BE98 Pro will not connect to a 6E Smartphone on the 6ghz-1 or 6ghz-2 SSID's

[jeg123]

For several years, I have been using an Asus GT-AXE16000 router, which most are aware is a WiFi 6E-capable device. I also use a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, and have been able to connect my phone to the 6ghz SSID on the AXE16000.  It just works very well and when I am in the same room as the router, I get speeds that approach wired speeds. 

But here's the problem: I recently got a GT-BE98 Pro, which has two 6ghz channels, and neither connects with my Galaxy S21 Ultra.

I'm aware the S21Ultra is NOT WiFi7 capable, and have toggled off "WiFi7" in "Network" settings on the BE98Pro. I am using standard Asus firmware (version 3.0.0.6.102_37038), and no matter what settings I use for the two 6ghz radios on the BE98Pro  the refuse to connect. 

I am also aware that the S21 cannot use 320mhz width channels, and I've set the two 6ghz channel widths to, variously, 160, and when that didn't work, to 80, but neither would connect.  On my phone's WiFi connection settings, when I try to connect to the BE98 Pro's 6ghz-1 or 6ghz-2  I get a messages that WiFi either "cannot connect" or sometimes get "password incorrect", and I know that is not the case, since I am using the same password on the 2.4 and 5ghz SSID's.

I suspect the issue with "password incorrect" is that the BE98 Pro is using GCMP-256 encryption (which the Asus FAQ for this router says is an embedded "feature" of WiFi7, but which is incompatible with many 6e devices).

And while the "WiFi7" switch on the BE98 Pro firmware can be toggled to "off" or "on'" in the settings under "Network' for each radio, there doesn't seem to be any way to actually toggle GCMP-256 encryption on or off, and thus no way to require that the 6ghz channels on the BE98 Pro use only the GCMP-128 encryption that 6e-capable devices like my S21 Ultra can use.

Can anyone help with this, please? It's so frustrating to have two 6ghz channels being broadcast on this VERY expensive BE98 Pro router and not be able to connect to either of them, and likewise, frustrating to not be abler to set the BE98 Pro router to use only 6e broadcast criteria to connect to my phone.

BTW, I am still using the GT-AXE16000, but in "Repeater" mode for the BE98 Pro (I debated setting up the AXE16000 as a mesh node, and may still do that, but for now Repeater works just fine for my purposes). The point though is that on the AXE16000 I have no trouble connecting my S21Ultra to the single 6ghz channel that is broadcast on the AXE16000 in Repeater mode.

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks.

[Aureliannn_ROG]

Hi @jeg123 ,

Thank you for your question. 

We have received your inquiry and will forward it to our backend engineering team for further investigation.

Please wait patiently, we will get back to you as soon as possible.

[Aureliannn_ROG]

Hi @jeg123 ,

After confirmation, the GTBE98 Pro WIFI 7 uses GCMP256 encryption by default. 

If the 2.4G and 5G bands have WIFI 7 mode enabled, they should also use GCMP256 encryption. 

Therefore, if you have WIFI 7 enabled on the 2.4G and 5G bands, your Samsung phone should also be unable to connect.

We would like to verify your router settings to see if the WIFI 7 mode is enabled on the 2.4G and 5G bands. If it is enabled and your Samsung phone can still connect, please try connecting your Samsung phone to the 6G band SSID and use the system to report the issue. 

We will have our team look into it. Please provide the time when you attempted to connect as a reference for the log.

You can submit a feedback form Web GUI (http://www.asusrouter.com).

1. Connect your device to your router and log in to Web GUI(http://www.asusrouter.com)
2. Find “Administration,” and tap “Feedback”
3. Fill in your region, email (required field), ASUS Service No./Case No.(not required),Select the feedback problem and description.You can also write down comments/suggestions. More details might help us to analyze the issue you have encountered in a faster and more efficient way.
4. Read the agreement and click “I agree.”
5. Tap “Send” to submit your feedback.

Then provide the product serial number, the time of submitting the issue report, the email used for filling out the issue report, and the time when the issue occurred via private message.

Thank you.

[gludlow]

I have this exact same situation; I have a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and just setup a GT-BE98 Pro.

I am able to connect easily to a 2.4GHz dedicated wifi network NOT configured for Wifi7, but unable to connect to a combined 5/6-1, 6-2 network with Wifi 7 enabled. For the wifi 7 network, I have Wifi7 Mode Enabled, MLO fronthaul disabled, WPA2/WPA3-Personal for authentication set.

I do not see any events in the router log when it fails or succeeds in connecting for some reason.

Router is on firmware 3.0.0.6.102_37038 . Setup is Wireless Router (no mesh nodes).

Phone is model SM-G998U1, Android 14, OneUI 6.1, Android patch level December 1, 2024.

[jeg123]

To be clear,  my 2.4 and 5ghz bands on the BE90 Pro are both set to WiFi 7, and I have no difficulty connecting to those.  They are using separate SSIDS.    And I am unable to connect to the 6ghz BE98 Pro's two bands (6ghz-1 and 6ghz-2), no matter whether those two SSID's (also set as separate SSIDS) are set to WiFi 7 or not.  And MLO is NOT enabled. 

I can see the two 6ghz bands from my Galaxy s21 Ultra's WiFi selection, but when I try to log in to either using the verified and known good password that works for both the 2.4 and 5ghz bands, I get various messages rejecting the attempt to connect, including sometimes "incorrect password" or simply "cannot connect", or sometimes just no message at all but no connection.  

And to be further clear, I CAN connect with the same phone to the single 6ghz channel on my Asus GT AXE-16000, which is acting as a "Repeater" for the BE98 Pro. 

Both of the BE98 Pro's two 6ghz channels and the AXE16000's single 6ghz channel,  are set to 160mhz channel width (the Sl21Ultra is only 6E-capable, and thus cannot connect using 320mhz width channels).  

Oh, and the 5ghz single channel on the BE98 Pro to which my S21 is able to connect, is set at a variable channels width of  20/40/80/160, and again, my phone connects to that channel without any issue, and the speeds are like wired connections (over 1Gig on a 1Gig connection when the phone is in the same room as the BE98 Pro).

The other settings on my two  6ghz-bands on the BE98Pro are as follows:

6ghz-1     160MHz
Channel 53
 PSC (enabled)
Extension Channel-  Auto

6ghz-2     160MHz
 Channel 165
PSC (enabled)
Extension Channel-  Auto

The "Profeslsional" settings for both 6ghz bands on the BE98 Pro are identical: -----
Roaming Assist-- Enabled
Wireless Mode-- Auto
WiFi Agile Multiband-  Disable
Target Wake Time- Disable
Enable IGMP Snooping--  Enable
Multicast Rate (Mbps)-- Auto
AMPDU RTS-- Enable
RTS Threshold-- 2347
DTM Interval-  1
Beacon Interval  100
Enable TX Bursting -- Enable
Enable WMM-- Enable
Enable WMM No-Acknowledgment-- Disable
Enable WMM APSD -- Enable
Optimize AMPDU aggregation-  Disable
Modulation Scheme-- (WiFi 5)  Up to MCS 11 (NitroQAM/1024-QAM)
Airtime Fairness-- Disable
Mujlti-User MIMO -- Enable
OFDMA/802.11ax MU-MIMO--Disable
WiFi7 OFDMA-- DL/UL OFDMA
WiFi7 Mu-MIMO-- DL/UL/ MU-MIMO
802.11 ax/ax Beamforming- Enable
Universal Beamforming-- Enable
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And for further reference, here is what the "Wireless Log" shows for both of the 6ghz channels in the BE98Pro:

SSID: "XXXXX_6G-1"
noise: -88 dBm Channel: 6g53/160
BSSID: 10:7C:61:AF:64:59 Capability: ESS ShortPre RRM
Beacon Interval: 100 msecs
Supported Rates: [ 6(b) 9 12(b) 18 24(b) 36 48 54 ]
Extended Capabilities: Not_Available
MLO: MLD Address: 10:7C:61:AF:64:59 sim_links: 0
EHT Capable:
Chanspec: 6GHz channel 47 160MHz (0x6d2f)
Primary channel: 53
HT Capabilities: 40Mhz SGI20 SGI40
Supported HT MCS :
Supported HE MCS:
20/40/80 MHz:
NSS1 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS2 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS3 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS4 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
160 MHz:
NSS1 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS2 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS3 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS4 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
BSS Color: 0x0 Partial BSS Color: false
BSS Color Disabled: false
Supported EHT MCS:
20/40/80 MHz:
NSS1 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS2 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS3 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS4 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
160 MHz:
NSS1 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS2 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS3 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS4 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
320 MHz:
NSS1 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS2 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS3 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS4 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
QBSS Channel Utilization: 0x3 (1 %)

Interference Level: Acceptable
Mode : AP Only

DFS status: state IDLE time elapsed 0ms radar channel cleared by DFS none

Channel Information
----------------------------------------

Stations List
----------------------------------------
idx MAC Associated Authorized RSSI PHY PSM SGI STBC MUBF NSS BW Tx rate Rx rate Connect Time

SSID: "XXXX_6G-2"
noise: -90 dBm Channel: 6g165/160
BSSID: 10:7C:61:AF:64:61 Capability: ESS ShortPre RRM
Beacon Interval: 100 msecs
Supported Rates: [ 6(b) 9 12(b) 18 24(b) 36 48 54 ]
Extended Capabilities: Not_Available
MLO: MLD Address: 10:7C:61:AF:64:61 sim_links: 0
EHT Capable:
Chanspec: 6GHz channel 175 160MHz (0x69af)
Primary channel: 165
HT Capabilities: 40Mhz SGI20 SGI40
Supported HT MCS :
Supported HE MCS:
20/40/80 MHz:
NSS1 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS2 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS3 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS4 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
160 MHz:
NSS1 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS2 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS3 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS4 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
BSS Color: 0x0 Partial BSS Color: false
BSS Color Disabled: false
Supported EHT MCS:
20/40/80 MHz:
NSS1 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS2 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS3 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS4 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
160 MHz:
NSS1 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS2 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS3 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS4 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
320 MHz:
NSS1 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS2 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS3 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
NSS4 Tx: 0-13 Rx: 0-13
QBSS Channel Utilization: 0x3 (1 %)

Interference Level: Acceptable
Mode : AP Only

DFS status: state IDLE time elapsed 0ms radar channel cleared by DFS none

Channel Information
----------------------------------------

Stations List
----------------------------------------
idx MAC Associated Authorized RSSI PHY PSM SGI STBC MUBF NSS BW Tx rate Rx rate Connect Time

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And finally, for reference, the 6ghz band on the AXE-16000 to which my S21Ultra CAN CONNECT is set at 160MHz width and is using channel 53 as the primary channel.  Note that because the AXE16000 is set up as a "Repeater" for the BE98 Pro, it will only display info about the 2.4ghz, the 5ghz-1 and 5ghz-2, and 6ghz bands in the ASXE16000 in that router's "Wireless Log"  (i.e., the "Wireless" general and "Professional" settings are NOT available in Repeater mode).  So the "Wireless Log" shows the following info for the 6ghz channel: 

SSID: "XXXX_6GDown"
RSSI: 0 dBm SNR: 0 dB noise: -94 dBm Channel: 6g53/160
BSSID: A0:36:BC:E5:58:50 Capability: ESS RRM
Supported Rates: [ 6(b) 9 12 18 24(b) 36 48 54 ]
HE Capable:
Chanspec: 6GHz channel 47 160MHz (0x6d2f)
Primary channel: 53
HT Capabilities: 40Mhz SGI20 SGI40
Supported HT MCS :
Supported HE MCS:
80 Mhz:
NSS1 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS2 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS3 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS4 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
160 Mhz:
NSS1 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS2 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS3 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
NSS4 Tx: 0-11 Rx: 0-11
QBSS Channel Utilization: 0x9 (3 %)

Interference Level: Acceptable
Mode : AP Only

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Hope this information helps....Any assistance would be appreciated.

[jeg123]

Bump....