I'm in a long single-story house with a Nighthawk R7000 router in the middle and WN3500RP and EX6100 range extenders at both ends, all on Channel 6 (2.4GHz) and Channel 153 (5GHz). After insuring the networks on the new EX6100 are named differently from those on the WN3500RP, everything seems to be working OK.
The Nighthawk router shows the 2.4GHz channel as Auto, but allows me to change it; at 5GHz it's Channel 153 with option to change to about 7 other settings.
I can't change channels on the EX6100, as the channel selectors for both frequencies are grayed-out and display "Auto". Am I constrained to have the extender's channel be the same as the router's?
Yes, you're right. When you set up your EX6100 as an extender, you can only use the same channel as your router, and you cannot change that. You can always change the channel on your router, but not your extender, since by definition, the extender has to repeat the signal on the same channel as the router. That's how things are as far as I know.
However, you can change the channel if you set up your EX6100 as an Access Point, and wire it back to your router. You might want to consider this method if wiring the extender back to the router is an option that you're OK with.
Thanks for the logical explanation. I'm sticking with the extender configuration but may change the base 2.4GHz channel on the router to avoid other networks in the neighborhood -- and for them to avoid mine! No 5GHz networks reported by various monitoring tools.
I presume both my extenders (EX6100 and WN3500RP) will automatically find and use whatever channel I change to.
BTW, the EX6100 is working great. Anyone need a used WN3000RP?
