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Forum Discussion
EX6200 Can not see 5GHz Network on Router
Hi All,
Firstly thanks to everyone who contributes to these forums, I have been doing some reading and found many comments useful, but I have an issue with my EX6200 and/or Router which I am unable to find a solution for and wondered if anyone else has come across a similar issue or can shed any light on why it would have this problem.
My setup is quite straight forward and works fine on all devices apart from with the EX6200.
My router is an ASUS RT-AC68U, great router giving good signal to most of the house 2.4GHz band and 5GHz AC and everything connects to that fine (TV, Mobiles, Laptops, Tablets). It appears to work perfect on both 2.4GHz band and 5GHz AC Band.
BUT the problem is I have a PC upstairs which needs the internet and this is my main PC which I use for my business so it is important. I also have my server running upstairs too, both are hardwired and connected to a Gb switch. For these I need a good solid reliable connect and previously I had some Netgear AV200 Homeplugs working which I had for many years and they worked fine but they became quite slow so I upgraded to some newer TP-Links. The TP Links were great when they worked but many times dropped connection for no reason and when rebooted were fine again. This was always when you needed them most and highly annoying.
Then I saw the EX6200 and thought great I will buy and try one of those as it will work fine as I have a fairly good WiFi coverage in my house.
The problem with the EX6200 is that it will not see the 5GHz band WiFi network from my router.
When I initially did the setup it never saw it, it sees the 2.4GHz fine. I tried various things, channels, reboots, firmware (both router and EX6200) and nothing worked. I bought the EX6200 from eBuyer in the UK and had contacted their technical support about this and also spent hours on the phone with Netgear technical support neither could offer a solution. I have good coverage as I mentioned and tried the EX6200 close to the router so no coverage problem there also different chanels but nothing works.
When I run the setup it does show other 5GHz networks (neighbours) so the 5GHz is working and also one day out of the blue it did see my network (great), so I set it up.
I have mainly 2.4GHz devices in my home and as my main use for this is to give hardwired devices a good connection I use the fastlane connection, so connect the EX6200 to my router on 5GHz AC and output 2.4GHz from the EX6200 (not that I really need the extra coverage) it just mean the connection is good and works fine.
BUT.....
I rebooted my router, and then the EX6200 no longer connects to the router. Again it can not see the 5GHz network, setup does not show the routers 5GHz (as before) but sees the 2.4GHz fine. Manual setting do not work as it cant see the router on 5GHz and no matter how many reboots of the devices the 5GHz is nowhere to be seen. One day again for some reason the EX6200 saw the 5GHz again so I set it up with the fastlane and it worked again, but then once more I needed to reboot the router and now no 5GHz again.
So there is obviously something wrong, either with the router or the EX6200.
I know the EX6200 works on the 5GHz as it has connected before and works very well, it is stable and fast, it also sees other 5GHz networks every time but just not my routers.
BUT
I also know my router works fine on the 5GHz band as I have other devices connected to it and it never goes off, is always stable and never had connection problems.
On my router there are no MAC filtering rules, no firewall rules or restrictions of any kind on my network (apart from the normal WiFi security password required)
On other devices I can always see the 5GHz network and the SSID is shown and everything else can connect, it is just for some reason the EX6200 can not see it but it has a few times and I have no idea why.
I tried to get a replacement from eBuyer but they were very unhelpful (shame on you), the tech support guy said you can not use it like that (Fastlane) which of course you can as that is what it is designed for and I have had it working, he said I could not return it as faulty as there was nothing "wrong" with it, he said they might just not be compatible which was not their fault.
I can not see that they can not be "compatible", can they?
Any help, suggestions would be greatly appreciated as there must be some reason for this or one device which has an issue.
I am just very confused :confused: as each device works fine but just not with each other.
Many thanks in advance to anyone who can assist.
Firstly thanks to everyone who contributes to these forums, I have been doing some reading and found many comments useful, but I have an issue with my EX6200 and/or Router which I am unable to find a solution for and wondered if anyone else has come across a similar issue or can shed any light on why it would have this problem.
My setup is quite straight forward and works fine on all devices apart from with the EX6200.
My router is an ASUS RT-AC68U, great router giving good signal to most of the house 2.4GHz band and 5GHz AC and everything connects to that fine (TV, Mobiles, Laptops, Tablets). It appears to work perfect on both 2.4GHz band and 5GHz AC Band.
BUT the problem is I have a PC upstairs which needs the internet and this is my main PC which I use for my business so it is important. I also have my server running upstairs too, both are hardwired and connected to a Gb switch. For these I need a good solid reliable connect and previously I had some Netgear AV200 Homeplugs working which I had for many years and they worked fine but they became quite slow so I upgraded to some newer TP-Links. The TP Links were great when they worked but many times dropped connection for no reason and when rebooted were fine again. This was always when you needed them most and highly annoying.
Then I saw the EX6200 and thought great I will buy and try one of those as it will work fine as I have a fairly good WiFi coverage in my house.
The problem with the EX6200 is that it will not see the 5GHz band WiFi network from my router.
When I initially did the setup it never saw it, it sees the 2.4GHz fine. I tried various things, channels, reboots, firmware (both router and EX6200) and nothing worked. I bought the EX6200 from eBuyer in the UK and had contacted their technical support about this and also spent hours on the phone with Netgear technical support neither could offer a solution. I have good coverage as I mentioned and tried the EX6200 close to the router so no coverage problem there also different chanels but nothing works.
When I run the setup it does show other 5GHz networks (neighbours) so the 5GHz is working and also one day out of the blue it did see my network (great), so I set it up.
I have mainly 2.4GHz devices in my home and as my main use for this is to give hardwired devices a good connection I use the fastlane connection, so connect the EX6200 to my router on 5GHz AC and output 2.4GHz from the EX6200 (not that I really need the extra coverage) it just mean the connection is good and works fine.
BUT.....
I rebooted my router, and then the EX6200 no longer connects to the router. Again it can not see the 5GHz network, setup does not show the routers 5GHz (as before) but sees the 2.4GHz fine. Manual setting do not work as it cant see the router on 5GHz and no matter how many reboots of the devices the 5GHz is nowhere to be seen. One day again for some reason the EX6200 saw the 5GHz again so I set it up with the fastlane and it worked again, but then once more I needed to reboot the router and now no 5GHz again.
So there is obviously something wrong, either with the router or the EX6200.
I know the EX6200 works on the 5GHz as it has connected before and works very well, it is stable and fast, it also sees other 5GHz networks every time but just not my routers.
BUT
I also know my router works fine on the 5GHz band as I have other devices connected to it and it never goes off, is always stable and never had connection problems.
On my router there are no MAC filtering rules, no firewall rules or restrictions of any kind on my network (apart from the normal WiFi security password required)
On other devices I can always see the 5GHz network and the SSID is shown and everything else can connect, it is just for some reason the EX6200 can not see it but it has a few times and I have no idea why.
I tried to get a replacement from eBuyer but they were very unhelpful (shame on you), the tech support guy said you can not use it like that (Fastlane) which of course you can as that is what it is designed for and I have had it working, he said I could not return it as faulty as there was nothing "wrong" with it, he said they might just not be compatible which was not their fault.
I can not see that they can not be "compatible", can they?
Any help, suggestions would be greatly appreciated as there must be some reason for this or one device which has an issue.
I am just very confused :confused: as each device works fine but just not with each other.
Many thanks in advance to anyone who can assist.
5 Replies
- I am having the same problem with my new EX6200. It cannot connect to my Linksys WRT 1900AC on the 5 GHz band although the 2.4 GHz works fine.
Please create a ticket for support team to be aware.
- @minions08
Many thanks for the link to the support but I already have/had a support ticket open and spent around an hour on the phone to Netgear about this and they could not resolve it. I also contacted the retailer's tech support (ebuyer) who were also not able to help and actually said it was not possible to connect the device in the way I wanted (Using Fastlane) which is a feature of this product and the reason I bought it in the first place and said it must not be "compatible" with my Asus RT68U Router.
BUT............. since then I have now actually managed to solve the problem myself and with a bit of reading of other peoples issues (not directly related to the EX6200
@BronteSailor
I have solved my connection issue and can now always see the 5GHz network in setup on the EX6200 so hopefully this will help you and also get yours up and running.
I remember reading somewhere about a similar issue with other devices not being able to connect on the 5GHz channel (sorry can't remember where I read it or even what devices it was), but it was suggested to try using channel 44 on the router (Not Auto). So I did this and straight away the 5GHz channel was visible.
I have power tested it several times and can confirm on my router using the "Control Channel" as channel 44 my EX6200 can always connect, both using fast lane and standard repeater mode. I actually have it now set up using Fastlane (5GHz) to the Router and EX6200 as I have a hard wired switch connected to my EX6200 so I get the best link between the EX6200 and the router and then 2.4Ghz to the other devices from the EX6200 (which is not that important to me).
As I mentioned my router is an Asus RT-AC68U so maybe using channel 44 on your router will resolve the problem too (I hope so).
My current configuration is now as follows:
Router - Asus RT-AC68U
Frequency: 5GHz
Wireless Mode: Auto (Options = N+AC, Legacy or Auto)
Channel bandwidth: 20/40/80MHz (Options = 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz or 20/40/80MHz)
Control Channel: 44 (Options = Auto, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52 etc...)
Extension Channel: Auto (Options = Auto)
Authentication Method: WPA2-Personal
WPA Encryption: AES
EX6200
Connection Status to Existing Network (5GHz)
Name (SSID) XX-XXX-XX
Link Rate 585 Mbps
Signal Strength -66 dBm
Connection Status Connected
My EX6200 is quite far away and has three bars, but the connection is good and is far better than using the 2.4GHz so I am now very happy and it is stable and to date has not dropped out. I have also rebooted the devices (just to test) several times and the 5GHz network can always be seen.
I therefore wonder if the Auto setting on the Router uses a lower channel than the EX6200 can see? or another channel which for some reason the EX6200 is not able to detect, but if so hopefully a future firmware update would resolve this.
Anyway, hope this helps someone and thanks for your comments. - I have a similar problem. I'm having issues using 5GHZ with this extender and a Nighthawk 7500. It has a 25% signal strength over 5ghz and I think it needs to be stronger to function correctly.
Please create a ticket.
