For some reason my EX6200 drops the 2.4GHZ connection every day or so. The 5GHZ is fine and both my 2.4 and 5GHZ connections on the router are fine. Rebooting fixes the issue for another day or so. I have the latest firmware: V1.0.1.60_1.1.98

Hello all. My ISP tech just left. At first he couldn't explain it either, but he made a few calls to more senior techs and came up with this answer: the bulk of consumer grade extenders, Netgear included, will not be able to simultaneously and consistently extend the 2.4 G and 5 G networks. It's one or the other. The ISP can provide an extender that will do this (it's about the same cost as the EX7000) but their extender has to be hardwired to the base station. That's what he said, for what it's worth.

Babylon5 wrote:Nick, Metzger, DigitalMaestro (thanks for the link), I will raise this with Netgear to see if this is a recognised issue. Did this issue appear immediately after first setup, or some time later? If later does a factory reset resolve the issue for a while?I can't speak for others but the issue occurred for me right out of the box and was not affected by a factory reset. Netgear eventually also did a hardware swap and that also did not resolve the problem. Since the same symptoms were exhibited by the replacement unit provided by Netgear then it points to a firmware issue to my mind. Netgear did provide one or two beta firmware releases for me to try but none resolved the issue. DM

In my case, the extender worked fine out of the box for the first day or so. Then the 2.4 GHz network stopped working. A power cycle of both the extender and the router was required to get it working again. I went through this a few times, approximately every day or so. As of two days ago, power cycle stopped resolving the issue, and a factory reset also failed to resolve the issue. After working with Netgear support, I returned the extender to Best Buy and I'm now trying an EX7000. Guess what? Same problem. Out of the box, the extender was never able to extend the 2.4 GHz network. When I log into the extender, the status indicates that everything is working normally, but none of my devices can get an IP from the 2.4 GHz network. Even more strange, the "original" 2.4 GHz network from the router also fails while the extender is connected. If I disable the extender and power cycle the router, the "original" 2.4 GHz network works normally. Throughout all of this, the 5 GHz network (both extended and "original") work just fine.

Hi,same problem with one of my two EX6200, every day drops the 2.4 GHZ connection,I have the latest firmware V1.0.1.60_1.1.98Rebooting fixes the issue for another day....

Babylon5 wrote:OK, I will contact Netgear to see if they are aware of this issue, but I would suggest that it is not as prevalent as you may think, otherwise we would see many more users with the issue posting in the forums. As described it’s pretty fundamental and should be picked up quickly in any test / review. I for example have an EX6200 set up at a relative’s house where only 2.4GHz is used and it’s been operating flawlessly in that mode for months now. Now I don’t deny that you have problems, and I’m not suggesting that you are the only people with this problem, but I’m more inclined to think that it’s a hardware fault with the EX6200 or a compatibility issue with the base station. Could you all please tell me the manufacturer and model number of your base station? Metzger, I do have the EX7000, though I use it as an AP rather than an extender, but for many weeks I tested it in extender mode and had very few issues with it. As an AP it hasn’t failed me yet.My base station is a Netgear R7000. I'm running the EX6200 in Fastlane mode using the 54Ghz as the backhaul to the base station and the 2.4Ghz to the clients. Rather than dropping every day, the latest beta firmware provided by Netgear would drop every 7-10 days or so. It's odd that the problem is not more widely reported since I had this same issue across two brand new EX6200s. Both were setup in Fastlane mode using standard options. I'm not using the USB port or any of the other features of the EX6200 except for Fastlane yet the problem occurs. It would seem that it should occur for at least those users with Fastlane. I seem to recall that I had the same issue when I extended withotu Fastlane as well.

EX6200 drops 2.4GHZ connection every day or so

70 Replies

amo
Aspirant
Jan 09, 2016
Update...

Same poor performance of 2.4Ghz in non-Fastlane mode *sigh*

Netgear support were unable to provide a resolution (although at least they accepted my support request, despite my **bleep**-up with the purchase date). Their suggestion to change the 2.4Ghz channel wasn't really much help, since I had already found "quiet" channels. Changing channels made no difference.

I've downgraded to the previous version of the firmware to see if that's any better...
amo
Aspirant
Jan 09, 2016
*sigh*

After a couple of hours of apparent stability, the old (98) firmware shows the same poor performance as the latest version (114). This device is basically a doorstop now: I get better performance using my main router, even with its poor signal strength.

I am *extremely* disappointed with the EX6200, and will be pursuing a refund. This is so disappointing, given that this is supposedly the best extender available.
amo
Aspirant
Jan 10, 2016
(Recording this here for posterity - someone might find it useful later...)

Another interesting observation about 2.4Ghz reception (its connection to the main router) of my EX6200. If I position it in clear sight of my main router, everything looks fine (the Netgear Genie status page shows it's getting 144Mbps, and at least -40dBm)... for about 5 minutes. Then, although the signal strength remains strong, the speed of the connection drops to 24Mbps, then 5Mbps a few minutes later. This surely indicates a pretty fundamental problem with the device? No wonder 2.4Ghz clients are getting poor performance from the extender!

This pile of junk is going back to Amazon UK.
- JaapHoutman
  Aspirant
  Jan 11, 2016
  I had the same problem with the latest and current firmware. However after I selected 2.4 GHz for "Ethernet ports to WiFi use the following band:" and saved this change, the 2.4 Ghz connection remained up and running at 300Mbps instead of 24 Mbps.
plalo
Aspirant
Jan 14, 2016
Same issue here and same crappy experience from Netgear supporting (lack) the product. Anyone had better stability with a different product that could be near comparable in throughput?
IXY
Tutor
Jan 14, 2016
Ok, so mine stays up for a couple weeks at a time.
.98 release. 5Ghz to the router, and 2.4 out to other devices as the extended network.

I would love some suggestion on how to test bandwith / throughput besides jsut running a speed test on my laptop.

Also, i have been so disenchanted wiht Netgear's handling of this, i am not wanting to be customer anymore. I am from the tech industry and stuff happens and bugs get out. However an upstanding company would admit it, and then work to resolve the situation. However Netgear plays dumb, deflects the issue, and hides behind its poor support as a shield. I do recommend you share this info with publications that review products so the market is aware of not only this device's defects but company poor policy with supporting its customers.

I also look for advice for a vendors product that offers similar dual and high speeds. A new crop of devices are just releasing to the market. And given the dishonest treatment of Netgear I can not give them more money for thier newest device that may have the same issue.
laurenson747474
Aspirant
Apr 16, 2016
I'm have the same issue the firmware on the ex6200 is up to date, the 5.0ghz works fine and really need this to work.
- IXY
  Tutor
  Apr 20, 2016
  I would look for another company and another product. Netgear is not owning this problem and letting old customers just be victims of a defective product.
  - NotGood
    Aspirant
    Oct 06, 2016
    I got sucked in and bought one 2nd hand!
    Spoiler
    Spoiler
    yeah... don't ask :(
    
    Now I find this thread and it looks like these dropouts are common in this model.... and NG haven’t done jack about it.
    
    No wonder this paper weight was for sale. Although I don't fully blame the guy who sold me the ex6200, I'm more pissed that NG didn't fix it.
    
    NG reputation tarnished.

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EX6200 drops 2.4GHZ connection every day or so