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Forum Discussion
EX8000 smart connect?
I have an EX8000 configured as an access point with hard wired backhaul to and R7000p. Both are updated to the latest firmware as of 3/14/19.
I have a plethora of wifi tablets, laptops, and sm...
Well, I figured out a partial work around. I enable media access control on the EX8000 and blocked the R7000 that I wanted bridged to the R7000p. Only problem is the R7000 I didn't want on the R7000p followed the one I did due to EX8000 dropping all connections while "updating settings". So, I waited till my wife was off her computer and blocked the R7000 in her office on the R7000p (dropping everyone for a few seconds, really annoying). I now have the r7000s connect where I want them connected and am getting better throughput. That this worked is counter intuitive for me, as I thought blocking a MAC would completely filter it at the device level rather than just block it from connecting to the network through that device - makes for pretty pourous access control, but mac level security is easily spoofed anyway.
The partial part is my EX8000 is in access point mode which gives me two 5g networks with one at 866Mbps (channel 36) and one at 1733Mbps (channel 161) and it always connect the R7000 to the 866Mbps channel even though I have 82% signal on the 161 channel and 72% signal on the 36 channel in her home office. There should be no interference as I am the only one using those channels in my neighborhood (for some reason, my three neighbors all piled up on channels 153 and 40).
I would much prefer being able to select the channel I connect with when setting the R7000 in bridge mode.
Okay, that didn't really work. While access control on the extender only blocks connection on the Wifi, access control on the R7000p blocks and filters the MAC. The R7000 blocked on the R7000p lost internet access, while everything on the R7000 blocked on the EX8000 is accessible everywhere.