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I am trying to use hostpad to create several virtual SSIDs. But is it possible to set the different virtual SSID with different channels?

I tried to look up, but the result I can find is mostly about multiple SSIDs with one channel only.

Thanks!

talk
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4 Answers4

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You can not enabled multiple SSIDs to be on different channels over same machine (or hardware) using hostapd.
Even in the case of dedicated hardware access points (like Cisco and others), you can not run multiple SSIDs over different channels.

Gaurav Kansal
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According to the wiki(https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Hostapd#References), it seems that hostapd cannot set multiple VAP with different channels.

user6259534
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Actually, we set up multiple SSID's regularly... And I know that Cisco as well as Aruba both can handle multiple SSID's and run them over different channel and can also segment them for different 802.11 protocols... It's common...

Carbide
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The reason for multiple SSIDs only on one channel is because the Hostapd basically sends data to the Wi-Fi driver. The Wi-Fi driver sends the information to the Chipset firmware, and this one sends the information to the air.

Most if not all consumer Wi-Fi chips are capable of sending information on a specific channel (that can be defined by the user). Keep in mind that a channel is a band (frequency) that starts at a minimum of 20MHz and can be more then 360MHz wide (in new technologies such as AC, AX etc.).

It means that if a Wi-Fi chip vendor will want to have multiple channels supported, it will require much more space, design, algorithms etc in order to provide something very complicated that you can do with just 2(or more) dongles much more easier and much cheaper.

If it's mandatory for you, just combine few Wi-Fi adapters and run HOSTAPD on each one of them separately.

James Gyps
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