Matter Wi-Fi devices typically connect on the 2.4 GHz band (lower power consumption and longer range than 5 GHz), which means the home router must either expose a dedicated 2.4 GHz SSID or use a combined SSID with band steering disabled.

Most Matter Wi-Fi accessories ship with a 2.4 GHz-only radio for power and cost reasons, and the band's better wall penetration helps when devices sit deep inside furniture or in metal boxes. On modern dual-band routers a single SSID with aggressive band steering tends to push the accessory toward 5 GHz it cannot join, which silently breaks commissioning. The reliable cures are a dedicated 2.4 GHz SSID for IoT, or temporarily disabling band steering during pairing, or pinning the accessory's MAC to 2.4 GHz in the router's policy.

If a brand-new Matter accessory refuses to commission with no obvious error, the very first thing to check is band steering on the router; the vast majority of "the device is broken" tickets are actually Wi-Fi steering issues.