Notecard Compatibility with Combined Band Wi-Fi Networks

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Hi,

For our IoT solution that uses Blues Notecards, and we typically recommend customers set up a dedicated 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network for best performance and per the mentioned caveat from Blues. However, for some of our customers, this isn’t feasible or is a big ask.

One of our prospective customers recently told us:
“Multiple bands are part of the Wi-Fi standard, and device manufacturers need to ensure that their devices work in multiband environments. We can’t customize our Wi-Fi for every malfunctioning device.”

This sparked some concern for us.

I understand that IoT devices in general, not just Blues, work best on 2.4 GHz at the hardware level, but I’d like to dig deeper into the technical reasons behind this. What specific challenges make combined-band (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz or even 6 GHz) networks problematic for Notecards? Is it primarily due to AP steering, band steering, DFS channels, or something else?

Additionally, is support for combined-band networks on the roadmap for Notecards, or is the expectation that 2.4 GHz-only networks will remain the best practice?

Looking forward to any insights from the community or Blues Wireless team!

Thank you! :slight_smile:

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Hi @tsuzenski,

We architected the Notecard WiFi to be as low-cost as possible while still providing a high quality product. There are basically no 5/6 GHz options available right now that fit in our BOM cost (of course this will likely change in the future).

Notecard WiFi certainly should work in with multiple-band routers (I personally use one all the time) and in fact virtually all of my “smart home” devices connect using 2.4 GHz so it’s not uncommon. If you’re having trouble with a particular router brand/model we’d be happy to look into it!

Thanks,
Rob

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Thank you, Rob! This is helpful and good to know that issues with combined networks are not common with the Notecard, just something to keep in mind.

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