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monstro's avatar
monstro
Aspirant
Oct 04, 2019

EX3700 not supporting 802.11n at all allthough promised in the datasheet

Although stated in the datasheet that the EX3700 is supporting

• IEEE® 802.11 b/g/n 2,4 GHz

• IEEE® 802.11 a/n/ac 5 GHz

in reality EX3700 get's no connection to 802.11n WLANs (tested with different routers) neither on 2,4 GHz nor at 5 GHz.

At least that my experience with actual firmware installed.

Now I found in the Users Manual second last line this

Interface 802.11ac, 802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11b

So no 802.11n.

Now I ask the question what's wrong here.

Am I doing something wrong ?

Which document is telling the truth or is this some kind of over selling promising more than the product fulfills ?

 

8 Replies

  • plemans's avatar
    plemans
    Guru - Experienced User
    Oct 04, 2019

    I guess I'm a little confused how you're testing this extender to see this. 

    Are you connecting wireless N devices (phones, tablets, pc's) and they're not connecting? 

    Why do you report that you're connecting routers to this to test the wireless n function?  Why are you going router---->extender---->router?

    What security are you running on it? (wep, wpa, wpa2)

    are you running access point mode?

    I guess I'm just wanting more details on what makes you think the wireless n function isn't working? What are your connection rates if you connect wireless n devices to it. Be specific with what device you're using and what speed its at. Not routers, devices like tablets/pc/phone/etc.  

     

    • monstro's avatar
      monstro
      Aspirant
      Oct 04, 2019

      Hi plemans,

       

      thanks for the reply.

       

      First I need to connect the range extenter to the router from which I want to extend the network. Right. Then after successfull connection it makses sense to connect some devices to the extender.

       

      So fist step: The router is transmitting a 2,4 Ghz and a 5 Ghz WLAN both in n mode.

      I try to connect the extender to each of them to extend the reach of it.

      But the extender can connect to none of them.

       

      Now second step I change the 2,4 GHz WLAN to g mode and the 5 GHz WLAN to a mode.

      Now the extender is able to connect to both of them.

       

      If as a third an last step I change back the 2,4 Ghz and a 5 Ghz WLAN to n mode the extender again looses the connection to the router.

       

      So you see nothing crazy like a router - extender - router connection or so.

       

      But the extender cannot connect in n mode to the router.

       

      What security are you running on it?

      => WPA2

       

      I use the range extender in repeater mode.

      So this setup:

      Router ---> WLAN1 ---> Range Extender ---> WLAN2 --->Devices

       

      At the WLAN1 side I discover the inability to connect to n mode WLANs.

      THX

      • plemans's avatar
        plemans
        Guru - Experienced User
        Oct 04, 2019

        What router are you connecting to?

        Firmware on the extender?

        Do you have a different router that you could use to test with? it wouldn't be the first time a problem with an extender turned out to be a problem with a router.

        I have this same extender connecting at my parents place to a dual band wireless n setup so I know its not a hardware limitation. I'd be betting on a incorrect setting causing issues. 

  • schumaku's avatar
    schumaku
    Guru - Experienced User
    Oct 04, 2019
    monstro wrote:

    Although stated in the datasheet that the EX3700 is supporting

    • IEEE® 802.11 b/g/n 2,4 GHz

    • IEEE® 802.11 a/n/ac 5 GHz

    in reality EX3700 get's no connection to 802.11n WLANs (tested with different routers) neither on 2,4 GHz nor at 5 GHz.

    Well, EX3700 (V1.0.0.76_1.0.49) we see link rates of 144 Mb/s, 270 Mb/s, and under ideal conditions (more lab-like, not really extending the WiFi much) even 300 Mb/s link rates on 2.4 GHz - what is clealry 802.11n on this band (802.11g would top to just 54 Mb/s).

     

    monstro wrote:

    Now I found in the Users Manual second last line this

    Interface 802.11ac, 802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11b

    So no 802.11n.

    Weak documentation only ... the Factory Default Settings (p.46) list Operating mode 802.11a/b/g/n/ac. We could argue the Data Rates shown are just reflecting the maximum numbers for the various standards - Data rate in the 2.4 GHz band 54/145/300 Mbps, Data rate in the 5 GHz band 54/145/300/433 Mbps  ... there are many more data rates possibe, depending on the signal, the conction quality, bandwidth, ...

    • monstro's avatar
      monstro
      Aspirant
      Oct 05, 2019

      Thanks you're right.

      But the problem was primarily not the link rate but to connect at all to a WLAN in n mode.

      Now it worked.

       

      I could connect with g mode at 54 Mb/s to the WLAN with 100% singnal quality.

      After I tried from the very same place to connect to the same WLAN but now in n mode and also 100% singal quality and it did not connect.

       

      The solution was to put the extender literally in front of the router.

      The singal quality also showed 100% (of course how could it be more than 100% ...) but now it connected to the WLAN in n mode (depending on the setup at 144 or 300 Mb/s). This worked with the Cisco and the AVM router. Still it not connects to the Zyxel router but it's not interesting anymore to investigate further.

       

      Now after having finshed sussessfully the connection to the n WLAN I put the extender back to the place where it should extend the network (of couse not directly next to the router ...).

      So back at the desired position the singnal quality is still at 100% but the connection of the extender to the router most of the time can not be established in n mode.

      Only from time to time it works for a few minutes.

       

      So bottom line if I want to use the extender at that position I would need to accept the 54Mb/s in g mode to get a stable connection.

       

      Finally I plugged a long ethernet cable and use it now in AP mode ...

       

      And yes weak documentation ...