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Forum Discussion
CAX30S and EAX80 Not Connecting
This is the first time I have set up own internet modem/router combo and an extender, and I have been running into a series of issue through out the first couple of months of setting it all up. Here ...
- The sqft is about 2300, with a little over 900 sqft on the 2nd and 3rd floor and under 450 on the 1st.
- The Extenders are on the 1st and 3rd floor on opposite sides of the house. Cannot get an actual value but I would say they are placed the furthest possible from eachother. The Router is on the 2nd floor but because of the location of the coax outlet, it is closer to the back end of the house. So its closer to the extender on the 1st floor.
- Wood, HVAC system, Plumbing, typical Wood and Dry Wall material found in the North East homes of the USA.
I did rename them to be different from the Router. My current working theory is that the distance from the router to the Extender on the 3rd floor is too far, causing a latency on performance. It does connect, but the internet is not reliable for anything requiring constant connection(gaming, live streaming, communication). The working plan is to move the extender temporarily more central to the 2nd floor to see if the connection improves while connected to Ethernet, then to either permanently move the Router or Extender to a move central position on their respective floors.
As for why I chose this system the way it is, it is because I need to be able to provide Ethernet level internet speeds to both the 1st and 3rd floor for work purpose without being able to run a cable through the house. Additionally, none of the mesh systems were listed as acceptable 3rd party devices in my area.
My current working theory is that the distance from the router to the Extender on the 3rd floor is too far,
Try turning off the extenders, and measuring the signal strength (RSSI) of the router WiFi at the extender location(s) with your phone. There are several free Android analyzers that can do this. If you use iPhone, then you can use the Apple Airport Utility - rather clunky, but does have a wifi scanning mode that will give you the RSSI.
Ideally you'd want the router RSSI to be between -30 and -65 dbm at the extender locations. Bigger numbers are weaker signals (since these are negative numbers). Stronger than -30 dbm can create interference (not likely in your case, given the info you've provided). Weaker than -65 dbm might give you performance problems or connectivity issues.
Once you've placed the extenders, you can similarly measure their signal strength in various parts of the house - they should also be giving you at least -65 dbm in the areas you want to use them. You can do this round of testing with only the extender you are measuring turned on if that is easier. You won't have internet, but the analyzer should still give you the signal strength.
The problem with using multiple extenders is that they can end up connecting to each other and not back to the primary router.
Yeah, its best not to daisy chain them. You can prevent this from happening by setting up the extenders to use a different name from the router wifi. Sounds like you've already done that.