overcome issue with smartconfig and 2.4 and 5 GHz WIFI networks with same SSID

[fmeziere]

Hello

I have developped a device where an esp32 chip is used to provide internet access through WIFI.
At commands are used to perform the communication between the main chip of the device and the esp32 chip.

We use the smartconfig to provide the wifi credentials to the device through a smartphone. It works very well most of the time.

BUT, there is a strong issue for configuration where both 2.4 and 5 GHz WIFI networks exist with the same SSID (and password), which is quite often the case by default. In this case, there is no way to control on which network the smartphone is connected, and if it is on the 5 GHz one, the smartconfig obviously fails as the esp32 chip only supports 2.4 GHz.

We can overcome this issue on the WIFI modem side by changing the configuration of the networks. But this is not a good solution as most of the users are not able to do it.

I was looking on the smartphone side to see if the development of a specific application could help by forcing the smartphone to be connected on the 2.4 GHz, but it looks like it is not possible. So now I am thinking at switching from smartconfig to another way to provide WIFI credentials to the device.

Does someone have an idea of how I could make it? I was thinking maybe sending WIFI credentials through bluetooth but I did not managed to find an example of how to do it, so is it possible with AT commands? And if yes could it solve the issue or does it also relies on the network the smartphone is connected on?

Thanks a lot to anyone who could help me moving on this issue!
Best
Fabien

[esp-at]

You could consider BluFi AT commands, which send Wi-Fi credentials through BLE.
Example:
1. Send AT command: AT+BLUFI=1
2. Download EspBluFi app to cellphone and install:
- Andriod: https://github.com/EspressifApp/EspBluf ... d/releases
- IOS: https://github.com/EspressifApp/EspBlufiForiOS
3. Found BLUFI_DEVICE device, connect and net config.