NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
MR60/MS60 slow wifi and wired backhaul issue
Topology - Motorola SurfBoard (Spectrum ISP) > Netgate SG-2100 > Netgear GS108Tv3 > several unmanaged switches and my devices, including the MR60 in AP mode, and the MS60 as a satellite. Firmwar...
crazyoldhermit wrote:
Thanks for the response, and if you care to clarify what exactly is a rat's nest here that would be great.
A rat's nest is a complicated bunch of hardware and wires that seems to go all over the place.
A pile of (anonymous) modem, firewalls, routers, switches and stuff with no clue as to the actual topography – what connects to what and in which order – makes it hard to see why all that complication is there. Is this some sort of office block that needs to get the Internet to a cast of thousands?
My long-past history working on complicated physics experiments taught me that I should keep everything as simple as possible. If I did have to add things, I would start simple and add bits one at a time and see what happens.
In the case of the MR60, which seems to be an odd thing to add to that network as in AP mode it loses many of the features that come with that sort of device, before beginning to question its capabilities I would find a way to test it at the start of the chain rather than at the end of a complicated rat's nest of wires. Only then can I know how it will behave in something like the circumstances that it is designed for, behind a modem and in front of any switches and stuff that could affect its performance.
Thank you plemans for the suggestions, but that arrangement isn't something I can do cleanly, and ironically would create the rat's nest that Michael imagines.
"A pile of anonymous" - are you kidding me? I don't believe any of the rest of your post, because that telling line. You didn't read my OP, or you would have nothing anonymous or mysterious. Your long-past history with physics is I am sure something you like to look back on fondly, but it is irrelevant to the conversation and also making this somehow about how very smart you are. Sure.
I bought the MR set because they were small and less "loud", not a spiky gaming router eyesore. I didn't have the money to plunk down on a Cisco AP or I would have. I have an excellent router, had it before I bought the mesh system, so that you are surprised that I would not want to use some of the features I bought is... surprising.
As for the 101 advice connecting minimal devices... I said I wasn't an expert. I do work in IT for a living. In the future, I would appreciate you posting in good faith if I have a question, or simply doing anything else. Even if I were greener than the Jolly Green Giant and knew absolutely nothing about anything, this is a community forum - build the community, or find something better to do. I already have this narrowed to two devices, the Netgear switch or the Netgear Mesh. I will swap the switch out for a simple switch and see if that fixes the loopback issue, in which case I will take this issue to the GS108T zone. I started here because I am far from the first person with these exact issues with this Nighthawk system.
crazyoldhermit wrote:
Thank you plemans for the suggestions, but that arrangement isn't something I can do cleanly, and ironically would create the rat's nest that Michael imagines.
How do you actually have it laid out?
That's key as setting up a mesh network when you're mixing consumer equipment and business equipment.
You can do it but it needs to be arranged properly.
I had thought my description of the topology might have been sufficient, but I understand now a lot more about the limitations of the Nighthawk Mesh product line and had I been aware of these things, I would never have purchased this. I am about to have a couple paperweights, so if anyone wants a deal on this hardware please send me a PM I cannot wait to never see it again.
The reflection issue is indeed the problem of the MR/MS and how it creates the wired backhaul. This is a very special and unique issue to this device, and makes it absolutely useless for my use case. It was sold as being a mesh unit that could be used as an AP, and that's what I bought it for. Getting this to work reliably is the most ridiculous pain in the ass I have ever encountered using any networking software - between the Nighthawk app, and the impossible to use web setup (my device is refusing to talk at all now over ethernet, will only accept wireless to do setup, oh my god), I have had quite enough of the issue at this point.The remedy is to sell the MR60 and satellite, or throw in a trash can. Purchase a dedicated pair of APs from another manufacturer, and wrap this up. The consumer grade product is made to infuriate anyone with any clue about how any of this works, and I actually have a great deal of experience in system installation.
I know this is a consumer forum, so I will end this rant quickly - I have purchased myself in store ~200 to 300 GS105/108 switches, and have others purchase for me probably another 500. I decided I trusted the brand, and purchased some of the other products. They are garbage - the modems are garbage, this Wifi6 system is absolute garbage and the software to make it work is crap-tier. Unless it is a simple switch for someone else's job and they demand Netgear, I will never purchase anything with the brand name again. I will not, even on demand, install anything else Netgear makes. If this is how they treat me as a consumer, they have lost me as a professional.
Plemans, be well you have been pleasant to interact with. I am sorry this will not have a happy conclusion, but I have spent days now troubleshooting these devices, now finally to mostly just give up because they are incredibly difficult to reset and unless you are using them in exactly the way the installation manual expects there will be a problem both sooner and later.
Interesting, something I've not seen with my MK63 system and with my GS10x series non managed switches.
Would need to know exactly how your MK system is connected and configured with the host router. Router and AP mode should work well on the MK system.
