Aria 802.11ac or 802.11n wifi

[jeffamclaughlin]

I'm sure this horse has been beaten dead, but I don't want to have to enable 802.11b or g on my wi-fi router.  That's old tech and causes interference issues with the other residences immediately around us.  802.11 or even better, 802.11ac wireless for the Aria please, then I'll consider it!

Moderator Edit: Updated label

[SplitRaindrop]

I wish your Aria scale supported other wireless technologies than just B. Looking at a another scale instead only because it supports g and n. I have a fitbit one and would rather have an Aria

[NTD1]

Agreed.  I use 802.11n or 802.11ac for other devices.  802.11b is just not an option.  

[SunsetRunner]

Not sure why we would have to request a feature that is so basic. This device is a large paperweight on old technology! Oh yea I'm gonna slow my whole internet down because of a scale!!!!

[AmritaFitbit]

We very much appreciate the feedback about Aria's connection, and will be sure to pass it along to the team. Thanks for posting!

[teus1950]

My Aria did not connect to my Wifi, after a router (ASUS RT AC, dual band) software update. Because of security the software update blocked a/g Wifi mode. So when you have this problem look at the router settings ! It took me weeks to discover this !

[staze]

Updating to AC seems a bit extreme, but sure. Updating to at least b/g, or b/g/n would be great. Putting a b device on a network can slow the whole network down. I'm not even saying you need to add 5ghz support (which would be great, but again, not highly needed). 

Please, update the Aria! I posted here as well. 

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Aria/Please-update-Aria-to-modern-Wifi-standard/m-p/745401

[Tofucious]

I am a little confused as to why FitBit would only support the wireless B standard. WiFi radio chips are made to support multiple protocols, not 1 chip per wireless standard, so if the chip has it, why would'nt you support multiple protocols? 802.11G was widespread as early as 2003 and if you go to Best Buy today you won’t even find any routers that only support up to Wireless G. As a matter of fact I challenge you to find any other connected consumer device designed in the past 2 years that does not include Wireless N. I am considering purchasing it, but don't really want to re-enable B on the network. A friend who just bought your scale had to go into her router to re-enable Wireless B to use it. I’m not the only person I know who thought it weird that B is used, I'm just the only person I know who thought to post this feedback.

[PureEvil]

While I agree.  This has been posted before.

[Tofucious]

Apologies, I had seen a different post but it was a bit older so I thought it best to refresh the subject. If the moderators agree, I would have no issue with them taking it down as I don't see where I can do that.

[PureEvil]

I would simply vote for the other.  Let the moderators close this one as a duplicate. 

[konaya]

This wouldn't be possible with the current hardware, as the Wi-Fi module used (GainSpan GS1011M) only supports 802.11b. In a future hardware revision I would suggest to substitute the similar GS1500M module from the same manufacturer, as it supports b/g/n and is both pin and software compatible with the GS1011M, meaning you could more or less just replace the chip in the design without having to modify the firmware.

[konaya]

I like to run a tight ship at home. While I don't splurge, I certainly make sure to buy quality equipment and configure it to the best of my, and its, abilities. So, naturally, my network runs WPA2 Enterprise, which, if configured properly with client and server certificates and a paranoid RADIUS configuration and so on, is as unbreakable as you can make a home wireless network. This works pretty well, except for the odd occasion when I come across a legacy device which doesn't support WPA2 Enterprise.

Imagine my surprise when it turns out that the Fitbit Aria wilfully falls into that category! I say wilfully, because the Wi-Fi module used inside the Aria (the GainSpan GS1011M) actually supports WPA2 Enterprise just fine, which means the Aria developer team must have disabled (or failed to enable) it in the firmware for whatever reason. Would you consider enabling this feature?

[shauneliastam]

Hi Guys, I have the Aria Scale and have been advised to change my router wifi to wireless N/AC due to some issues. I just noticed that the scale only uses legacy wifi technology Wireless 802.11b which was a big surprise as most wifi devices nowadays are at least N!! Are there plans to update the scale?? Devices using 802.11b experience interference from other products operating in the 2.4 GHz band such as microwaves, Bluetooth devices, baby monitors, cordless telephones etc!

And finally, 802.11b was released in 1999, Fitbit was founded in 2007, the scale was released in 2012!!! Who made the decision to add 13 year old technology to the scale and are they still working at Fitbit!! The only reason I can think of was that they prioritised power consumption over connectivity.

[TXAnneV]

I received the Aria last week, and this evening it is being returned to the store!  The Aria has great looks  but behaves like an antique!

[konaya]

A workaround is to create a subinterface on your wireless access point,
doing 802.11b and with a separate PSK, and put up firewall rules which only
allows access to that which it needs (www.fitbit.com in this case). This
also alleviates the no-WPA2Enterprise limitation, one which is even more
silly since that limitation is firmware-only.

[SunsetRunner]

This was first raised in May 2014, and Fitbit still have done nothing about it!? 802.11b belongs in last decade, or the decade before that. Come on Fitbit, no one uses that wifi standard any longer. What planet are you on to think I'm going to buy the Aria with such obsolete technology. How many sales are you losing, for what is clearly an unsupported product. Update it, or remove it from sale!

[carlschavio]

Tried contacting Fitbit support chat with the Comcast/802.11b issue and was told to post on the Fitbit Community Board.  Their message read:

"Currently our development has not revealed any update regarding this, however, I would appreciate if you can share your suggestions on our Ideas board on our community (https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Requests/idb-p/features), which our product development teams consult regularly to ensure we're delivering on what our customers need and want. Please take a moment to visit and give us your feedback."

Apparently, their PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TEAMS either do not consult the community nor they are interested in correcting this issue.  Disgraceful!  I'll never buy or recommend another Fitbit product again.

[snoopdon]

Fitbit, which is a company that seems to tout its place on the cutting edge of fitness tracking technology should be ashamed and embarrassed to sell a product like the Aria scale which can only work on the 802.1b standard. The 802.1b standard was introduced in 1992 and withdrawn in 2004. That is 11 years ago!!! When will Fitbit decide to invest the time and money to update the Aria scale so it supports the most recent Wi-Fi standards? I disabled the 5GHz SSID on my router, leaving only 2.4GHz (802.1a/b/g) and the scale now talks to my router but why should we have to do this? It's insane.

BTW, while you'r at it, put a USB port on the scale so that when the standard changes again the scale firmware can be updated. Many devices have the capability for the firmware to be updated so why not your scale?

[ITEM93]

I have seen a post requesting an easy change WiFi
https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Requests/Easily-Change-Aria-WiFi/idi-p/499768

I have also seen a post requesting support for multiple standards
https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Requests/Aria-802-11ac-or-802-11n-wifi/idi-p/286256

I concur with @Bluejlb that there should be support for multiple networks. Quite frankly, I am astonished that this feature is not available yet as it is such a common base expectation.
https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Aria/Connecting-Aria-to-multiple-networks-home-and-cottage/m-p/88095...

[9u775]

Please offer an upgraded version of the Aria with 802.11ac support. This is the only device on my WLAN requiring the 2.4Ghz radios on the Wireless Access Points be enabled.

[SilviaFitbit]

Thank you for contributing your idea to our Feature Request forum! This post has been archived due to inactivity, and can no longer receive votes or comments. 

[JoeTheRunner]

Wireless AC would be better, even wireless N is starting to get old. Most of all devices you buy today, from high to low end, uses wireless AC.

I am quite surprised the Aria, a product sold in 2016, by a company that claims itself as innovative, still uses wireless B. I literally cannot think of any other new/current tech product being sold right now that relies on wireless B. It's a bit embaressing.

[LocoMutant]

Wow 2 years sine this thread was created and still using 10+year old outdated technology.  When is the Aria going to be upgraded to something current.  Everyone is on 802.11ac now using this outdated tech makes it impossible to setup.

[SuziFroggie]

Just moved and tried to setup my aria scale at my new home in Oregon. Super frustrated that I cannot set it up due to my new router being 802.11n instead of the requiste 802.11b.  I don't get all of the tech stuff, but I checked the online support community and see that there was a post about this very frustration from two years ago!  I love my fitbit and my aria scale and cannot believe this problem still exists. When will this issue be resolved? Isn't there some sort of software download that can be shared to resolve this issue?

[PureEvil]

@SuziFroggie,

If you have an 802.11n router it is backwards compatible with 802.11b:

"When 802.11g was released to share the band with existing 802.11b devices, it provided ways of ensuring coexistence between legacy and successor devices. 802.11n extends the coexistence management to protect its transmissions from legacy devices, which include 802.11g, 802.11b and 802.11a."

In other words, it should work.  Much like older USB 1.1 devices will work with USB 3.0 ports.  Make sure that you set your router to "Mixed Mode" or "b/g and n" mode.