Dual-Band Wi-Fi router flakey connection issue/resolution

I had to replace my home wireless router due to end of life and random problem.  So I decided to switch from the Netgear wireless router I had to the newer Cisco branded "Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Router.N900" ... mainly because for the life of the Netgear... I had consistent quirks.  I owned the original Linksys WRT54G router and never had issues so thus my decision to switch back to Linksys.

The setup had an initial issue in that the included CD with the setup app didn't work out of the box.  So I contacted technical support using their chat-support and was directed to install a different package...which worked fine.

Everything appeared to work fine PC wise as far as connectivity goes.  I kept the same SSID and password as the previous router and all my devices connected without issue.  However... all the mobile devices and my Wi-Fi Thermostat kept disconnecting and reconnecting every 10 seconds or so.  In doing some research since I couldn't figure out what was going on since all the Windows and Linux PCs were fine... I found the problem and the resolution.

These new Dual-Band Wireless-N and Wireless-AC routers ... similar to wireless home phones ... are now using both the 2.4Ghz -AND- 5Ghz frequencies.  The issue spawned from using 1 single SSID (wireless network name) for both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies.  If you only set 1 SSID ... your devices will constantly flip-flop their connections between the 2 frequencies because they are competing against each other.  Most devices are set to connect to the best/strongest signal so the second one of the frequencies seems to had a higher signal ... the device switches.

The simple fix ... make sure you don't use the Automated WPS for the dual-band routers, but rather manually set the SSID settings to use 2 SSIDs.  Then on your devices, just set them up to connect to one of the SSIDs.  For my devices, several are incapable of using the 5Ghz frequency, so I set them to use the SSID assigned to 2.4Ghz.  All the other devices like PCs and newer mobile devices that can use the 5Ghz frequency, I set to use the SSID assigned to the 5Ghz frequency.

Since it was driving me nuts, but I found a resolution.  I figured I would blog about it and share the knowledge.

Arcade Cabinet Update 6-17-2013

Arcade Cabinet update:

01.)  After much mental back and forth... I have decided to switch to an old-school 27" square TV versus the 23" HDTV.  Although my efforts of figuring out how to create a lazy-susan swivel for the HDTV was cool, the viewable screen just seems too small and not old school arcade-ish.  As mentioned previously, the reason for the HDTV swivel mount initially was that old-school arcade games like Pac-Man, Galaga, and Centipede were all tall, portrait mode displays, but the newer games went more wide screen.  Since I didn't have an old TV laying around, and did have a spare HDTV... I decided to start with it.  However, to fully utilize an HDTV, it needed to be able to swivel to portrait mode in order to have full screen video for the 70s-80s games... otherwise I would have massive black borders on the left and right with the game only displaying in a screen about 15". I actually lucked out with a garage sale this weekend thanks to an android app called "Garage Sale Rover" and for just $30 scored the exact JVC 27" TV model that most of the Arcade DIYers are using, so there is a lot of info out there on setting it up properly.

02.)  My cabinet will fit the 27" TV snugly so the entire window is filled with the TV screen so there will be no dead space.

03.)  I can now connect all my older consoles to the TV since they were designed for the older non-widescreen TVs anyway.  And ...

04.)  ... as an added bonus of switching from the HDTV to the older CRT tube ... all the old school games that use the light-gun controllers (like "Duck Hunt", "Operation Wolf", and "House of the Dead") will all work now.  HDTVs don't work with light-guns (thus why Sony using the PS Move glowing orb controllers and a camera) so it was a loss already if I stuck with the HDTVs.

05.)  My professionally made arcade marquee showed up, so I just have to stick it to the Plexiglas and mount it to the top of the cabinet.  I create it in Photoshop and then sent it to gameongrafix.com company. They have special super high-detail printers for things like this and it looks great!

06.)  I'm still loading up the system with all my old school Atari, Sega, and Nintendo games.  What is taking the longest is just finding little video clips of the games to use in the main interface.  Finding Arcade videos was easy... but going further back to the original consoles is proving to be a challenge.  So for some, I may end up having to use still-shots or box-art until I happen upon clips or try to make my own.

But it's all worth it!  =)