I purchased my nighthawk about a month and half ago to update a 10+ yr old ISP provided Netcomm modem router. I managed to get setup. My father was recently asked to start working from home due to Covid and I live next door and pay to use their wifi connection.
My dad is setup using a laptop and his internet is through a wifi extender linked to the nighthawk device. I have the same wifi extender in my place, having just recently ran an ethernet cable under my parents house to my place next door to use with apple tv and plan to use the connection to setup a separate router as a wireless access point.
The nighthawk is set up connected by ethernet to the main PC and utilises 100MB NBN connection installed in a protected location at the wall behind the main computer desk, the nearest local exchange is 400 metres by cable and based on previous experience with the netcomm modem router it provided a relatively stable connection.
What I've noticed is the reach of the wifi signal is smaller than the old netcomm modem router and it is also very unstable, with wifi devices disconnecting from the network automatically throughout the day. Devices are iphones (5s, 6s, 7 plus, 8), samsung galaxy s10, LG tv, samsung TV, Apple tv and Sony tv. These all seem to be affected at the same time, so I'm not sure if a mobile device going outside of the wifi range makes all the rest of the wifi devices get booted/disconnect from network also? But I suspect disconnection is occuring even when the connection is working and people are remaining within wifi range.
Some posts on Netgear community discussed "unchecking" ENABLE SMART CONNECT within the Routerlogin.net portal to fix the issue. Albeit, haven't not noticed that terminology anywhere in the Wireless tab. Netgear also references the issue online as "Smart Connect – One Wireless Network Name (SSID) for both 5 GHz radios"
(https://kb.netgear.com/25346/What-is-Smart-Connect-and-how-do-I-enable-or-disable-it-on-my-Nighthawk...).
To be honest, the article is just very poorly written, so I'm going to hazard a guess they are referring to two separate 5GHz sections of the Routerlogin.net portal.
First one, untick the check box 5GHz "Enable Wireless Router Radio" option in the tab titled Advanced > Advanced setup > Wireless settings (Advanced Wireless Settings (5GHz a/n/ac)) and click APPLY. The page will reload.
Second one. Switch back to the tab titled BASIC. Click on Wireless > Look for " Wireless Network (5GHz a/n/ac)" and untick/uncheck "Enable SSID Broadcast" and click APPLY.
If you have done it successfully, you shouldn't be able to see any public 5GHz wifi connections in your mobiles Wifi connections.
Third step. I would recommend turning off and on all your devices, to refresh any network settings. I tried to connect my apple watch series 4 and recieved "incorrect password" multiple times. Once I turned off and on the watch it autoconnected to the wifi extender and when I tried to connect to main wifi first time "incorrect password" and then second time it worked.
Hopefully this works for you and me. I will update this post if it fails/works, otherwise feel free to share your experience if you already did this and it didn't work and if you followed any other steps to rectify the issue.
I was on the phone today waiting to get through to Netgear tech support twice, as my device is within the 90 days coverage. first call 40 mins wait, support tech answers hello and then signal is engaged, 2nd time was 100 mins waiting, only got to 16th in queue and then signed is engaged.
UPDATE: TBA
