EX7000 wont work with VPN

I'm using an Arris Surfboard modem with the EX7000 extender. My mobile device uses fSecure Freedome as a VPN.

Everything works fine when I connect to the modem directly via Wi-Fi. When I connect thru the extender, the VPN icon appears on my device and I see a Wi-Fi connection icon on the phone. But as soon as I attempt to browse to a web site, the VPN icon disappears and the page won't load.

If I turn off the VPN, I can browse thru the extender with no issues.

So it seems there's some confusion as to how the extender views and handles my VPN traffic.

I've reserved the MAC addresses of the extender in the router DHCP table. I do not have an ACL allow/deny list set up on the router. I redid all of the settings of the router and extender back to simple default settings in case I had screwed something up. Nothing seems to solve the problem.

Additionally, the 2GHz extension works sometimes (albeit rarely) and will stop working later. The 5GHz seems to always have issues.

AC1900

EX7000

Hardware

Troubleshooting

VPN

Tobraham
Oct 15, 2018

Sorry, Stephen, I tend to use 'router' and 'extender' interchangeably by mistake in a hurry. Yes, the router was not assigning an IPv4 address to my device,

I am using the very latest firmware, Firmware Version: V1.0.1.78_1.0.140.
I did have the router set to "Dynamically get IP Address From Router'.

I solved my problem late last night. Here's what was happening:

By having my extender acquire an IP address from the router, the extender was also copying ( or being dynamically provided) the DNS address of Comcast's servers for DNS lookups. This clearly was not working so I focused my attention on DNS issues.

First I switched over to using a static IP address. I copied the dynamically-allocated info from my current connection and pasted them into the staic information fields. I also reserved that IP address on the router so there would be no interference down the road.

Then I looked at the gateway info and it dawned on me that the router is the gateway to outside world and for this to work properly the extender needs to use the router's IP address (192.168.0.1) as the gateway, AND if that's the case, it would make sense that the Primary DNS source for the extender should also be the router and not Comcast. So I changed my Primary DNS on the extender from Comcast's 75.75.75.75 to the local gateway of 192.168.0.1.

Boom. All sites I was originally unable to access before were immediately functioning. I could now use my VPN when connected to the extender (because my VPN company's servers could now be reached). I checked my Firestick and it was now just showing `Connected` and not `Connected with problems`.

So, my hunch was right. DNS was the booger. What a pain in my side.
StephenB wrote:

Tobraham wrote:

See my latest updates on this matter. Devices are not getting assigned IPv4 addresses by the extender. Those with IPv6-only addresses can only reach IPv6-capable web sites. So we're back to the Netgear now.

Just to clarify: Devices connected through the extender are not getting assigned IPv4 addresses by the router. The extender isn't assigning addresses.

Can you try configuring a static IPv4 address on one device, and see if that gives you full connectivity?

Also, what firmware are you running?

18 Replies

Tobraham
Aspirant
Feb 19, 2018
Another observation -
Now that I have rebooted the extender, the 5GHZ band is being broadcast and have connected to it with VPN off. When I log into the mywifiext.net, the graphic at the top of the status page shows green on both bands from the router to the extender, but the 5GHZ band is greyed out on the right hand side and says "no connection" even though I am currently connected to it.
DexterJB
NETGEAR Moderator
Feb 14, 2018
Hi Tobraham,

1. Does the issue persist on your non-mobile devices (PC's, Mac)?

2. What operating system does your device/s use (Android, iOS)?

3. What is the firmware version of the extender?

4. Do you have the extender set to "Dynamically get IP Address from the router" or "Use static IP Address"?

5. Have you tried other firmware versions for the extender?

Regards,

Dexter

Community Team
- DexterJB
  NETGEAR Moderator
  Feb 20, 2018
  Hi Tobraham,
  
  I have sent you a message. Please check your inbox.
  
  Regards,
  
  Dexter
  Community Team
  - glenhatsumi
    Aspirant
    Jun 06, 2018
    I am having this same issue and am interested to know if it was resolved!
- Tobraham
  Aspirant
  Feb 19, 2018
  Hi, Dexter!
  
  Q: What operating system does your device/s use (Android, iOS)?
  A: I know the mobile devices in my home both display the same issue - one is an iOS and one is an Android. The Android shows the VPN is on (church key icon) as if it's connected but as soon as I send a request for a web page, for example, the VPN icon disappears and of course I can't connect to the page since the VPN blocks traffic when it loses connection. The iOS behaves slightly differently in that it shows it has a wifi connection and never shows the VPN icon and gets no connection to the outside world.
  
  Q: Does the issue persist on your non-mobile devices (PC's, Mac)?
  Our Firesticks show that they are connected to the extender but they often say 'connected with errors' and don't actually load the home page or any videos. The laptop has the fewest issues but still has more trouble with the extender than the main router.
  
  If I reboot the extender, it will work for a very brief period of time but by the end of the day if not within an hour, the same issue begin to appear again.
  Also, sometimes whebn I turn off the VPN on my Android and connect to the extender, I show that I'm connected but I can't open the mywifiext.net URL. Right now my Android is showing
  Status: connected
  Signal Strength: Excellent
  Link Speed: 86 Mbps
  Frequency: 2.4 GHZ
  Security: WPA2 PSK
  but I can't open mywifiext.net
  
  I'll answer the remaining questions in a minute when I can reconnect to the extender.

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EX7000 wont work with VPN