Re: [AFMUG] Netgear EX6400v2 "mesh" range extender

[Bill Prince]

My general opinion WRT "range extenders" is that they are bad juju. Just say no.

I am a little more on the fence WRT the so-called "mesh" WiFi systems. Based on past experience, more frequencies occupied by unmanaged wireless devices is almost always a bad thing when your internet service is also on unlicensed wireless. So far, my gut has been right, but maybe someone will get it right. I will remain unconvinced until I see a positive demonstration that they don't just create more interference.

If people don't have adequate WiFi coverage in their house for whatever reason, my stock approach is to (1) add structured wiring so you can put your WiFi hotspots where they do the most good, or (2) Use a powerline adapter(s) to do essentially the same thing.

bp
<part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com>

On 9/5/2020 9:28 AM, Ken Hohhof wrote:

Has anyone else run into a customer installing one of these?  If yes, have you found it to be a disaster like I have?

 

Netgear makes this sound like it has “universal compatibility” with ISP supplied routers and will turn any router into a mesh system, the customer said they had bought a mesh system while in fact this is a range extender.

 

The main problem we are having is that unlike a lot of range extenders which have a different SSID like Netgear87-5G-EXT, this one uses the same SSID as the main router.  But when customer’s devices try to roam between the router and the extender, they alternately use their own MAC address and the MAC address of the extender.  This is causing all sorts of DHCP and ARP errors, IP address conflicts, etc.  Just adding the “mesh” extender to another brand of router doesn’t seem to achieve handoff or roaming between the router and the extender.

 

Customer called complaining their Internet was intermittent and they were getting “kicked off”, only after we saw the strange errors and a device called EX6400V2 did they mention they had bought a “mesh system”.

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