Range issue of airtel xstream routers

I recently got airtel xstream 200 Mbps plan since I recently moved to Delhi and didn't have much idea about local providers. Usually I prefer local providers because despite the occasional outages their wifi has lower lag and better consistency in speed.

The first thing I noticed was that they no longer have separate networks for 2.4G and 5G. The technician said the network switches automatically based on range. Fine.

Here is where the problem starts. Or maybe it is specific to my mobile(I use samsung s21 ultra). But as soon as I enter my bedroom the signal drops to 2.4 G. And my bedroom is like 3-4 meters away from my router. I called their customer service to ask if they can upgrade me to a better router (I was even willing to pay for it) but they were adamant that their router is the best and it has the standard range of all routers. I didn't buy that and was frustrated at how stupid they perceived the customers to be.

So I did a little digging and saw some good answers on reddit that suggested using bridge mode and connecting to a better secondary router. However, I was not confident enough with technical knowhow required to do it on my own.

One day while fiddling through my phone, I opened my wifi settings and saw option of manage router. To cut short,

Click on wifi > click on manage router > Login (Hopefully the password is saved from the time when you installed the router) > Click on networks menu in left menu pane > click on wlan > Select close under option enable bandsteering > Change SSID name for the wifi (this will be the name of 2.4G band network) > exit

This will stop auto switching of networks and allow you to manually select the network you want to connect to- 2.4G or 5G. I also made my phone forget the 2.4G band.

I have been using the 5G network like this since a fortnight and encountered no issues. I get all the bars in my bedroom and even other rooms further than that and ookla tests at all locations have always shown upload and download speeds > 200 Mbps.

Let me know if there is any security issue in doing so or any other issue for that matter. As I said, I don't have the technical knowledge in this area but this simple solution worked for me.

TLDR- 5G range was bad for wifi and phone used to auto switch to 2.4G due to there being a single wifi network. Followed the steps above and I don't have any issue now.