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KevCB's avatar
KevCB
Aspirant
Mar 09, 2020

Multiple Nighthawk EX7300 Extenders

Hi

 

I have 2 EX7300's at home, both are on the latest Firmware (the update that allows Mesh networking).  My D6400 nighthawk router is also on the latest firmware.

 

Currently one is set as a Mesh Extender and the other as a Mesh AP (via a pair of Powerline V500's....so is SLOW!) - this is due to them not working together together to create a true Mesh network.

 

Is there any other way to resolve this? The placement of my router (which cant be moved) will not allow for the optiomal <<Extender>> <<Router>> <<Extender>> setup....what I need, and have achieved with the above is <<Router>> <<Extender>> <<AP>>.

 

From my investigations, it appears that the update for the EX7300's allows Mesh, but doesn't allow for Satellite connections - surely this is a feature that should be able to be added (I believe that this is how Orbi works).

 

It would be great if a new Firmware update would include this feature as I very much doubt i'm the only person in this position!

 

I've tried the Tech Support team and they seemed to know less about the products and networking than I do!

 

Many thanks

 

 

1 Reply

  • plemans's avatar
    plemans
    Guru - Experienced User
    Mar 09, 2020

    The extender mesh options work great when there's only 1 mesh extender. Once you get 2 extenders is where you run into issues. Reason why is that its not a true mesh setup in that nothings controlling it. (router/controller). This is what allows it to function with 3rd party routers. 

    the workaround to get it functioning it so make sure one of the extenders isn't running in mesh mode. otherwise they can connec to each other if they can see each others ssid. 

    so try this.

    router---->extender with mesh ssid------>extender with unique ssid. 

    or  Extender in mesh<------->router<------>extender with unique ssid.  

    this prevents them from connecting to each other.

    Its kind of a pain as the whole benefit from mesh is to have 1 ssid. But again, the issue is that its more of a hybrid mesh and not a full mesh like orbi. To get a full mesh, you need to actually move to a mesh network and not whats offered with the extenders. Its why I've always recommend to people who need more than 1 extender, to move to orbi or a similar mesh setup.