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I am not sure whether this question should be on Server Fault or on Network Engineering. In order to ask my question, I first need to describe the problem I am facing:

Say I have a LAN 10.0.0.0/24 and the router is at 10.0.0.1 (the router is not a wireless router, it only has Ethernet ports). I have a wireless access point (WAP) at 10.0.0.5, which broadcasts two SSID at 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz (say AP24G and AP5G), both on the same LAN. The WAP is connected to the router by Ethernet.

I installed a wireless (-only) printer at a static IP on 10.0.0.6. Because of a hardware limitation, it can only connect to 2.4 GHz radio bands (and thus it cannot connect to 5 GHz bands). So the printer is on the AP24G SSID.

Here is the thing: I realized that from a wireless device (whether a phone or laptop) I could not access (not even ping) the printer if my wireless client device was on the AP5G; however, as soon as I would connect my wireless client device to the AP24G, I could access the printer. Also, I saw that from the router, I can ping without any problem the printer.

How is that possible? To me, the frequency/SSID should not be a problem as long as the devices are on the same LAN. Even more so, the router can access (ping) the printer. Or could it be a problem from my access point (Linksys LAPAC1200)?

Thank you in advance.

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2 Answers 2

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You need to configure the WAP to bridge both SSIDs. Short of that, you'd need to use distinct IP subnets and route between them.

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    I was able to "bridge both SSIDs". It was called "Isolation between SSIDs", which I disabled. Thank you. When I am logged into the WAP's web interface, if I switched between SSIDs on my laptop's wifi, I am automatically logged out of the web interface (whether the SSID isolation parameter is set or not). Could you explain why this is happening? Basically, how does a WAP see a client? In my case, it does not consider it to be on the same network, even though both SSIDs refer to the same LAN? What are normally the implications/consequences of being on a different SSID that refer to the same LAN?
    – Robin Hood
    Commented Nov 18, 2022 at 23:50
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Consumer network equipment is off topic here so you probably won't get a lot of valuable answers but I can tell you that many consumer wifi routers/access points have a feature usually called 'WiFi network isolation'. It isolates clients on the wireless networks from connecting to each other. Check the WiFi access point configuration for any such features and deactivate them.

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  • Prior to seeing your answer I found the Isolation between SSIDs parameter. I really appreciate your input though.
    – Robin Hood
    Commented Nov 18, 2022 at 23:56

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