Rec Tec Wifi setup tips

[Cliff Weaver]

We have a netgear orbi, and they try very hard to prevent you from splitting the SSIDs into two separate ones for each frequency.

What worked for me was logging in, and temporarily disable SSID broadcasting for the 5ghz band. Not disabling it, just stopping the SSID from being broadcast. Then, I disconnected my cell phone and had it "forget" the network. Then I refreshed and re-connected to the advertised SSID (2.4Ghz). At that point, I could complete the setup. Afterwards, I just re-enabled broadcasting the 5ghz SSID and everything is working fine.

I tried this but turned off 5GHz. Uninstalled app, powered on grill, folloed the app prompts. Alwaysthe same result - Want to retry?

I wish the folks at RecTec would experience what we do with this crap of an app and poor wifi design. No wonder the app on the Play Store has such a low score. Wish I could just return the grill. Disappointed ever time I go to use it.

Sorry to vent, I just want the drill and app to work.

 

[Mike]

What error message do you get after you've disabled 5Ghz @Cliff Weaver?

I'll admit the app can be rather annoying from time to time but it's never stopped my grill from working or took away from me enjoying the grill itself.

 

[msarro]

I tried this but turned off 5GHz. Uninstalled app, powered on grill, folloed the app prompts. Alwaysthe same result - Want to retry?

I wish the folks at RecTec would experience what we do with this crap of an app and poor wifi design. No wonder the app on the Play Store has such a low score. Wish I could just return the grill. Disappointed ever time I go to use it.

Sorry to vent, I just want the drill and app to work.

After you turned off 5GHZ, did you disconnect your cellphone from the network, and "forget" the network?

If you are using Orbi, disabling 5GHZ doesn't disable the 5Ghz network, it just stops it from broadcasting its SSID. So turning it off won't disconnect your cell phone from 5ghz. So, you have to disconnect from the network, and "forget" it.

Then give it a minute.

You will still see a network being advertised, but since only the 2.4ghz radio is advertising the SSID, that should be the only one showing up. Join your phone to it, and then run through the setup. At that point it should work.

The other option would be to find an OLD cell phone that only works with 2.4Ghz wifi so you don't even have the issue. Sorry you're seeing so many issues with it.

 

[ken g]

I am new 590 owner. My assumption was once the WiFi is set up and working as advertised, the unit would automatically sync when power was restored. This appears NOT to be the case with my unit. I have to go through the new install process each time I use the smoker. Is that by design?

 

[Uncle Bob]

Uh...……….no! I installed mine initially late last November and it has connected each time (which is uncounted but numerable) since. Well, there is one exception. I can't turn on my unit from my phone. I can turn it off, I can change the temp, I can track and log with the chart, it just won't do the turn on. I went through a call with RT tech to no avail. That was the exception, they had me do a reinstall to see if that cured the issue...……...……..it didn't. Oddly, when I uploaded the software to my wife's phone all functions work fine. So that might mean there's a glitch in my phone. I've learned to live with that...………….grudgingly. As for your situation, you need to work it through with RT, perhaps a hardware exchange is in order.

 

[Cowboykirch]

We have a netgear orbi, and they try very hard to prevent you from splitting the SSIDs into two separate ones for each frequency.

What worked for me was logging in, and temporarily disable SSID broadcasting for the 5ghz band. Not disabling it, just stopping the SSID from being broadcast. Then, I disconnected my cell phone and had it "forget" the network. Then I refreshed and re-connected to the advertised SSID (2.4Ghz). At that point, I could complete the setup. Afterwards, I just re-enabled broadcasting the 5ghz SSID and everything is working fine.

This worked perfectly for me. For those who are having difficulty finding where to turn off the 5ghz band broadcast, it is located at: Advanced Setup>Wireless Settings>Advanced Wireless Settings>uncheck enable 5GHz SSID broadcast

I had to dig around a bit to find where to disable.

Thanks @msarro

 

[tegreeb]

Not to beat the dead horse more but...

Got my Bull last week, assembly went great including the wheel mod but the wifi is no joy

Installed the app,followed the steps or to be more precise step 1. That's as far as I get. Says if the light was already blinking(which it was) turn it off and back on. The light still blinks.

I can hold the button and get a faster blinking light but the app says there are no wifi channels to choose. Read everything here about wifi I've tried them all, disabled 5g ect ect. Even set my phone inside the side shelf with just the top of the screen visible,perfect wifi reception. I can see every device connecting to the router but no Bull.

After 3 cooks,multiple off/on trouble shooting attempts the light continues to just blink

 

[C. Keeper]

I had the same issue.... Make sure your phone is connected to 2.4 network, forget the 5 network. Un-install app and re-install. You should see your network name and be prompted for network password. You have to see your network during setup. I took me hours :-(

 

[NU2SMOKE]

when I uploaded the software to my wife's phone all functions work fine. So that might mean there's a glitch in my phone. I've learned to live with that...………….grudgingly.

@Uncle Bob May I ask what kind of phone you are using?

Nu2smoke

 

[Uncle Bob]

We have I phones, both 6s, hers the "regular" model, mine the larger.

 

[NU2SMOKE]

We have I phones, both 6s, hers the "regular" model, mine the larger.

Hmmm that's weird that hers would work turning it on and yours wont. Just out of curiosity are you both using the same software version on the phones and if so have you tried restoring your phone back to factory defaults and retrying?

 

[Uncle Bob]

Good questions; we usually get the IOS updates within a day of one another so I'm inclined to say yes on that point. When I went through the exercise with the RT crew (they had transferred me to a "tech specialist") he had me clear, reload, a whole bunch of steps trying to remove any glitches, but in the end still no joy for the on function from my phone only. Weird indeed.

 

[NU2SMOKE]

Good questions; we usually get the IOS updates within a day of one another so I'm inclined to say yes on that point. When I went through the exercise with the RT crew (they had transferred me to a "tech specialist") he had me clear, reload, a whole bunch of steps trying to remove any glitches, but in the end still no joy for the on function from my phone only. Weird indeed.

WOW i consider myself a techie kind of guy and I work in an industry where I fix things all day....that would drive me insane...LOL

 

[Uncle Bob]

So tonight we're doing up a couple steaks and it occurred to me I haven't tried the remote start since the 1.2.1 update was pushed down to us. I had success last week with the alarms that some have had trouble with so it occurred to me, "hey, check out the turn on function, maybe that got fixed too." Well I'll be damned...……………..it worked!! That tech specialist said he was going to do some research on why my iPhone might be a problem, perhaps he discovered something and tweaked the app. Whatever...……...we be stylin'. (yeah, dated reference...…...but so am I)

 

[NU2SMOKE]

Thats great to hear @Uncle Bob. Cant wait to try it

 

[Jguy432]

I spent about a little over an hour last night trying to get my new Bull to connect to an Orbi router. I tried the trick with reducing the power of the 5GHZ band down to 25% and turning of SSID broadcast and then walking away until almost no signal, but had no luck. What I finally did was change my wireless network name on the orbi and then plugin an old wifi extender. I made the wifi extender on the 2.4 Ghz band the name I normally use for my orbi wifi network with the same password. Then, I had my phone join the extender network and got the Bull to connect. I disconnected the extender and renamed my Orbi network back to its normal name. I had to powercylce the Bull one time to get it to connect correctly, but it has now been connected for about 15 hours to the orbi network without a problem. I get that this solution only works if you have an old router or extender hanging around somewhere, but I'm posting in case it helps someone else find a solution.

 

[ifican]

So, i dont say this lightly. Very few of these issues are actually the bull. A high percentage is for lack of better terms user error. Call it user ignorance (mean no disrespect just the literally meaning of the word). Now rectec could spend a few extra bucks and use a dual band wireless card but for whatever reason they have chosen not too. Couple that with the fact that all of these new full mesh wireless home solutions do all kinds of network security and monitoring internally that can cause issues. Personally i ran into an IGMP issue here (this is a little check box on one of my switches). Now im not saying igmp is all your issues but some routers try to monitor and block security related problems that it thinks it sees. I could go on and on here. What i would like to see / hear, any of you having a problem. Do you have access to a hotspot or does your phone do hotspot. I had to take this same path in order to prove to myself all was well. I had issues like many of you and had a few long discussions with RT, I wanted to blame the bull, after checking everything at a high level, still wanted to blame the bull. Even tested with an extender, nada. I tried one time to connect via the hotspot on my phone and it immediately connected. WTH i thought, well it proved to me no issue with the bull. Dug deep into what i have going on here, found a few things, once i cleared those internal problems, everything now connects and runs fine with never an issue.

Basic hotspot via personal, neighbors, friends or relatives phone will be the easiest quick test. If your bull connects that way its something else within your network that is causing the issue. I suspect most will work just fine if testing that way, with that you can run off then figure out what else is going on. Im happy to give any of you any other input on session data that you may need if you think it helps.

 

[Waterman]

I just received and set up my Rec Tec Stampede, since i have a Netgear Orbi i followed msarro's suggestion of turning off the 5ghz broadcasting and then forgetting my iphone wireless connection and then i reconnected to the iphone to the Orbi network which i assume was now only at 2.4 ghz and it allowed me to finish the setup using the RECTEC app.

 

[Jackald1918]

Probably not a common issue for most, but I run a VPN on my phone and could not make the connection until I disconnected from the VPN.

That's for the post, I had been trying for several months to connect. Once I turned off the VPN on my phone it connected.... O' happy days!!!

 

[nehi0000]

I have a RecTec-590, CenturyLink Internet, an iPhone Xs with no VPN, have tried replacing a new wireless receiver unit, have disabled the 5g network, have a 2.4g only network running and created a SSID specifically for the grill and grill only. I get the quick blinking light and every time it hits 9% to connect the light turns off and eventually when it hits 100% it errors out. I also have tried all of this within 3 feet of the router. A hotspot connection also fails. Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Love my grill, but am repeatedly failing with the WiFi setup.