The application sets CONFIG_NRF_WIFI_2G_BAND by default to restrict Wi-Fi scanning to the 2.4 GHz band. This is a deliberate optimization for location services:
- Most commercial APs and hotspots use channels 1, 6, and 11, the standard non-overlapping 2.4 GHz channels. Scanning the 2.4 GHz band provides sufficient AP coverage for location services in the vast majority of applications.
- Active scanning is used by default, which is preferred for moving devices. Since the device might not stay in range of an AP for long, active scanning (which sends probe requests and receives probe responses) discovers APs significantly faster than passive scanning (which waits for beacons).
If your use case requires 5 GHz AP coverage, remove CONFIG_NRF_WIFI_2G_BAND=y from the board configuration file (for example, boards/thingy91x_nrf9151_ns.conf).