on 2.4G, and you won’t be able to reap the benefits after dismantling them. Also, don’t confuse this with “turning off only 5G and leaving 2.4G”. That’s another switch, another matter. I wrote this the night I helped my mother-in-law set up a camera. .

ending: Five Elements Checklist, go through it before taking action

The final layout of Xiaolin’s house after demolition: Mobile TV is equipped with 5G, and the speed in the living room is 280 megabits ； 9 smart devices retain 2.4G old names, zero reconfiguration ； The TV in the bedroom is connected to 2.4G, 70 MB stable. One set of names is split into two networks, and whoever is faster and who is slower can go back to each other, so as not to waste the 300M broadband.