Hey,
what happens when 802.11b device connects to Wi-Fi (I’m using a card which came with Omnia)? Are other 2.4GHz devices requred to use 802.11b or
It depends on the parameters of the wifi card-what standard it supports. Usually it can b, g, n.
You’ve got the client device (phone) that connects standard “b” ???
I’d like to buy Fitbit Aria (smart scale), which supports only b standard (I really don’t know why). I’m using wifi cards that came with the router (one for 2.4GHz, one for 5GHz).
i THINK you have to go in to 2.4 GHz network and change
Mode
Legacy
this will change certain settings that are compatible with b+g devices that cannot work with N settings. I am not sure if you will still be able to have speeds of 802.11n, but for sure you will be able to have at least up to 54Mbit speeds. With 802.11b you will have speeds up to 11Mbit.
There is an alternative way. Buy a cheap wifi-dongle that uses a chipset that works out of the box with Linux and set another wifi-network ESPECIALLY for the 802.11b device :).
I bought this one, very satisfied with it…
With the Omnia you have to install
kmod-ath9k-htc
As long as your device supports WPA(2) it can work with any 2.4 GHz wifi access point. A VoIP phone call using a 11b device would cost a few Mbit/s with your 11n devices in mixed mode. A scale with a few small packets won’t even be noticed.
They use 11b SoC because they are cost only a few cents.
Bluetooth Smart (LE) SoC seem to be really expensive. Even 11n capable SoC seem to be cheaper. If you are not restricted by form factor and thus power consumption you can use the cheapest SoC you can get that has some form of connectivity that fulfils the needs.
I would take a Ralink based one but this is personal preference as the ath9k-HTC can’t support more than a few clients.
Kinda off-topic as this is not possible out-of-the-box: be evil and use hostapds per device PSK and VLAN features for these devices and firewall them.
Where did you get the info about ath9k-HTC not supporting more than a few clients?
“AP Mode (NOTE: AP mode works only with up to 7 stations due to a firmware limitation)”
Taken from:
https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/ath9k_htc
OOOOOOOHhh… i though “a few clients/stations” was about 3-4. 7 Is more then enough XD. For the bigger part i and my guests will be using 5 GHz anyway.
But thanks for the info. Good to know that such things also exists. Never knew about it.
The Fitbit Aria only connects when you use it so it rarely interferes with other high speed devices. I have one talking to another OpenWRT based AP ( a Linksys WRT1900AC) where the 2.4GHz card is set to N mode. It works fine.
Really? I though that Aria is connected all the time. I will ask support if that is true, and if it is, there is nothing that could stop me from buying Aria. 
I looked at the dhcp and wireless logs on my network today and can see the Aria first connecting to the wireless then getting an IP address at the time I stood on it indicating that it connects only upon being used. I don’t see any disassociation entries though as I do for other devices but every time I stand on the thing, it associates. Less than 30 minutes later, it no longer shows as an associated station.
Regardless of all that, I’ve had it talking to my network for well over a year and get excellent throughput from all of the 802.11n devices that hit the same card. I have that particular card set to N at 40MHz which allows all devices in the house to connect to it.
As to the scales themselves… they speak the truth… I hate them
Cool, thanks for info! I actually realized that I’m connected to 5GHz network on most devices, so it shouldn’t bother me even if Aria would be connected 24/7.