This is a draconian reading of the standard which I think no reasonable person would agree with.
If this is about 12.12.2, then it refers exclusively to the 6GHz STA, and not "to the entire network", which on Wi-Fi is a very loosely defined concept (same BSS? same ESS? already the standard forces different channels to use different BSSIDs).
Nothing prevents the 6 GHz AP's SSID from "coincidentally" being the same as the 2.5/5GHz AP. In fact, this is exactly how a/n works now: even though initially it was common for 5GHz STAs to operate on a different SSID, no one bothers to check, and nowadays I can barely find a consumer/business AP that _by default_ still keeps separate SSIDs for both 2.5 and 5.
While I can find APs that today by default give different SSIDs to 2.5/5 and 6 (oh, the irony), I have not found any that would prevent me from setting the same SSID to all; and some APs I have already set the same SSID to 2.5/5/6 by default. These all have the Wi-Fi logo.
> You can’t band steer 6GHz clients to a preferred 6GHz compatible WPA3 only network, it’s up to the user to pick the right SSID.
You have never been able to truly band steer clients since this is at the client's discretion. Even if you give everything the same SSID, the client may choose to prefer the 2.4GHz band instead -- this is also one of the reasons it was common to give both of them a different SSID early on, so that users could force 5GHz.
When commercial routers "band steer" they simply prevent the client from associating to to the lower bands (by e.g. hackishly not responding to probes at that band), thereby leaving the client with only one choice: the band you want.
If this is about 12.12.2, then it refers exclusively to the 6GHz STA, and not "to the entire network", which on Wi-Fi is a very loosely defined concept (same BSS? same ESS? already the standard forces different channels to use different BSSIDs).
Nothing prevents the 6 GHz AP's SSID from "coincidentally" being the same as the 2.5/5GHz AP. In fact, this is exactly how a/n works now: even though initially it was common for 5GHz STAs to operate on a different SSID, no one bothers to check, and nowadays I can barely find a consumer/business AP that _by default_ still keeps separate SSIDs for both 2.5 and 5.
While I can find APs that today by default give different SSIDs to 2.5/5 and 6 (oh, the irony), I have not found any that would prevent me from setting the same SSID to all; and some APs I have already set the same SSID to 2.5/5/6 by default. These all have the Wi-Fi logo.
> You can’t band steer 6GHz clients to a preferred 6GHz compatible WPA3 only network, it’s up to the user to pick the right SSID.
You have never been able to truly band steer clients since this is at the client's discretion. Even if you give everything the same SSID, the client may choose to prefer the 2.4GHz band instead -- this is also one of the reasons it was common to give both of them a different SSID early on, so that users could force 5GHz.
When commercial routers "band steer" they simply prevent the client from associating to to the lower bands (by e.g. hackishly not responding to probes at that band), thereby leaving the client with only one choice: the band you want.