Hidden SSID on 5GHz Zyxel NR5103E - how do I change this?

[Mojomarm]

Got the Zyxel NR5103E hub yesterday and the setup went fine.  Wanted to split the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz channels as there's a lot of channel congestion in the evening here to be sure devices were on the correct wifi network.  While changing devices to connect to the new wifi channels, I noticed that the 5Ghz one was being hidden on the network.  While this wasn't an issue for most devices, I have a couple of big ones (Mac and Nintendo Switch) that will not connect to a hidden network even if you input the network name and password correctly.

I've logged into the router to see if there was an option to unhide the 5GHz channel but this was greyed out and said it could only be done if WPS was turned off.  I've done this, gone back to the channel screen to see that the 5Ghz channel wasn't hidden on there anyway.  Despite this, I've tried connecting some more devices today and they too can't see the 5Ghz channel despite the router saying it's not hidden when it clearly is.  How do I definitely get the 5Ghz channel unhidden on the NR5103E so all devices an see it?

I will have to cancel my contract shortly if this can't be resolved as I need to split the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz channels and have devices be able to login to the ones they need.  I've been stuck without this option on a previous router and it hampered internet access too much.

Would getting a different external router resolve the issue - i.e. could that router turn a hidden 5Ghz channel into being unhidden?

[JonathanB]

Hey @Mojomarm,

I'll check if I can find any relevant instructions to help. I'm not sure precisely why this would happen, but in terms of the suggestion of connecting an alternative router, the 2nd router should be broadcasting it's own Wi-Fi independent of the NR5103E, and your Three SIM doesn't actually affect your Wi-Fi settings, so I don't see any reason why this wouldn't work.

Just to check, when you say the 5GHz is hidden where are you seeing that?

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Mojomarm]

Thank you! I can get my head round certain techy aspects of routers but adding a new router is well beyond my understanding so good to hear that it should work (runs off to order one).

Can’t find it now (Sod’s Law!) but when I was connecting my phone to the 5Ghz channel initially, it came up as a hidden network at some point on the settings screen.  In addition I haven’t switched my work laptop over yet to the new hub but when checking which wifi networks it could see earlier it found the 2.4 channel name and the 2.4 guest channel but the 5Ghz channel didn’t appear.  There was a ‘hidden channel’ that came up though with good strength too which hasn’t appeared before so I’m assuming that would be the 5Ghz channel I’ve got that’s not being unhidden when it should be.

[JonathanB]

Hey @Mojomarm,

So from what I've been reading the relevant settings should be in the "Wireless>General" section of your router's admin. There's a checkbox you'll need to untick so that the 2.4GHz and 5GHz can have different settings.

After that between the "General" and "Guest/More Ap" tab set up 2.4 and 5 as two different networks with their own custom settings. From the looks of things you just change the Band field to 2.4GHz or 5GHz in the general screen as appropriate when making these changes.

Let me know if that helps,
Jonathan