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EX7500 not finding 5GHz-2 SSID broacasted by RAX200
My router model is RAX200, and it broadcasts three unique SSIDs assigned to three radios: 2.4GHz, 5GHz-1, 5GHz-2. When I use EX7300v2 extender, it finds and shows during Smart Setup all three SSI...
The EX7300 5ghz is actually a 4x4 antenna 1600mbps device. So when its wired in, it can use that full 4x4 antenna setup for backhaul. That's why it'd be faster than the EX7500 in a wired configuration.
The EX7500 uses a 2x2 antenna 866mbps for the backhaul and a 2x2 866mbps for the fronthaul. So when wired, its limited by the 866mbps backhaul.
But when both are used wireless, the EX7300 should be faster over wireless. Reason why is most laptops/phones/tablets are only 1x1 or 2x2 antenna configurations. So most devices are going to link at the 866mbps max speed and then get that cut in half from the single/dual band issue.
They have very simiilar specs but are just used differently.
The EX7500 is a triband extender. But it only uses 1 of the 5ghz bands for the wireless backhaul. (connection to the router) The other band is just for fronthaul.(connection to devices)
So for setup, its only going to connect to 1 of the 5ghz bands. this is on purpose to stop the throughput reduction that single/dual band extenders take.
On the single/dual band extenders, they have to use the same chip to go router----extender and then extender----devices. And they can't do both at once so it takes a 50% speed reduction. The tribands have the dedicated wireless backhaul of 1 of the 5ghz bands. So they have full bandwidth.
So its by design.
Thank you so very much for explaining these points. It helps a lot with my understanding. MOST tremendously appreciated!
If I may, I have one more question.
I have set up both, EX7300v2 and EX7500 the same way:
Enable One WiFi Name -> No
Enable Smart Connect -> No
Both extenders are set up to connect to 2GHz and 5GHz-1 radio/SSID broadcasted by RAX200, and they both broadcast unique SSIDs for their 2GHz and 5Ghz “transmit” bands, different from SSIDs used by RAX200.
I use the same location (wall receptacle) to plug the extenders in and test download speeds I get in a designated client device.
When repeatedly testing both extenders, with all the test conditions being the same across the repeated test, I get consistently these results:
EX7300v2: signal strength to RAS200’s 5GHz-1 radio/SSID = 975 Mbps, average download speed at client device = ~200 Mbps
EX7500….: signal strength to RAS200’s 5GHz-1 radio/SSID = 650 Mbps, average download speed at client device = ~100 Mbps
I have tried to use all four channels for EX7500’s 5GHz “transmit” band, but this did not improve the results obtained for EX7500.
Why would EX7500 show worse results than EX7300v2?
I would be most indebted for you sharing any insight and advice on this. I am disappointed that the EX7500 extender with a dedicated CPU/band for extender-client link shows results worse than the EX7300v2 extender that shares its single 5GHz band for connections to both router and clients. The real life results make it seem like EX7500 is a step back from EX300v2.
Is there anything I can do to improve the above results for EX7500?
Thank you!
You should "potentially" get better speeds from the EX7500.
a couple things to try.
1. reinstall the EX7500 but during setup, uncheck the "extender 2.4ghz network". You'll still be able to use the 2.4ghz but it won't let the 2.4ghz act as a backup backhaul channel.
2. test the wired speeds on the ex7500. The ex7300 should have better wired speeds because when you have a device wired into it, you don't take the 50% speed hit from having to re-broadcast. But test what speeds you're getting from the EX7500 with it wired just to give me an idea of how the backhaul is performing. LInk speeds aren't the same as throughput speeds.
3. when you're testing the speed tests on the EX7500, are you testing on the 5ghz? Have you tried other devices?
The EX7300 5ghz is actually a 4x4 antenna 1600mbps device. So when its wired in, it can use that full 4x4 antenna setup for backhaul. That's why it'd be faster than the EX7500 in a wired configuration.
The EX7500 uses a 2x2 antenna 866mbps for the backhaul and a 2x2 866mbps for the fronthaul. So when wired, its limited by the 866mbps backhaul.
But when both are used wireless, the EX7300 should be faster over wireless. Reason why is most laptops/phones/tablets are only 1x1 or 2x2 antenna configurations. So most devices are going to link at the 866mbps max speed and then get that cut in half from the single/dual band issue.
They have very simiilar specs but are just used differently.
Thank you so very much for explaining these finer points. It makes more sense to me now as to what I have observed during the tests.
My conclusion is that I will stick with EX7300v2, which is giving me ~200 Mbps download speed at the client device. The EX7500 is giving me ~100 Mbps, which is kind of a bit pointless, as I am getting ~100 Mbps directly from RAX200’s 5GHz radio when connecting directly from the client device used in tests. RAX200 gives my pretty good signal everywhere, but EX7300v2 gives me additional speed at the client device.
Thank you so very much again for all your time, effort, and advice. ALL are MOST tremendously appreciated!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!
Thank you so very much for further educating me on how the devices work. MOST tremendously appreciated!
Please see my answers below:
- reinstall the EX7500 but during setup, uncheck the "extender 2.4ghz network". You'll still be able to use the 2.4ghz but it won't let the 2.4ghz act as a backup backhaul channel.
I did this, and I repeated the tests with this EX7500 configuration in effect. I got ~80 Mbps download speed at the client.
- test the wired speeds on the ex7500. The ex7300 should have better wired speeds because when you have a device wired into it, you don't take the 50% speed hit from having to re-broadcast. But test what speeds you're getting from the EX7500 with it wired just to give me an idea of how the backhaul is performing. LInk speeds aren't the same as throughput speeds.
All of my testing to date has been with EX7300v2 and EX7500 configured to use Wi-Fi only.
I have not used the Ethernet port on EX7300v2.
The version of EX7500 I have does not have an Ethernet port, so I cannot test it in wired mode.
In any case, my real life use case needs to rely on extender using Wi-Fi configuration only – e.g., there will be no hard wiring of network cable to connect client device to the extender or extended to router.
Just to share… I get 360 Mbps from ISP, at the router and hardwired PC. I get 360 Mbps via Wi-Fi at some clients, when they connect to RAX200’s 5GHz bands and are, more or less, in “straight line of sight” from RAX200.
The client device I am testing is separated via floors/walls from RX200, and that is why I am trying to boost client’s download speeds via an extender.
- when you're testing the speed tests on the EX7500, are you testing on the 5ghz? Have you tried other devices?
Yes, I have been testing both extenders and designated client device with 5GHz band of the extenders.
Yes, I have also tried speed tests run on iPhone 6SPlus. With iPhone, I have observed similar degradation of download speed when moving from EX7300v2 to EX7500.
I also noticed that EX7500-delievered speeds degraded quickly with barriers/distance between EX7500 and iPhone. Much faster than when testing with EX7300v2 and iPhone. It seems as if EX7300v2 was able to penetrate barriers/distance to client better than EX7500.