EX7300 Mesh with OneName and FastLane hidden network for backhaul
Looking to see if my specific setup is going to be technically supported. I have an R8000 router on the second floor and an EX7300 for the first floor I've been using in standard extender mode using FastLane to connect the 5GHz channel to the router. I'd like to add an EX7500 to the first floor and move the EX7300 to the basement and switch it to mesh. I was thinking I would disable Smart Connect on the router and use the 2nd 5GHz channel as a hidden network for the backhaul. I wanted to see if mesh would be able to support OneName and FastLane using this method.
Re: EX7300 Mesh with OneName and FastLane hidden network for backhaul
I was trying to get an idea if OneName worked in conjunction with FastLane being enabled and trying to manually configure the backhaul using a hidden WiFi network. I went ahead and reset the configuration on the EX7300 and when FastLane was enabled OneName was not an available option. I had set up OneName using the setup wizard first and then kept the same network settings after enabling FastLane where the EX7300 is manually configured to join the 5GHz hidden network for the backhaul and the 2GHz SSID and channel are the same as on the router. It seems to be functional but was not sure if OneName was supported in conjunction with FastLane. If I have to manually configure the network to be similar to OneName do I choose the same SSID and channel as the router or same SSID and different channel?
If I have to manually configure the network to be similar to OneName do I choose the same SSID and channel as the router or same SSID and different channel?
I don't know the answer for OneName, but Orbi uses the same channels in all the satellites.
Re: EX7300 Mesh with OneName and FastLane hidden network for backhaul
After some experimentation I have found some things out.
EX7300 only has FastLane which disables One WiFi Name and thus mesh features. This means the EX7300 can only mesh under basic mode to enable One WiFi Name or run under FastLane and operate as a standard extender.
If you disable this feature, you can set a new SSID and password for the extender’s 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks in the Network Name (SSID) and WiFi Password fields on this page. Mesh functionality will be disabled.
The product would need to support tri-band FastLane3 to enable mesh to utilize a separate band for the backhaul.
Dedicated WiFi Link. Provides a stable connection between your router and extender.
This also means it's useless to disable router 5GHz Smart Connect to create a hidden dedicated 5 GHz network for the backhaul as I would be stuck broadcasting my hidden SSID under One WiFi Name or reverting to standard extender mode with FastLane.
Running the EX7300 as a standard extender and manually duplicating the SSID and channel of the router seems to be sort of supported, but clients will not be roaming necessarily.
I would have to see if the EX7500 or EX8000 allows to manually connect to a hidden network for the FastLane3 backhaul and enable One WiFi Name at the same time for the standard networks or if it disables One WiFi Name when you do that same as the EX7300. If it doesn't mesh like that then it sounds like I would need to replace everything with Orbi units to get all the features I want.
Re: EX7300 Mesh with OneName and FastLane hidden network for backhaul
Why do you want to hide the backhaul?
Also, using fastlane means you give up 5 Ghz on the EX7300's client-facing network. That of course creates a bottleneck, and you might find you get better performance without it.
If you disable this feature, you can set a new SSID and password for the extender’s 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks in the Network Name (SSID) and WiFi Password fields on this page. Mesh functionality will be disabled.
Seems to me that they should have some advanced controls on mesh. Or at least explain why Mesh can't be enabled with FastLane on this extender.
Re: EX7300 Mesh with OneName and FastLane hidden network for backhaul
Assuming a tri-band extender (or both bands enabled otherwise), I was thinking that clients would roam between the router 5 GHz-1 and the extenders client-facing 5 GHz while creating a dedicated (non client) bandwidth channel for the backhaul between the extenders and the router 5 GHz-2. It was more from a standpoint of creating that dedicated bandwidth on the router side than purely hiding the backhaul. Giving up the 5 GHz is actually fine because the main problem is a client in the basement that only has a 2 GHz wireless card and had issues with signal strength to the router upstairs and I happened to already have the EX7300 around. There are still dead spots in the basement and since mesh has matured I was thinking of adding another extender to increase signal strength and trying to figure out options for connecting them up. I'm probably over engineering the solution and just need to let the router Smart Connect and extender One WiFi Name do it's thing.
Mesh came later for the EX7300 as a feature addition. Even for the EX7500 and EX8000 it may just be a feature addition for adding onto standard routers where they do not include advanced controls for mesh like you would have on dedicated systems like Orbi.
Re: EX7300 Mesh with OneName and FastLane hidden network for backhaul
Yeah unfortunately. I would rather have the roaming and mesh features so I will use 5 GHz Smart Connect on the router and extender in basic mode (no FastLane) so I can enable One WiFi Name.
