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Forum Discussion
Confused by legacy network extenders still connecting
hi would appreciate some advice
I am UK based, with vodafone fibre 500 connection.
Recently purchased orbi 370 with 1 base unit and 2 satalites to replace the vodafone default router and vodafone extender
With the default set up my SSID was vodafoneXXXXXX and for devices connected to the extender it was the same vodafoneXXXXXX_EXT (with the _EXT being additional). It was a true extender and not a mesh system as i had to manually set devices to either the main router or the extender (albeit they shared the same password).
Vodafone also offer 5G back and the SSID vodafoneXXXXXXX_5GEXT also used to appear on my selectable networks albeit i never connected anything to it
So this weekend i installed by new Orbi 370 set up, using the wizard on the app. All pretty straightforward i followed the instructions and used the previous vodafone SSID and password to save having to reset all my devices. Everything went seamlessly the only tricky items were 2X desktop PC's which detected the change somehow and i just had to re-enter the password to rejoin.
Now what is really strange is that despite the old vodafone router and extender being unplugged and in a cupboard the SSID's vodafoneXXXXXX_EXT and vodafoneXXXXX_5GEXT are still appearing on the networks list as joinable on multiple devices (computers, phones, consoles etc.)
Stranger still is that many devices are default connecting to _EXT despite this extender not being there..... and even more strange is that when i force devices off _EXT and onto the 'main' network they keep disconnecting. This computer I am typing on now connected by default to _EXT this morning. I forced it to forget the _EXT network and join the vodafoneXXXXX network which is does for a bit but then drops connection and asks for the password again. After multiple attempts to join vodafoneXXXXXX I have given up now and reconnected to vodafoneXXXXXX_EXT and the connection is solid. So bizarre
Interestingly when the PC is connected to vodafoneXXXXXX it is at 5GHz, when connected to vodafoneXXXXXX_EXT it is at 2.4Ghz
Other than this strange issue with the computer needing to be connected to _EXT everything seems to be working OK its just bizarre that the _EXT network is still visible and connectable
Can anyone explain what is going on?
41 Replies
The next step would seem to be figuring out which physical devices are on the network with IP 192.168.1.115 and 192168.1.119
The vast majority of devices on the network are probably obvious.
The "proof of the pudding", of course, is to power off the suspect device and see that the IP address disappears from the network. (It often takes several minutes for the system to update tables of connected devices. If those devices respond to ICMP ('ping'), they will stop immediately when they lose power.
Hi ggb1979 ,
We’ve reviewed the screenshots and the discussion so far, and we understand this behavior doesn’t match normal Orbi operation.
To help confirm the source of the _EXT / _5GEXT SSIDs, could you please try changing the Orbi’s main SSID to a completely new name and also set a new Wi-Fi password, at a time that’s convenient for you, and then observe whether those networks still appear?
At the same time, please also check the Orbi app’s connected devices list to see whether any previously shown extender-type devices disappear after the change.
This will help us determine whether the _EXT / _5GEXT SSIDs are coming from an automatic extender rather than the Orbi system itself.
Thank you.
Austin
Hi ggb1979
Based on the latest update you shared, it’s now clear that the _EXT / _5GEXT SSIDs were coming from a third-party WiFi adapter that was acting as an extender. Since powering off that device caused the extended networks to disappear, no further testing is needed on your side.
This confirms that the Orbi system itself was not generating those SSIDs.
Thank you for taking the time to investigate this and for sharing the additional details — it was very helpful in getting to the root cause.
Regards,
Austin
