I have two my net ac bridges connected to a Netgear Nighthawk R7000 router on a 5ghz frequency range. If the routers channel is set to from channel 36-48, I can connect just fine. If I set the router to channel 149+, neither bridge can see the router. Anyone have simliar issues, or know of a work around? The lower channels are kinda crowded in my neighborhood.
Hi there and welcome to the WD community.
I have not experoenced this. Hopefully another user can share some information and some ideas on this matter.
evilned wrote:
I have two my net ac bridges connected to a Netgear Nighthawk R7000 router on a 5ghz frequency range. If the routers channel is set to from channel 36-48, I can connect just fine. If I set the router to channel 149+, neither bridge can see the router. Anyone have simliar issues, or know of a work around? The lower channels are kinda crowded in my neighborhood.
Thanks for the tip! Just got 3 AC Bridges off WOOT and could not get any of them to connect or see my 5ghz network on my Asus RT-68U. Tried tweeking all the 5ghz parameters and then took the control channel down to 40…BINGO! Was just about to give up 
That’s 2 major routers that require a control channel below 48. Hope this info helps others.
Jerry
Same here with an ASUS RT-AC66U - I was about to give up on setting up the bridge after hours of resetting both router and bridge, trying all types of firmware versions. This should really be documented somewhere.
As a side note, my Android device won’t connect to my 5GHz on the higher channels either, so it may be a limitation of older wifi radios.
Same here. My bridge would not lit the Internet LED after a reboot, even though it showed just fine in the router’s client table. Changing the channel to 40 seems to have fixed it.
I too was wondering about this as Gogole didnt come up with anything and my TPLink Archer C7 wasnt found by my bridge. I looked at the FCC and Radio Canada statements (didnt want to mine through all the EC/CE directives) and found that it is spec’ed for use on 5.15-5.25 Ghz. So thats the defenitive answer.
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705090.pdf
I couldnt find an FCC ID number on the unit.
Im connected with channel 48, which is less than ideal, but it works.
1 Like
I have an Asus RT-N66U router and had experienced the same thing (randomly would sometimes connect). I changed from Channel 153 to Channel 40 and BINGO! it works now. Western Digital needs to notify users of this limitation.
Same router, and no issues like these, ever.
My critical settings in my Asus router for 5G. EVERY DEVICE works with these and have for a few years.
Channel 48 is just within the radio’s limits. Ch. 48 is 20 MHz wide from 5.23 to 5.25 GHz. Megs Dad said the radio’s spec is 5.15 to 5.25 GHz. That’s why Channel 48 works.
What “radio” are you referring to; the WD media bridge or the Asus router?
Edit:
OK, I found the info in the media bridge manual under regulatory info on page 29:
For operation within 5.15 ~ 5.25 GHz frequency range, it is restricted to indoor environment. This device meets all the other requirements specified in Part 15E, Section 15.407 of the FCC Rules.
Talk about the “small print”! I may move to CH 44 to get some wiggle room for extension channel if I discover issues. Good info to know about. I think I know what he meant by 48 is less than ideal.
Yes, this was driving me carzy at Channel 153. I’m so glad another forum member tipped us off. I’m trying to set up my N900C. I thought I would use it as an AP while I’m doing other things. Another surprise surfaced:
So, WD support says only the hardwired ports work when in AP mode. Well…that would have been something else that should have been in the manual. After reading through the Legacy My Net Products forum posts regarding the N900C, I certainly hope I can at least get it to work in my SUV as a media server via 5 GHz. I’m beginning to think the router’s lack of proper thermostatic control of its internal fan and its inability to properly power the internal hard drive by switching it on and off constantly is going to make this a device with a short life span. The AC Bridge and the Range Extenders are great but I may have made a mistake by purchasing the N900C. I’m going to abandon the AP idea and see how much luck i have setting it up as a plain old 5 GHz N-only wireless router. That’s all it needs to be for the wife’s SUV.
Wow, I knew you had found the deal on the N900C, but you never said you bought it! You are as bad as me when it comes to buying more computer “junk”. 
Right now, my N900C is set up as a "plain old 5 GHz N-only wireless router. and staying nice a cool, and the HD never spins up or down unless I stream some video from it, and it doesn’t get that hot. I still have the out-of-box FW on it, because I have just been letting it sit near me idling for a few weeks to see how it does. When I return from my vacation, I will put the final released FW on it as it is time I did so. BTW, my router is set for channel 40 for 5G, and 2.4G is off.
Have you installed the last FW on it? I had given you the link early on in our first thread. If you need the link, I can give it to you again. And, I had read that it was important to reset router to defaults and re-setup after the FW install. Keep me posted on your other discoveries about our new toys and how the set up goes from here.
I decided to set my router’s 5G from CH 48 to 44 for a while to see how it goes, and see if other routers around me are using that channel often (with the assist of Wi-Fi Analyzer).
I found the links to all of the available firmwares for the 900C. I plan to do the same as you…get it working with the outta-da-box version first with everything at default (“no-frills”) and see how it performs. After it works for a few days, I’ll tryu the latest firmware and, if it gets flaky, I can start regressing to one version that is stable.
I need to find the instructions for how one WD Community member was able to ssh into his 900C and set the fan to run all the time. I think that, in the Texas summer, the router is going to need this extra cooling inside the SUV.
I use the WiFi analyzer as well. I have almost none around me using 5GHz (or at least their signal doesn’t reach inside my home) but I do have a plethora of 2.4 GHz users around me. The least crowded was Channel 11 for my upstairs RT-N66U router and Channel 6 for my RT-N66R Access Point downstairs.
I don’t hear the N900C’s hard drive spinning as much as I hear a noticeable click when the power is turned on or off to it. Some forum members have asserted that the N900C’s power supply isn’t up to the task of supply enough amperage to reliably run the unit. I hope this isn’t the case.
I always reset to factory defaults after upgrading any router’s firmware. It’s best to just make certain that old NVRAM is clear and go through the hassle of setting up all your custom settings again just to keep old NVRAM bits from fouling up the works (which can make it very difficult to troubleshoot problems).
BTW, my Media Bridge and Range Extender on 5 GHz are now providing me with the best 5 GHz signal I have ever had in my den. Those two purchases were well worth it.
Even if the 900C doesn’t work out for me, the internal 2TB drive alone was worth the purchase price.
The disk in mine did a lot of spinning at first after I had loaded a lot of media files on it, but it eventually settled down and stayed idle.
I also got the 900C working with the My Cloud app by following the manual’s directions for setting up the older wd2go app. Asus AiCloud also can access the router drive, too.
In case you did not see this thread regarding the FW versions:
Did you find this thread about the fan/ssh etc:
another N900 link that may interest you:
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/wd/n900
If you get any good info, pass it to me.
