Re: EX7000 wont work with VPN

Tobraham · ‎2018-02-11

I'm using an Arris Surfboard modem with the EX7000 extender. My mobile device uses fSecure Freedome as a VPN.

Everything works fine when I connect to the modem directly via Wi-Fi. When I connect thru the extender, the VPN icon appears on my device and I see a Wi-Fi connection icon on the phone. But as soon as I attempt to browse to a web site, the VPN icon disappears and the page won't load.

If I turn off the VPN, I can browse thru the extender with no issues.

So it seems there's some confusion as to how the extender views and handles my VPN traffic.

I've reserved the MAC addresses of the extender in the router DHCP table. I do not have an ACL allow/deny list set up on the router. I redid all of the settings of the router and extender back to simple default settings in case I had screwed something up. Nothing seems to solve the problem.

Additionally, the 2GHz extension works sometimes (albeit rarely) and will stop working later. The 5GHz seems to always have issues.

Tobraham · ‎2018-10-15

Sorry, Stephen, I tend to use 'router' and 'extender' interchangeably by mistake in a hurry. Yes, the router was not assigning an IPv4 address to my device,

I am using the very latest firmware, Firmware Version: V1.0.1.78_1.0.140.
I did have the router set to "Dynamically get IP Address From Router'.

I solved my problem late last night. Here's what was happening:

By having my extender acquire an IP address from the router, the extender was also copying ( or being dynamically provided) the DNS address of Comcast's servers for DNS lookups. This clearly was not working so I focused my attention on DNS issues.

First I switched over to using a static IP address. I copied the dynamically-allocated info from my current connection and pasted them into the staic information fields. I also reserved that IP address on the router so there would be no interference down the road.

Then I looked at the gateway info and it dawned on me that the router is the gateway to outside world and for this to work properly the extender needs to use the router's IP address (192.168.0.1) as the gateway, AND if that's the case, it would make sense that the Primary DNS source for the extender should also be the router and not Comcast. So I changed my Primary DNS on the extender from Comcast's 75.75.75.75 to the local gateway of 192.168.0.1.

Boom. All sites I was originally unable to access before were immediately functioning. I could now use my VPN when connected to the extender (because my VPN company's servers could now be reached). I checked my Firestick and it was now just showing `Connected` and not `Connected with problems`.

So, my hunch was right. DNS was the booger. What a pain in my side.
@StephenB wrote:

@Tobraham wrote:

See my latest updates on this matter. Devices are not getting assigned IPv4 addresses by the extender. Those with IPv6-only addresses can only reach IPv6-capable web sites. So we're back to the Netgear now.

Just to clarify: Devices connected through the extender are not getting assigned IPv4 addresses by the router. The extender isn't assigning addresses.

Can you try configuring a static IPv4 address on one device, and see if that gives you full connectivity?

Also, what firmware are you running?

View solution in original post

DexterJB · ‎2018-02-14

Hi @Tobraham,

1. Does the issue persist on your non-mobile devices (PC's, Mac)?

2. What operating system does your device/s use (Android, iOS)?

3. What is the firmware version of the extender?

4. Do you have the extender set to "Dynamically get IP Address from the router" or "Use static IP Address"?

5. Have you tried other firmware versions for the extender?

Regards,

Dexter

Community Team

Tobraham · ‎2018-02-19

Hi, Dexter!

Q: What operating system does your device/s use (Android, iOS)?
A: I know the mobile devices in my home both display the same issue - one is an iOS and one is an Android. The Android shows the VPN is on (church key icon) as if it's connected but as soon as I send a request for a web page, for example, the VPN icon disappears and of course I can't connect to the page since the VPN blocks traffic when it loses connection. The iOS behaves slightly differently in that it shows it has a wifi connection and never shows the VPN icon and gets no connection to the outside world.

Q: Does the issue persist on your non-mobile devices (PC's, Mac)?
Our Firesticks show that they are connected to the extender but they often say 'connected with errors' and don't actually load the home page or any videos. The laptop has the fewest issues but still has more trouble with the extender than the main router.

If I reboot the extender, it will work for a very brief period of time but by the end of the day if not within an hour, the same issue begin to appear again.
Also, sometimes whebn I turn off the VPN on my Android and connect to the extender, I show that I'm connected but I can't open the mywifiext.net URL. Right now my Android is showing
Status: connected
Signal Strength: Excellent
Link Speed: 86 Mbps
Frequency: 2.4 GHZ
Security: WPA2 PSK
but I can't open mywifiext.net

I'll answer the remaining questions in a minute when I can reconnect to the extender.

Tobraham · ‎2018-02-19

Another observation -
Now that I have rebooted the extender, the 5GHZ band is being broadcast and have connected to it with VPN off. When I log into the mywifiext.net, the graphic at the top of the status page shows green on both bands from the router to the extender, but the 5GHZ band is greyed out on the right hand side and says "no connection" even though I am currently connected to it.

DexterJB · ‎2018-02-19

Hi @Tobraham,

I have sent you a message. Please check your inbox.

Regards,

Dexter
Community Team

glenhatsumi · ‎2018-06-05

I am having this same issue and am interested to know if it was resolved!

Mickleford · ‎2018-06-25

Any luck? I'm also experiancing issues.

Tobraham · ‎2018-06-26

Still not resolved. It was escalated to Tier 2 support but those individuals at that level appear to work non-US business hours, so finding an evening where I can set aside 30+ minutes to deal with it instead of being with my family is a little challenging.

Altoid · ‎2018-08-24

I'm having the exact same issue also. I can't use VPN when connected to the extender. As soon as I connect to the main wifi network or use lan it works. Is there a fix for this yet? I just installed the latest firmware also.

StephenB · ‎2018-08-27

You might also check with Fsecure, as this issue has shown up with their VPN and other extenders. For instance, here: https://community.f-secure.com/t5/F-Secure/Problems-with-wireless-extender/td-p/99764

Altoid · ‎2018-08-27

Hi,

I checked that link and didn't find a solution there. I found this forum post by searching for issues with using VPN on wifi extenders and it seems other people with the same model are experiencing this issue. My extender is setup as an access point also. I don't have any special configuration on it. The extender is hardwired back to my Netgear Nighthawk router. I've rebooted all the devices, I've updated the firmware on all the devices. It just doesn't work on the Extender. I looked in the firewall logs on our firewall and there are no errors there. The second I connect to my main router through wifi or lan, VPN works.

StephenB · ‎2018-08-28

@Altoid wrote:

I checked that link and didn't find a solution there ... it seems other people with the same model are experiencing this issue.

There was no solution there. My point was that this same issue has been reported by folks using other manufacturer's extenders (ASUS in that case). So you should also contact Fsecure support, since the issue might well be their problem, and not Netgear's.

Tobraham · ‎2018-08-28

I should have been more specific in my original post's title. The issue isn't just with VPN, it's with connectivity overall. If I reset the extender and router, the extender will stay connected for about an hour or two but then it loses internet connectivity and the only solution is a hard reboot. Any device trying to connect to my router thru the extender connects fine to the extender itself, but the extender seems to have lost internet acccess.

For example, my Firestick upstairs - it sees and connects to the extender just fine but the error is "Connected but with errors". That error message pretty much sums up everything with the extender as well. I can connect to it from any device without issue but lose internet connectivity. It only seems to stay connected for an hour or two if I'm lucky.

Expensive paperweight.

Altoid · ‎2018-10-05

A recent firmware update that was released has resolved the VPN issues I was experiencing. When I first setup my extender to connect wirelessly to the main router I had quality issues in the past. Awhile ago I directly connected the extender and set it up as an Access Point it became much more reliable.

Tobraham · ‎2018-10-14

They sent me a new device and it worked immediately with a few tweaks (not the VPN, however). Here we are one month later and nothing will connect again. I reset it to default settings and tried to start fresh and now.

I connected to the extender's wifi, initiated the set up process, assigned an SSID. I connect to that SSID and my mobile device tells me I'm connected. I can see in my router's IPv6 table that my mobile device is connected. I am incapable of browsing to about half of the internet. If I try to go to mywifiext.net, I get the following error: ERR_INVALID_ARGUMENT. I can browse to Google and Yahoo, for example, but if I attempt to click on any of the links in the search results, most of them do not work.

Phone is connected to router via IPv6, but not IPv4

Seems like one problem could be a DNS issue. I double checked my router's DNS settings: it's set to get them from my Internet provider and I can see Comcast's DNS servers in my settings (75.75.75.75 and 75.75.76.76). Could IPv6 be causing issues with reaching some web sites? And why is my mobile device not able to connect via IPv4 through the extender? It works just fine through the router.

Also, when I log in to the extender and look at my connected devices, even though my phone tells me I'm connected to the extender, I don't see any devices listed in the extender's connected devices list.

This thing has been the biggest pain my side. It doesn't help that my wife gives me grief every time she sees me dealing with it. She just wants to buy something else and I keep telling her we bought the top of the line and it's just complicated.

Why can't this thing just be a set it and forget it kind of thing? This is absurd.

Tobraham · ‎2018-10-14

As a matter of fact, this explains why the VPNs won't connect and why the Amazon Firesticks won't connect - because they're trying to reach domains that don't have IPv6 support. I checked: Amazon.com and PrivateInternetAccess.com will not pull up on my mobile device when using the extender with only an IPv6 address assigned to my mobile device. The devices all say they're connected to the extender, they all have internet issues. Nonew of them show up on the extender's list of connected devices.

So now the trick is figuring out why the extender is not assigning an IPv4 address to my devices.

Tobraham · ‎2018-10-14

See my latest updates on this matter. Devices are not getting assigned IPv4 addresses by the extender. Those with IPv6-only addresses can only reach IPv6-capable web sites. So we're back to the Netgear now.

StephenB · ‎2018-10-15

@Tobraham wrote:

See my latest updates on this matter. Devices are not getting assigned IPv4 addresses by the extender. Those with IPv6-only addresses can only reach IPv6-capable web sites. So we're back to the Netgear now.

Just to clarify: Devices connected through the extender are not getting assigned IPv4 addresses by the router. The extender isn't assigning addresses.

Can you try configuring a static IPv4 address on one device, and see if that gives you full connectivity?

Also, what firmware are you running?

Tobraham · ‎2018-10-15

Sorry, Stephen, I tend to use 'router' and 'extender' interchangeably by mistake in a hurry. Yes, the router was not assigning an IPv4 address to my device,

I am using the very latest firmware, Firmware Version: V1.0.1.78_1.0.140.
I did have the router set to "Dynamically get IP Address From Router'.

I solved my problem late last night. Here's what was happening:

By having my extender acquire an IP address from the router, the extender was also copying ( or being dynamically provided) the DNS address of Comcast's servers for DNS lookups. This clearly was not working so I focused my attention on DNS issues.

First I switched over to using a static IP address. I copied the dynamically-allocated info from my current connection and pasted them into the staic information fields. I also reserved that IP address on the router so there would be no interference down the road.

Then I looked at the gateway info and it dawned on me that the router is the gateway to outside world and for this to work properly the extender needs to use the router's IP address (192.168.0.1) as the gateway, AND if that's the case, it would make sense that the Primary DNS source for the extender should also be the router and not Comcast. So I changed my Primary DNS on the extender from Comcast's 75.75.75.75 to the local gateway of 192.168.0.1.

Boom. All sites I was originally unable to access before were immediately functioning. I could now use my VPN when connected to the extender (because my VPN company's servers could now be reached). I checked my Firestick and it was now just showing `Connected` and not `Connected with problems`.

So, my hunch was right. DNS was the booger. What a pain in my side.
@StephenB wrote:

@Tobraham wrote:

See my latest updates on this matter. Devices are not getting assigned IPv4 addresses by the extender. Those with IPv6-only addresses can only reach IPv6-capable web sites. So we're back to the Netgear now.

Just to clarify: Devices connected through the extender are not getting assigned IPv4 addresses by the router. The extender isn't assigning addresses.

Can you try configuring a static IPv4 address on one device, and see if that gives you full connectivity?

Also, what firmware are you running?