How to Separate SSIDs on the SR213/White Max Hub

[FLC]

Disclaimer

The following is based on my own experience with my own Hub. As always, proceed at your own risk. I accept no responsibility if you end up with a white plastic “brick”! Although that is extremely unlikely as the factory reset should always get you back home. Bear in mind that factory resetting will delete any other changes you’ve made, such as port forwarding, so these will need to be re-applied.

It is generally believed that it’s impossible to split the SSIDs on the SR213/White Max Hub. But that only seems to be the case once the Hub had been registered against your account/app. It seems to be possible in the following way.

• Disconnect the broadband cable.
• Factory reset the Hub by holding the WPS button on the side until the LED flashes green. This may take a good 20s or so.
• Release the WPS button & wait for the Hub to start. The LED will go from amber to red because the broadband connection is missing, that’s fine.
• Connect to the Hub with either an ethernet cable or by WiFi. Ethernet is preferable to maintain the connection while making changes. If you use WiFi, you may have to reconnect to the new SSID after changing it.
• Access the web interface at 192.168.0.1. Your browser will likely default to http://192.168.0.1/sky_self_heal_index.jst, which is the Hub complaining that there’s no connection. Just delete everything after 192.168.0.1 & hit enter. You should then be presented with the login page.
• Login with username: admin & the password is the WiFi password on the bottom of the Hub, as you’ve factory reset.
• From the left-hand menus select Connection > WiFi.
• You can now click on Edit for each band & change the SSID. I would recommend simply adding  _5 to the 5GHz band only. So the SSID becomes SSID_5, making it obvious which is the 5GHz. Save the setting at the bottom of the page, reconnect the broadband cable & you’re done.

Now when the Hub is again associated with your account, the app will assume control & lock the WiFi settings. But the changes you’ve made should persist, giving you the required split SSIDs.

Disclaimer 2
I have no idea how this may affect any attached Pods as I don't have them. So if you have those, be prepared for failure which may necessitate another factory reset.

If you attempt this, please post your results. Hopefully it may go some way towards solving issues with pesky devices that don't play nicely with a shared SSID.

[Anonymous]

Any changes to the SSID input into the router GUI are usually not retained and will eventually revert back to the details held in the MySky app.

[TimmyBGood]

@FLC 

I'd perhaps cation that unplanned workarounds have a nasty habit of being negated by subsequent firmware updates: the ability to use multiple Bluetooth remotes with Sky Q, for example.

[FLC]

@Anonymous 

My changes have survived for the three weeks I've been connected. Do you have experience of trying this?

@TimmyBGood
Of course, no one can predict the future. But this may help some of the many posts I've seen complaining of not being able to connect printers or other devices. Once a device is connected, it should stay connected, as long as the default 2.4GHz is left at the default.

[Anonymous]

I haven't tried it no, it's just my understanding of the system works. If it's worked for you then I guess it's worked, although I thought you'd installed a hub 4?

I would imagine something else would be broken in the process as well, such as pod connectivity.

[FLC]

@Anonymous 

The SR203 was a short-lived experiment. I may go back to that at some point when I can leave it connected for a few days to see it it updates.

I have covered the potential issue with Pods.

[Anonymous]

@FLC Can you confirm if the Sky Max hub is visible in the broadband tab of product settings in your MySky app?

[FLC]

It does, yes. That seems to be the trigger that disables the settings in the web interface. When I first set it up I was still able to make channel changes several hours later. But once it appeared in the app the next day, everything was locked down.

[Chunk88]

I followed this helpful post some time ago and all was well for ages, all my kit reliant on 2.4 was on the named ssid24 2.4 band and everything else on the named ssid50 5.0 band but Sky seem desperate to make life difficult for its customers and once you connect the musky app it recombines and locks them under the 50 ssid which has 3 ip addresses, presumably the third being wifi6 which the max hub has. Why why why Sky do you insist on making things difficult for your paying customers, just let us use our services to our benefit!

[JimM1]

@Chunk88 Are all you devices connected and working as you expect!

[Chunk88]

They were, however once I used the mysky app the signals combined and the kit that requires 2.4 can't reconnect as it can't see the WiFi due to the signal not being a dedicated 2.4. I have a door bell, thermostat, smoke detectors, and about 20x lights that all function on 2.4 only so need the split WiFi.

I have split them again now and deleted the app so they stay separate and now all is well again (for now) with 2 separate ssid's which allows me to choose from for what goes on which but the booster pod unit they sent me won't connect and I can't go through the set up on the app as it will again recombine the ssid's. It a real nuisance. Potentially once all kit that uses 2.4 is connected I can allow them to combine without issue I think, that's until I need to reconnect or reset something then I have to do all this again, but the real issue is WiFi range and despite getting a booster pod it can't be used with them split so back to having 50% of the house with little to no signal again, it's a no win.

[Chrisee]

@Chunk88 you have discovered the flaw in this work round which requires the hub not to be linked to the My Sky app which disables most of the settings in the web interface. To link the pods thry have to be paired with the hub which then links to them using a closed third signal. Sky have chosen to disable band splitting as that prevents the WiFi6 functionality to work. In practice most users find simply turning the 5GHz band off while connecting IOT kit then re-enabling it works.

However if that doesnt suit your set up purchasing a cheap 2.4GHz WiFi access point is an easy work found

[Chunk88]

I did try the 5ghz WiFi shut down to connect the 2.4 kit but found once the signals are combined as one shutting down either 2.4 or 5 kills the entire WiFi connection as devices only seem to see one ssid, all be it one with 3 ip addresses, even the mysky app wouldn't detect the router or WiFi once either was disabled so gave up on that idea. I'm not up to speed on how to

utilise a 3rd party router with Sky as I was told it wouldn't work, any tips on that would be most welcome as I think this is the way I will have to go unfortunately.

[Chrisee]

@Chunk88 whilst Sky do not support third party routers many can be used connected directly to the line. Sky use in the UK a slightly unusual method for authentication DHCPv4 Option 61 which Asus support but not all other manufacturers do. If you search the forum you will find numerous discussions on how to set up a third party router. You will lose the Sky digital landline which requires the Sky hub but that seems unlikely from your first post.

[Chunk88]

Hey there

I have read multiple threads frequently m varying dates but with varying levels of understanding of each, I know a bit but not a lot I just want strong signal through my, not huge, but ok sized home.

would you or someone be kind enough to recommend an up to date Asus (as these seems the best option) set up or 2, one budget friendly, one more costly if better that will cause the least fuss or issues that will allow me to have a separate 2.4 and 5 signals for my kit that will utilise the speeds I'm getting (900mbs) with the ability to add further units if I find black spots?

much appreciation and thanks in advance.