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I'm running Windows 11 on a 2019 iMac. I want Windows 11 to use 2.4GHz because I'm constantly getting disconnected on an application because the 5GHz strength is getting impeded. The signal strength reads 85% but nevertheless it's causing issues which is solved by using 2.4GHz. To use 2.4GHz, I'm changing this in my router settings by turning off 5GHz. However, when I use 2.4GHz across all devices I notice a reduction in WiFi speed.

My router unfortunately doesn't have options to split the SSIDs to connect separately. My old router used to do this and I used to connect to the 2.4GHz SSID with this same iMac. But now I have switched internet provider and so have a new router.

There are simple instructions for how to do this on Windows via Device Manager. But when I go into the advanced options for my network adapter, Broadcom 802.11ac Network Adapter, it doesn't have the 'preferred band' option listed. Apparently this can be be fixed by updating the drivers. But I installed the drivers from the Windows Support Software for Bootcamp 6.1 recently. Also Windows checks and says it thinks they are the current drivers.

Is there a way to restrict 5GHz some other way? Via cmd, powershell or regedit for example.

Anyone know what I can try to get this working? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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    You're approaching this the wrong way. You should have distinct SSIDs for 2.4 and 5GHz or other APs even when they're the "same", i.e., running from the same device. Knowing that you don't have to do anything else in the clients side other than NOT connecting to the 5GHz AP. End of story.
    – ChanganAuto
    Mar 16, 2023 at 0:01
  • @ChanganAuto Yes my old router did this. But my new router doesn’t seems to have the option to have separate SSIDs. When I enable both 2.4 and 5, there’s only 1 SSID and everything connects to what frequency it wants.
    – Alfie Stoppani
    Mar 16, 2023 at 0:30
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    What difference, then, does it make? My devices happily share the two frequencies
    – John
    Mar 16, 2023 at 0:39
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    router doesn’t seems to have the option - that's fairly unusual, what router is it, perhaps there's an option somewhere that you're not seeing
    – Jaromanda X
    Mar 16, 2023 at 1:00
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    802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) is a 5.0GHz-only standard. It's impossible to connect to a 2.4GHz SSID. " I should have explained better in the original question" - You should edit your question.
    – Ramhound
    Mar 16, 2023 at 2:08

2 Answers 2

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To select a specific WiFi access point from your router, use a third-party utility, such as Nirsoft's free WifiInfoView, shown below, which shows the frequency, MAC Address, SSID (name), etc. for each connection.

  • Right-click on a connection and select Connect Selected Access Point to connect immediately.
  • To choose that connection without need to run WiFi Info View each time, right-click and select Create Desktop Shortcut >. In the future, double-click that shortcut to force the WiFi adapter to switch to the desired connection. It might be possible to put that shortcut in the Startup folder, though I've found that the OS tends to keep using the correct access without continual prompting.

Nirsoft's WiFi Info View

BTW, I find after hibernation, Windows sometimes forgets to reconnect, and that desktop shortcut is helpful to get WiFi working again.

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Try this

Go to Properties > Advanced > Wireless MODE then select > IEEE 802.11b - it works - my WiFi adapter always uses the 2.4Ghz

For the record: I am using Windows 11 on a DELL Desktop with this Wi-Fi adapter > Realtek 8811CU Wireless LAN 802.11ac USB NIC

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