Hi folks,
The TL;DR being:
Is there a way to manually set the Wireless Country Code on a WLAN nic on a PC?
How about on an android phone?
Long and possibly boring explanations:
I've recently started a job in a company that produces gateways for ISPs
We're currently working on a line of products that features WiFi 6E capabilities, namely the new 6Ghz band as a main "feature"/selling point" of the products.
During the testing phase, we've noticed that no matter what devices we tried nor how we tested them, we were not able to achieve link-up on the 6Ghz bands.
Even while "scanning" the networks around us, we weren't able to "see" the 6Ghz bands.
We knew for a fact that the products were not at fault, as they were able to link up between one another via the 6Ghz band as a backhaul (they are able to functions as a mesh network/topology).
That lead us to suspect the devices, which we had initially dismissed. Since we tested a couple of different devices, so natural "troubleshooting 101" would indicate that the common dinominator is the GW, rather than the end point/client.
We've used an Intel AX210 nic on a PC, and were able to get some debugging/troubleshooting software from Intel (I don't believe it was directly obtained from Intel, as google-searching the name was unfruitful, but it's called Intel ANT [antenna tester, as far as I am able to discern, a tool made for WiFi cards] if anyone has deeper familiarity with it) that allows the user/technician to enable a testing mode in which you are able to set the wireless country code of the NIC manually for a timed period (it would reset to the original country code after about 2 hours).
Using that software we were able to establish that whilst the NIC is manually set to EU or US as a country code, it can successfully detect as well as connect to SSIDs that are 6Ghz enabled (at 6Ghz of course).
But once set back to the original country code (for the sake of obscurity, I won't disclose it, but you can assume it's nither in the EU or the US).
Whilst the country does support 6Ghz spectrum for WiFi use, since it is rather new, I suppose it would take anywhere between weeks, to months until the settings would propogate Microsoft and Google/Android/Apple etc.... And as any other company, time is of the essense when it comes to marketing.
So my questions remain as they were at the top of the post:
Is there a way in which I am able to control the Country Code of my devices?
While we were able to find a way to set the County Code on a PC, we couldn't find one to serve the same purpose for Android devices (of course ones that support WiFi 6E), I assume it would be due to a lack of knowledge on our end.
So hence I thought, if any one might be knowledgeable enough on the matter, these forums (or perhaps Level1/LawrenceSystems?, which I might post there as well just to be safe).
Any help would be appreciated.
P.S.
We have made sure of all the regular troubleshooting of checking software updates, rebooting devices and checking for compatible channles.
But feel free to hit me up with things that you think we may have missed, I'm not above being wrong or proven stupid.
The TL;DR being:
Is there a way to manually set the Wireless Country Code on a WLAN nic on a PC?
How about on an android phone?
Long and possibly boring explanations:
I've recently started a job in a company that produces gateways for ISPs
We're currently working on a line of products that features WiFi 6E capabilities, namely the new 6Ghz band as a main "feature"/selling point" of the products.
During the testing phase, we've noticed that no matter what devices we tried nor how we tested them, we were not able to achieve link-up on the 6Ghz bands.
Even while "scanning" the networks around us, we weren't able to "see" the 6Ghz bands.
We knew for a fact that the products were not at fault, as they were able to link up between one another via the 6Ghz band as a backhaul (they are able to functions as a mesh network/topology).
That lead us to suspect the devices, which we had initially dismissed. Since we tested a couple of different devices, so natural "troubleshooting 101" would indicate that the common dinominator is the GW, rather than the end point/client.
We've used an Intel AX210 nic on a PC, and were able to get some debugging/troubleshooting software from Intel (I don't believe it was directly obtained from Intel, as google-searching the name was unfruitful, but it's called Intel ANT [antenna tester, as far as I am able to discern, a tool made for WiFi cards] if anyone has deeper familiarity with it) that allows the user/technician to enable a testing mode in which you are able to set the wireless country code of the NIC manually for a timed period (it would reset to the original country code after about 2 hours).
Using that software we were able to establish that whilst the NIC is manually set to EU or US as a country code, it can successfully detect as well as connect to SSIDs that are 6Ghz enabled (at 6Ghz of course).
But once set back to the original country code (for the sake of obscurity, I won't disclose it, but you can assume it's nither in the EU or the US).
Whilst the country does support 6Ghz spectrum for WiFi use, since it is rather new, I suppose it would take anywhere between weeks, to months until the settings would propogate Microsoft and Google/Android/Apple etc.... And as any other company, time is of the essense when it comes to marketing.
So my questions remain as they were at the top of the post:
Is there a way in which I am able to control the Country Code of my devices?
While we were able to find a way to set the County Code on a PC, we couldn't find one to serve the same purpose for Android devices (of course ones that support WiFi 6E), I assume it would be due to a lack of knowledge on our end.
So hence I thought, if any one might be knowledgeable enough on the matter, these forums (or perhaps Level1/LawrenceSystems?, which I might post there as well just to be safe).
Any help would be appreciated.
P.S.
We have made sure of all the regular troubleshooting of checking software updates, rebooting devices and checking for compatible channles.
But feel free to hit me up with things that you think we may have missed, I'm not above being wrong or proven stupid.