AC1900 WiFi Range Extender

Question

I have a AC1900 WiFi Range Extender up and working, but I find it sometimes difficult to connect to it via a Cat-5 ethernet cable from my Toshiba Satellite laptop running the latest Ubuntu &amp; Unity. Often, when I plut the cable in, the network manager just sits there and spins and spins.&nbsp; Other times it will connect directly without much fuss.&nbsp; My Nexus phone always connects on the 2G band no problem.&nbsp; Right now, I'm Bluetooth tethered to the phone (which is connected 2G wifi to the ex7000) to connect to the internet.&nbsp; Anybody have any suggestions why it's so difficult with a ethernet cable?&nbsp; You would think that would be the easiest and quickest connection, but no!

nhann · Answer

Hi amarrtz,
&nbsp;
Do you have another ethernet cable available to connect your laptop to the EX7000?
Which router are you using?
How is your laptop ethernet connection to your router?

amarrtz · Answer

Thank you for responding to my question!&nbsp; BTW, it should be amartz, not amarrtz. Must have gotten a keyboard bounce somewhere when I was setting this account up, but now I can't find where to change it.&nbsp; To you questions, yes, I have tried a couple different ethernet cables.&nbsp; The one I'm using now is new, out of the box.&nbsp; And it works just fine when I plug it into the router, which is another Netgear product, and in another near-by building.&nbsp; I'm picking up it's signal across a small parking lot.&nbsp; I did configure the router when it was installed, and can still access it.&nbsp; it's an R6050 router (firmware V1.0.0.34_1.0.1, which I downloaded and updated when I set it up, with this same laptop and ethernet cable, btw).&nbsp;&nbsp; I don't know if you are familiar with Ubuntu?&nbsp; The laptop definately knows the extender is plugged into the ethernet port, because the network manager icon starts doing the same little dance it does when negotiating a wifi connection.&nbsp; Which, btw, is how I'm connecting to the extender right now, on the 5G band.&nbsp; Normally, the connect dance for an ethernet connection is very short.&nbsp; But not here.&nbsp; I'm puzzled about that.&nbsp; Any suggestions?

nhann · Answer

Please try forgetting/removing the network from your laptop and reconnect. There may be an IP conflict with your current setup.
&nbsp;

amarrtz · Answer

I tried deleting and re-adding the connection. It didn't make any difference.&nbsp; I'm pretty sure the little icon animation that plays is during the DHCP negotiations. The extender is in an adjoining building to the router, and it may not always be getting the strongest signal.&nbsp; I've got the wireless setup checked to route ethernet traffic thru the 5G band.&nbsp; Sometimes I have to switch that to the 2G band if I'm getting enough signal with the 5G band.&nbsp; I've also noticed that it seems to work much better if I switch off the wifi on my phone first.&nbsp; If the phone grabs a connection (on 2G, usually), the extender doesn't seem to want to talk to the ethernet connection any more.&nbsp; Whenever I unplug and plu-in the ethernet cable, I get an immediate reaction from the network manager, so I don't suspect a bad cable, or anything like that.&nbsp; I suspect it's occaisonal problems with the DHCP negotiations that prevent me from getting a "connected" message.

nhann · Answer

Just to clarify, so the laptop is receiving internet and you are able to use it normally, but the issue is that the connection icon takes longer than normal?
Have you tried switching WiFi channels on your router?
http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/23783/~/improving-2.4ghz-wireless-performance-by-changing-channel
Which phone are you using that causes issues on your network?

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AC1900 WiFi Range Extender

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