Phone not connecting to wireless extender

[andyfurniss]

I have a Nighthawk R7800 in my living room but the signal isn't quite good enough to reach my bedroom reliably so I set up my TP-Link AV600 powerline + wireless extender in the bedroom. I had a similar set up with a different router in my previous home which worked fine.

For some reason, my phone just won't connect to the wireless extender when I'm standing right in front of it. It holds on to it's router connection. I have set the SSID and password of the extender to be the same as the routers as you can see below. I've also set the channel to be different to the router.

Router:

Extender:

Unfortunately, as you can see below, the extender is showing zero connected devices, even though I've left my phone right next to it.

[DarrenM]

That is the issue you do not want the SSID to be the same because the extender is creating a separate network. Rename the extender then try to connect.

DarrenM

[andyfurniss]

But I don't want a different network. I want to EXTEND the existing network otherwise what's the point of a WiFi extender?

[DarrenM]

What you are wanting is a mesh extender or a mesh router system normal extenders can not do what you are wanting it to do. The purpose of a normal extender is to give more coverage in the home by creating a new network.

DarrenM