I purchased an EX6120/AC1200 to extend my NightHawk R8000 router. The first one I got wouldn't connect to the internet at all. I spoke to Tech Support and after running through the same troubleshooting I had already done, they said I needed a replacement.
Got the new one and had issues even running the Smart Setup. Finally got it up and I can only get the 2.4 connection to connect. The 5Ghz side connects to my router, but not the Internet. Steps I have tried:
Updating to newest firmware (Incidentally, I kept getting an alert that there was a new version, but when I'd click on the Update button, it would say it couldn't download the update because there was no Internet. But...Um...I was connected to the Internet using the 2.4 side. So apparently, the extender uses its own 5Ghz connection to communicate with the mother-ship. I ended up manually installing to the latest version .48
Factory reset and walking through the Smart Setup several times.
Tried changing my wifi channels
Tried connecting to both of my 5Ghz Nighthawk channels (It has 2 5Ghz and one 2.4Ghz)
I was 37th in line with Tech Support today, but got through and we went through all the same steps I've already tried. The tech determined I would need yet another EX6120.
Thing is, this problem seems prevalent (just search Google) but nobody seems to have ever found a solution. I'm going to ride this replacement horse until I either get an exteder that fully works, or Netgear fixes this issue.
Model: EX6120|AC1200 Dual Band WiFi Range Extender
Having the exact same issue. Tried 2 extenders with exact same results. My provider is Verizon FIOS with a 3100 router. Was going to try chaningimg the channel on the 5Ghz on the router. If that does not work going to try another brand.
Model: EX6120|AC1200 Dual Band WiFi Range Extender
Good luck. I have tried all of the channels, and no dice. This just really makes zero sense. Particularly, when I'm using ALL Netgear gear. And they can't even get their top of the line equipment to work with each other?
Having the exact same issue. Tried 2 extenders with exact same results. My provider is Verizon FIOS with a 3100 router. Was going to try chaningimg the channel on the 5Ghz on the router. If that does not work going to try another brand.
Update: Interesting note. While my EX6120 has "connections" on both 2.45 andf 5 to my router, only the 2.4 side has internet. BUT, when I look at my connected devices on my router, the EX6120 ONLY shows up on the 5G side.
Isn't that weird? For giggles, I shut off the EX6120's 2.4 side to see if maybe I actually WAS connecting the 5G side and the EX6120 was reporting it backwards, but when I did that, I lost ALL internet on the EX6120.
So, we have an extender that thinks it's connected to 2.4 and a Netgear router that thinks the EX6120 is connected on the 5G side.
Huh....
Model: EX6120|AC1200 Dual Band WiFi Range Extender
UPDATE - I received my replacement unit. Same issue. The 2.4Ghz side connects to the internet with no issues. The 5GHz will NOT pass through the internet.
Here's the issue...it's not a hardware problem. It HAS to be software. Why Netgear can't get their own stuff to work together is crazy.
And...NETGEAR...I shouldn't have to pay shipping for a product that does not work.
All the above is exactly the same as the circumstances I've just got on setting mine up. Extender thinks it is connected to 5G but no Internet via 5G connection.
Still having this exact same issue with my EX6120 Extender, have tried performing all steps discussed above but no result... 😕 Netgear please look into this???
It's clear they have no intention of correcting this issue. And to be fair, given their "return" policy of not fully owning the cost of shipping and replacing these units, why should they? People, like me, buy one, then trade it in for one or more, often paying some cost for shipping or restocking. Then, when they STILL don't work, people like me just throw it away and buy something else. Often, another NetGear product. When, during something like a Pandemic and you have five people in a house all needing to use the WifI, who has time to spend weeks and weeks troubleshooting a product that get ABSOLUTELY ZERO technical support in these forums?
It's a win-win for Netgear, but a net loss from a reputation standpoint. When it's time to replace my Router, it won't be a Netgear product and can promise them that.
Same issue here on the EX6250 and R8000 with latest firmware on both.
2.4GHz side worked fine, but 5GHz side would not pass through the internet from the router. After alot of troubleshooting, I'm pretty sure it is a result of the extender passing incorrect IPs to the router. Someone should check that. 🙂
In the meantime, I activated fastlane with the 5GHz pipe from router to extender and 2.4GHz pipe from extender to devices and I'm getting solid performance on all devices with great range. Consistently running 150-170+ Mbps on the nighthawk speedtest everywhere in the house.
I'd call this a workaround because it provides the max throughput between router and extender and doesn't require the 5GHz network connection that is failing on the extender-to-device connection.
Performance correction: When I was seeing 150-170 Mbps, I was running the nighthawk speedtest on the router. When running the nighthawk speedtest on the extender, I'm getting a consistent 90-95 MBps.
