Extender is making my coverage worse rather than better

[Curlie028]

Bought a NETGEAR extender just before Christmas 2020 because all reviews suggested it was easy to set-up and delivered great results but that couldn't be further from the truth for me.

A little background.

I am not tech savy, the reason I selected this seemingly easy set up device.  I am in UK and have Virginmedia broadband and have 26 devices connected to it. I extended the house (not a big house) and needed the signal extended to the back (kitchen) of the house.

Followed the instructions and left it all to settle for a few days but the best way I can describe things was, the extender was interferring with the signal and not extending it, resulting in poorer "coverage" than before the extender was installed. Because it was Christmas, I unplugged it (Christmas tree and a few lights added to the system) to avoid the frustrations it was causing.

Since the new year I have tried numerous times to get the extender working, moving it to several places in the house but each time the frustration is intensifying as each time, rather than supporting the virginmedia signal in the house and extending it, it seems to be battling against it and making the service considerably worse than it is without it.

I tried again a couple of days ago and have had to switch it off again.

Is it not compatable with the virginmedia hub 3 or am I doing something or failing to do something that will sort this miserable experience to a positive?

Help! I'm at the end of my tether. 

Model: EX8000|AC3000 Nighthawk X6S Tri Band WiFi Mesh Extender

[Curlie028]

Bought a NETGEAR extender just before Christmas 2020 because all reviews suggested it was easy to set-up and delivered great results but that couldn't be further from the truth for me.

A little background.

I am not tech savy, the reason I selected this seemingly easy set up device.  I am in UK and have Virginmedia broadband and have 26 devices connected to it. I extended the house (not a big house) and needed the signal extended to the back (kitchen) of the house.

Followed the instructions and left it all to settle for a few days but the best way I can describe things was, the extender was interferring with the signal and not extending it, resulting in poorer "coverage" than before the extender was installed. Because it was Christmas, I unplugged it (Christmas tree and a few lights added to the system) to avoid the frustrations it was causing.

Since the new year I have tried numerous times to get the extender working, moving it to several places in the house but each time the frustration is intensifying as each time, rather than supporting the virginmedia signal in the house and extending it, it seems to be battling against it and making the service considerably worse than it is without it.

I tried again a couple of days ago and have had to switch it off again.

Is it not compatable with the virginmedia hub 3 or am I doing something or failing to do something that will sort this miserable experience to a positive?

Help! I'm at the end of my tether. 

[Andrew-G]

It is distinctly possible that if the hub has any automatic optimisation or "intelligent wifi" enabled, then it is continually flipping frequencies because even though it is acting as the router, the hub's wifi controller identifies the Netgear wireless signal only as interference.  You could try turning those settings off in the hub's menus, make sure that the hub doesn't have a hidden SSID, and try again.

If that doesn't work, maybe time to admit defeat and look at buying a proper mesh wifi system, at around £100 for a competent entry level system.  That would bring a range of benefits, including cutting the mediocre Hub 3 out of the wifi equation altogether.  25 attached devices appears to be pushing your luck with a Hub 3 anyway, but I doubt that's causing the coverage issues.  Netgear stuff is normally well designed and made, I doubt that it is faulty, so you'd probably get a reasonable price (£80-100) on eBay if you've got the box and all parts, meaning that the net cost of a circa £100 TP-Link Deco M4 or S4 setup would only be few extra quid.  Or you could buy a Netgear standalone router and connect the EX8000 to that, but the total cost will be an additional £90-200.

[Curlie028]

Thanks Andrew,

I have "Disabled Channel Optimisation" but how do I turn off "Intelligent wifi" and how do I check for a hidden SSID?

Apologies if these are basic questions. 

[lotharmat]

Should be under 'Advanced' --> 'Wireless'

[Adduxi]

I would also suggest the Hub and Extender are using the same split SSID's and passwords.  This should negate any issues around switching from one to the other.

[Curlie028]

Iotharmat,

Thanks for your reply.

Is that for the intelligent wifi or the hidden SSID or both maybe, as I'm not sure what I am looking for in Advanced-Wireless.

[Adduxi]

Out of the box, the SSID's on the Hub are not hidden, so you should be okay.  Just disable all the Smart/Intelligent WIfi and split the SSID's.  Setup the channels manually.  To determine the best channel use a Wifi analyser from Google Play store, this will show all wifi within your vicinity and you can choose the least busy.  For 2.4ghz it will be 1, 6 or 11 and for 5ghz might be 48.

[Curlie028]

Thanks for your suggestion Adduxi,

I'm not sure what that means but I can tell you my Hub3 signal and the extender's 2GHz and 5GHz signals all have the same WiFi Network Name (SSID) and I'm using the same WiFi password (security key) for all three.

[Adduxi]

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@Curlie028 wrote:

Thanks for your suggestion Adduxi,

I'm not sure what that means but I can tell you my Hub3 signal and the extender's 2GHz and 5GHz signals all have the same WiFi Network Name (SSID) and I'm using the same WiFi password (security key) for all three.

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So the 2.4 and 5 GHz names are the same?  If so trying splitting them by adding -2 and -5 to the end of the names. This should stop the devices jumping from one band to the other, so maintaining a constant connection.

[Curlie028]

Thanks Adduxi,

So to make sure I have this right. The "networks/signals" are all called Our Wee Network. So after the changes you suggest, which I believe are to the extender, I will have Our Wee Network (from the Hub3); Our Wee Network 2 (the 2GHz "network/signal" from the extender) and Our Wee Network 5 (the 5GHz "network/signal" from the extender)?