One Router, Two SSID but HA Can't see my IoT SSID

Could you help put together a map on your network, with related network settings, so that we could see those all in one place, and thus have something to work with, so that to help you?

If you don’t know what is “related”, share what you know / what you can. That would be a good start.

The modem from my ISP is only a modem and not a router. My Deco connects to the modem via ethernet. Sorry, I should have super clarified that. I only have one router, the Deco mesh with 2 physical access points.

The way I set everything up was due to recommendations to do so from things I read/watched. I spent the last couple of months reading/watching everything I could about setting up a smart home and HA, etc. I thought I was in a pretty good sot right before I started the HA installation step.

Sure, thanks for any help!

  • ISP modem connected to my Deco Mesh router.

  • The mesh router has two physical hubs (one downstairs connected to modem and one upstairs)

  • My HA Pi is physically connected to the hub upstairs

  • My router offers 2 SSIDs. One is configured only for 5Gz and the other is only 2.4Gz

  • 95% of my IoT devices are connected to the 2.4Gz on the “guest” network

  • All of my other devices (laptop, etc) are connected to the 5Gz on the “main” network

  • My main SSID is hidden (this is really the only change I made when I originally set up my router a few months ago)

  • LAN IP 192.168.68.1

  • Subnet 255.255.252.0

  • Default Gateway 192.168.68.1

  • DHCP start 192.168.68.50

  • End 192.168.71.250

I was able to install and boot up HA the other night. I was able to access it. HA was able to see everything on my “main” network but nothing on “my guest” network.

Last night, out of nowhere, I lost access and get the “not found” error.

I have not changed anything on my router.

I did not see anything in HA that needed to be changed. I basically just poked around seeing if there was a setting to allow HA to see my guest network. I searched on Google to see if I could figure it out. I couldn’t find anything specific. At least not that I could understand.

The only thing I did was signup for a trial to the HA service that will communicate with Google Assistant. But that gave me a message that it was “now ready.” But when I went to check it out, that is when I first got the “not found” browser error.

could you provide some ip addresses of your devices on the guest network ? … as i mention above, guestnetworks are separated from “ordanary” lan/wife, so if you absolut choose this setup, you have to “route” between these 2 network, or find som settings that allow guest-network to see the “ordanary-network”, and same visaversa ---- they cant see eachother, thats the whole point with guest-network ( guest are not “allowed” to se/poke or whatever in your devices … the 2 SSID you should have on both network, unless your router only supports splitting the “Bands”, you shoould have both 2.4 and 5 in your ordanary network, if you dont, you HAVE TO disable your guest-network

PS what ip-address does the “mashine” you have HA on, have ?

edit: @eviltrance the end-address in your dchp-scope seems a little weird, have you “poked” around there ?

Here are the IPs for 3 random IoT devices

192.168.68.68
192.168.68.79
192.168.68.59

I have not changed any network settings after I installed HA the other night. I poked around the HA settings but didn’t see anything that I could even change or know enough to change. The same can be said about my router.

Pretty much everything is the default.

https://www.tp-link.com/se/support/faq/1460/

try to access your HA with it’s ip-number, make sure your on the same network(Not guest) devices on guest can’t most likely not see each other either

in anyway, i can’t figure out why you want your devices on the(a) guest-network, … another “private” sub-net could (for some reason) i can understand

I am not able to connect no matter how I try. Below is a screenshot of my HA install via my router.

I set everything up this way via recommendations from many articles and videos. it was suggested to separate IoT devices if possible and to use 2.4Gz since most use that freq. It made sense to me to have two networks – one for all my 30+ IoT devices and one for my computers/phones/streaming/etc. that are not IoT and can use 5Gz.

Before I had an old router and everything was slow with a lot of drops from devices.

yes, thats correct, but 2.4 and 5.0 are “bands” not network( it’s Bands in same Network, the pic you shoved of you “guest-network” showed that you could enable both 2.4 Band and 5.0 Band(read the easyread article abot the difference), … you should have same in your “private” network, both 2.4 band and 5.0 band, so what you choose is “private network” for everything ( Not guest, for anything) disable guest … then when you add your device again (… life sucks) if you use your mobil, for reinstalling some of the devices(some might even show up automatically in HA), your mobil should be connected to the 2.4Band,… so you could disable 5.0 in router, while installing the devices in 2.4 Band

… trust me, it doesn’t make your network slower, enable BOTH bands in your private network, and disable guest

Edit: i missed that your subnetmask was 255.255.252.0 , which explain the ip-number in dhcp-end … default for your routers dhcp-scope is 1022 ip-numbers/devices, so im sure the don’t set such default scope, if the hardware-firmware cant handle it

PS: My last words … reset router to defaut, don’t enable guest, and dont set SSID to “Hidden”, as you have no knowledge of network, you shouldn’t change anything from default, unless you are aware of the consequences, with a hidden id, any wifi devices will try to connect to the one they see … your guest-network, so if you try to connect to HA with a wifi-device from your guest-network … you should know by now, you can’t

Thanks again. I was trying to avoid needing to reconnect over 30 devices and combine both SSIDs. Perhaps it is in my head but I enjoyed having everything neatly separated. Everything has been running far better.

I guess it was my ignorance to think that having this setup would cause troubles with HA. I have been using Google Assistant and that recognizes everything on both of my SSIDs. This is where I assumed HA would have no issues either. And not once did I come across this mentioned by any article or video – and I read/watched hundreds of them.

I will wait to see if anyone else has a suggestion. Also, I formated and re-installed HA again today and now the error message is different – though I have not changed a thing. Here is the new error:

Local connections to HA doesn’t go over SSL/TLS (i.e. change https to http).

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Thank you. That fixed the access issue. Feel stupid not trying even though I knew what it meant. I am just frustrated a bit. Back to square one.

I think, what you are suggesting is will make his/her personal network wide open with any compromised iot device.

Yes Guest wifi and main wifi are the same network but guest network enables network isolation, so no one can keep prying eye through IOT device.

I think, it is disadvantage side of HA that it can’t interface similar way (via web linkage) what Google & Alexa does. Every IOT device is register with IOT Provider like WIZ, Xiomi Home etc all HA has to do is web linkage. Or let user to connect to their google Home and fetch links from there, so HA can see devices even they are isolating via Guest Network.

HA is Home Assistant , Most home router doesn’t come with vlan, neither many user are network super hero.

There should be easy way to tackle guest network issue.

Wait, are you expecting HA to address the (guest) networking issue? Sorry if I’m lost.

Im Not sure what you actually mean i suggest, or what should cause his “local” network wide open ?

However, i find no reasons to have my IOT devices in a vlan nor guest-network , if people/friends comes here with their Phone in hand, or pick it up and place it on a table, as the first thing after they come inside , they’ll notice that my home is not a free surfzone, if they can’t live without their Phone(as highest priority) for few hours when visiting, they don’t have to visit me … i actually find it disrespectful, and i have always any notifications etc, on my phone set to silence and no vibrations, I’ll “notice” when i notice ( PS: it’s ridicules that people actually have decided that their mobil-phone should “control” their life, and control so much time of their “attention” and behavior etc. ) , and i never pick up my phone if i visit someone, for coffe, bear, tv evening or whatever

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Welcome in the club of the Last of Mohicans… :wink:

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:slight_smile: , i even have the “hairstyle”, thou it slided down in horizontal position in the back :laughing:

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If the guest network does client isolation (as most consumer routers do) then there’s only a few options:

  1. look if the router has options to tweak the isolation and add exceptions. It might have a way to let guests use a printer or cast device, if so you can add HAs IP there. Of course that will mean all your iot devices and guests will be able to see HA but at least they’re otherwise isolated. I have yet to see a consumer-grade router with ootb software that does this but maybe there are.
  2. add any wifi-enabled iot devices that require local control to the same network as HA. Cloud only IOT devices can stay on guest. Or put all of them on the main network if they don’t feel like figuring out which is which and just want it to work. Either way some amount of iot devices will be able to see your whole network in this case, most likely there nothing that can be done
  3. don’t buy wifi-enabled iot devices. Stick to ones that use alternate (and therefore isolated) communication mechanisms like zigbee/zwave
  4. get a prosumer grade router or flash prosumer grade software on a consumer router that actually lets you make vlans and control communication between them.

I mean, that’s it, those are your options. If you want an easy one it’s #2 part b - put everything on one network.

If you are willing to pay more, #3 might be easy. It costs money to replace everything wifi enabled but assuming you’re able to find non-wifi alternatives then it’s easy. Of course you might not be able to find replacements for everything…

If you want wifi devices and security then it’s not easy. You’ll need a router with more options then just guest and non-guest and to learn how they work.

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Also this is an awful suggestion. The reason these other services work is because of a cloud service. Rather then providing you with local control the iot devices report their state to a cloud service for wiz, Xiaomi, whatever. And you use an app on your phone or whatever which then goes through the cloud service to change the state of the devices.

This cloud service dependence is basically the reason why people come to HA. HA prioritizes direct local connection to your devices without relying a cloud service. Because it is a) much faster, b) private (since you can be certain the cloud service is aggregating and selling all data that goes through it on the side) and c) it’s lifetime isn’t subject to someone else’s bottom line (see insteon shutdown and all the refugees that created).

So no, HA should absolutely not do what you’re suggesting and become a cloud service like so many other awful iot services. If they did the existing user base would evaporate immediately, the fact that it isn’t is the reason we’re all here. Making ha work on guest networks is an awful trade for terrible performance, complete loss of privacy and the fear that it may one day vanish when someone else’s bills can’t be paid.

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