Spotify connect doesnt work with mixed network(2.4 and 5ghz)?

[Stefano11]

Plan

Premium

Country

Netherlands

Device

Windows Laptop, Android phone, Onkyo Android receiver

Operating System

(iOS 10, Android Oreo, Windows 10,etc.)

My Question or Issue

My internet provider installed a new router in  my home, with mixed bandwidth: 2,4 ghz and 5 ghz on my network. Now Spotify on my laptop cant find the other machines. I can still use Spotify connect on my phone to connect to my Onkyo receiver.  

Can this mixed network be the reason why i cant find the other machines anymore?

How can i fix this? It goes without saying i dont want to close my 5ghz.

[Aimee_T]

Hey @Stefano11, welcome to the Spotify Community!

Keep in mind that all devices must be connected to the same WiFi connection. Even if it's a mixed network, all need to be in the same one. In this case, the best option is to use the 2.4ghz since all the devices get connected to it automaticaly.

Take care 🙂

[Stefano11]

Thank you, but both my 2.4 and 5ghz are the same wifi network (name and password). i have a mixed network. So it should not be a problem...

Is there any chance Spotify will fix this in the near future?

[fiftysomething]

Yes Spotify haven't worked this out right. They should show all local devices on the same subnet rather than on the same physical wifi channel. If my phone/laptop has connected via 5Ghz and my Echo is on 2.4Ghz and Spotify is set to local devices only it can't see the echo. A dirty solution is to turn off 2.4GHz on the router for a few mins. This lets every dual band device connect. Then turn back on 2.4Ghz and any "legacy" 2.4Ghz devices (my Ring doorbell for example) can reconnect.

[fiftysomething]

It seems the root problem may be your router after all. Spotify Connect uses multicast (mdns) discovery to broadcast its' availability. Lots of other services use mdns to make themselves visible without pre-established connections such as AirPlay. Apple calls mdns discovery Bonjour. Anyway - some routers do not broadcast multicast across both wifi 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels but lock them to the frequency of the device doing the advertising. Some do share across frequencies. My BT Homehub does not so if a Spotify controller and target device are on different frequencies they don't see each other if local devices only is turned on. If I use my TP-Link router it works even if the devices are on different frequencies. Some routers can turn this multicast sharing behaviour on and off but some (like my BT router) have no settings for this.