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Wifi Extender (EX7500 x3 and WN3500RP x2) Configuration
Hi there,
The problem I have is that I am trying to configure 3x EX7500 and 2x WN3500RP wifi extenders. The idea is to daisy chain the EX7500's and then have the 2 WN3500RP's linked to the last EX7500. I can't use Netgear's own configuration tool under http://mywifiext as it will only configure one of the extenders, it wasn't designed with multiple extenders in mind.
I need a way of configuring each extender. The manual recommends getting the IP address of each device from the router being connected to and then pasting the IP address in to a browser, whereupon you should get a login screen to that device. All well and good in theory. The issue I have is that after logging in to the router, the router shows all the connected devices with their associated IP addresses. However, it does not show the MAC address of the device. So I can't tell which IP address belongs to which actual device. The router is a free one supplied by Vodafone. Is there a quick way of figuring out which IP address belongs to which device?
Alternatively, should I ditch the Vodafone router and get a Netgear one that I'm hoping will show the device MAC address and the corresponding assigned IP address? Or, is there any Wifi management software around that will allow me to configure devices attached to a router?
Any ideas would be welcome or anyone with a Netgear wifi router could inform as to whether Netgear routers do indeed show connected devices MAC addresses and corresponding IP addresses. Any info would help as right now, I can't even log in to the WN3500RPs and get the firmware updated.
I managed to use the Netgear configuration tool on each of the EX7500's when I powered up just one of them at a time and managed to firmware update them. However, all other configuration settings are lost as soon as I power them off. Hence my need to configure them all in the required locations with them all powered up at the same time, which is why I need to be able to log in to each extender and perform a config. Only trouble is the router that I have does not give me MAC addresses to correlate with any IP addresses.
What do I do?
Issue now resolved. Within the Wifihub router, I managed to find the IP address of attached devices to the router. I could then connect to each relevant device and configure it etc. Will now have to write the install process and take snips of configured pages so I'll know how to do it again should the need arise.
Now I have complete high quality high speed coverage across the whole house. I now have 3x EX7500's in line seperated by 8 to 8.5 metres with 2x WN3500RP's connected to the EX7500. The only real significant drawback is the peak period which drops the speeds somewhat but unavoidable.
5 Replies
I would configure the extenders one at a time near the main host router. Then once they are setup to connect to the SSID(s). Turn them off and place at there remote locations.
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and extender(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.Hi Furry,
Yep, that's the first thing I did. I ran a setup with each EX7500 extender in same room as the router. That's how I managed to update the firmware on these extenders. However, when I repeated the process for the WN3500RP's, I could not connect to them. I got the usual DNS server could not be found error message. That's why I wanted the IP addresses, so I could log in to each extender without going through the netgear configuration tool, which could not connect to the WN3500RP's.
As for other stuff, the EX7500's a placed more or less in a line, with approx 8 to 8.5 metres between each of them, with the first of them in the same room as the router.
Do the WNs have a manual FW upate feature? if so, i would update them by downloading the FW file and manually loading them.
The first EX needs to be out at 30 feet from the main host router. IN the same room will not work.
