I have both 2.4g and 5g in our home. I’m having a hard time getting connection on one of my cams to the 2.4g (too far from the router) Can I use the 5g network?
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No, you can’t connect your Wyzecam to your 5G network. The Wyzecam only supports 2.4GHz radio.
And note that when you are setting up a Wyzecam, you have to ensure that your smartphone is connected to your 2.4GHz network. In some (many?) dual-band households, the 2.4G and 5G networks both have the same SSID. It’s quite possible that the smartphone will be associated with the 5GHz network. When the smartphone then attempts to ‘add’ the Wyzecam, it will do so using the details about the 5GHz network, not the 2.4GHz network. The workaround for such a scenario is to temporarily disable the 5G network on your router, thus forcing the smartphone to associate with the 2.4G network.
It may be that your Wyzecam is just too far away from your router to get an acceptable 2.4GHz signal from it (or vice versa - WiFi transmission is a two-way street). Sometimes you can improve things by changing the channel used by the 2.4GHz radio in the router.
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You can put the frequency right in the network name to avoid any problems or confusion. I named my 2.4 GHz network “[networkname]-2.4” and my 5 GHz network “[networkname]-5”.
Its my understanding 2.4GHz is designed to reach farther but transfer data slower where 5.0GHz has shorter reach but transfers data faster. Is there some technical reason why the Wyzecam has been designed to work with 2.4GHz only? The reason I am asking is for ever product I purchase my availability on the 2.4GHz bandwidth decreases when I have plenty of availability on my 5.0GHz bandwidth that does unusable. I do not think my wireless router has any balancing features that I am aware of - Cox is my internet provider. Love any insights?
I’m sure it was primarily a cost-driven decision. They have a very aggressive price point (USD$19.95), which no doubt was a compelling reason for your purchase. A dual-band (2.4 + 5 GHz) product would be more expensive to design, manufacture, and test. And they have no need for the faster speeds that a 5G radio can provide. The data requirement for a Wyze video stream (1-2 Mbps) is well within the capacity of a modern 802.11n router on the 2.4G band.
If you have a dual-band router from Cox, put all your high-speed gear (4K video streamers, gaming PCs, etc) on the 5GHz radio, and use the 2.4G band for your cameras and other IOT devices.
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Thank you so much @kyphos i needed the reminder. I bought my 1st Wyze Cam and I am blown away at the value / price. I cant help but be greedy but so far I am hooked. Its not perfect but as you state $19.95 does not get much better than this.
There is a #wishlist topic for 5GHz wifi here: Support 5GHz wifi band for Wyze Cams
Please hop on over there and VOTE for it. For your vote to count, you must click the VOTE button at the top of the page.
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Wyze will be getting a LOT of returns and headaches because of this requirement for 2.4 GHz. I gave one away and it was impossible to figure out how to get into the router.
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If they do, a lot of other camera and IoT device companies would share the same fate. When it comes to such devices, 5 GHz support is the exception, not the rule.
There are plenty of us that have no problem with it, and don’t have devices (routers and/or phones) that try to make things “easier” for the user, and in the process, screw things up.
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Hi anyone know what to do to get around this? I was thinking of hooking it up to an old router I have and trying to connect the camera to that I couldn’t seem to connect to my phone wifi hotspot either 
inwantnthis for my parents house
How to get around “what”. Using 2.4 ghz or 5 ghz? The cams only work on 2.4
But Wyse doesn’t design / manufacture the cams. It’s an existing product that Wyze licenses, then write firmware / app.
Pretty confident the same goes for the “band” and scale
I suggest scan your home for other 2.4 ghz WiFi signals from neighboring sources to see if your router is using the same transmitting channel. If it is then I suggest changing your transmitting channel to an open one or one less used.
Agreed… one could use NetX or something comparable
Simple solution. Same as using in a hotel with a captive portal.
Purchase a GL.iNet GL-AR750 (Creta) Travel AC VPN Router.
Under $50.00. Can be used as an extender or a repeater.
An example, I have xfinitywifi access but they changed all access points to 5Mhz only. This is also an issue if you travel with a roku as insecure networks with captive portal pages can’t be connected to.
The gl mini router about a credit card size allows you to connect to 5Mhz, set up a new access portal with your own password from it and splits the 5Mhz into both 5Mhz and 2.4 MHz bands with separate names.
Set this up for my car as I travel. As long as it can see ax xfinitywifi spot I can run my cam streaming in my parked car.
And it also works in a hotel or home. This will resolve the issue of 5MHz only at a small and portable price.
Other benefit in a home is it’s small size and repeating the signal can be used to relocate it. Runs off a usb power or similar iPhone plug adapter.
It’s a solution.
I think this response is kinda hilarious. I live in a suburb with only single family houses, and according to Unifi’s environment scan I can see 178 nearby 2.4GHz WiFi networks.
I can see my immediate neighbors, but not beyond. About 4-5 houses. 178 households sure is a lot.
Helping a friend transition to a T-mobile gateway/wi-fi router and discovered that the router GUI does not allow control of 2.4/5 GHz networks separately , It uses both but only gives the option to have one unique SSID. Will the iOS app and device automatically negotiate this? Feit brand wifi devices, which also operate only on 2.4, have been proven to do so upon need.
Yes, most devices (and all Wyze devices) will negotiate which band to use without issue. (Most Wyze devices are only capable of 2.4GHz.) On rare occasions with certain routers, users have encountered difficulty only during the setup process. Some routers (including the Wyze routers) have the ability to temporarily disable the 5GHz band just to get through the setup process, then re-enable once the device setup has been completed. I don’t know if the T-Mobile gateway has this feature. I do know that the T-Mobile gateway can be used as a modem only in combination with a separate Wyze (or other brand) router.
Thanks. Will likely know by this evening. Hoping to avoid having to purchase and set up another router just to keep the cameras functional.
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