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EX7300 dropping internet connectivity after client devices have slept, rebooted or powered off
Hi there,
Firstly I wish to say that last week I set up a model 6100v2 extender in the exact same network that is the subject of this issue. The 6100v2 was used with precisely the same Fritz 7490 router and precisely the same wifi clients - a laptop (using an AC6210 Netgear wifi USB), an LG Smart TV and a Netgem N7800 pay TV box. That setup worked flawlessly and I had zero installation or operational issues with it. Infact the only reason for my wanting to upgrade to the EX7300 from the excellent EX6100v2 was because I wanted the additional 5 GHz radio range (for another part of the house the EX6100v2 coudn't quite manage, though it worked perfectly fine with those three aforementioned clients with great speed and signal to noise ratios). Plus I was intending to give the 6100v2 to another family member with a very similar setup to mine. I only add all of above so that you can see that I have setup a Netgear extender on exactly the same setup previously and had zero issues. And yes, just in case there was some issue with having previosuly used a different model extender, I did do a factory reset of everything after removing the old 6100v2.
Anyway, to my rather big problem. I set the EX7300 up OK and all the clients subsequently found it easily and I could access the internet easily with each of them. Speeds and signal to noise ratios were absolustely fantastic will all of them. But the problem starts as soon as two of those three clients - the Netgem N7800 and the LG Smart TV - are put into sleep mode for the day (though same thing happens if I happen reboot them or outright power them off, etc). And that problem is that once they are re-started / re-awoken again, they "see" the EX7300 extender OK but there is no longer any actual internet connection. So for example, the Smart TV shows that it is connected and talking to the EX7300 but it cannot actually connect to the internet at all. And the Netgem box says that it is connected to the EX7300 (even shows the speed and quality of the connection), but on the diagnostic line that covers the internet connection, it says "disconnected".
But the laptop with the AC6210 wifi adapter is fine - I can put it into sleep mode or power it completely off and when I turn it back on, the internet connection via the EX7300 is found immediately and there are never any problems at all.
Now I am probably only a rung or two up the ladder from a complete layman when it comes to networking, but so far I have tried (I am 20 hours into this troubleshooting), a large array of different channels, throttling the speed of the EX7300, reducing the tramsitter power(!), allocating static versus dynamic IP address for all device connected to the router plus a large number of factory resets for router, extender, Smart TV and Netgem box.
But I haven't gotten anywhere - everything works perfectly till that very first time comes to put one of the devices into sleep mode (or power them off). After that, my only option to get internet connectivity with them is to factory reset the Ex7300 extender and start the configuration all over again. I've also tried different extender configurations - 2.4 Ghz only, 5 GHz only plus fastlane (both 2.4 > 5 and 5 > 2.4 configurations). I did upgrade to the latest firmware as soon as the device asked me to (1.044) and this occurred very early on in the initial setup out of the box (so I do not know what happens with older firmware).
So I am very frustrated and it is a bit annoying that the only device playing nice with the EX7300 is a netgear branded wifi USB adapter! And just before retiring for the night, I removed the EX7300 and put the EX6100v2 back in - and of course everything worked perfectly once again - 100% rock solid when all the clients are slept or power cycled.
My layman brain has been focussing on this IP address business but as I say my understanding is pretty rudimentary and I think I have exhausted most of the possibilities via the Netgear Genie interfaces in any case.
So in summary:
1. On the exact same network, an EX6100v2 works perfectly but an EX7300 does not - regardless of whether it is setup identically or not.
2. The EX7300 does work perfectly with a laptop using a Netgear AC6200 WiFi adapter.
but...
3. But an LG Smart TV and Netgem Pay TV box lose their internet connectivity "permanently" upon being put into sleep mode or power cycled unless I factory reset the EX7300 and start the configuration setup all over again.
If anyone has any ideas I am obviously open to them. Unfortunately here in Australia if we buy a computer product that seems to work fine in some circumstances but won't in others, this is deemed an incompatability and I cannot return or exchange it. Pretty much in this country unless something outright blows up we are stuck with it. Otherwise I would have just returned the EX7300 and stuck with the EX6100v2 since the latter is solid and flawless. So unfortunately returns and exchanges are not an option. In any event, when the EX730 works it is brilliant - to get such fantastic signal quality throughout the house would be wonderful so I am still keen to try and get this thing to work properly.
Re: EX7300 dropping internet connectivity after client devices have slept, rebooted or powered off
Hi,
Thanks for the reply. I had contacted Netgear support but they were unable to help. That said, I did come up with a "solution" last week but wanted to let the repeater go for 5 days or so to make sure the "solution" worked (it does).
So this solution / workaround is to manually set up all IP address, DNS, gateway info into the client devices as well as setting their IP addresses as static in the router. This shouldn't have been necessary as it wasn't required for the EX6100v2 model and does make the EX7300 quite fiddly to setup. It also means that anyone visiting who wants to use the wifi runs into the same problem if they have an "affected" device - not much good to be honest.
This might be fine in my own home. I am a hermit where the network is fully locked down, I'm the only person who lives here and no one ever visits, but it would be potential problem for a lot of people and not really something that should be required for a basic domestic home wifi setup.
This is a pity since the EX7300 itself - when it is set up properly - is absolutely awesome - incredible range, incredible signal to noise ratios - just superlative in every way. Just a real pain to set up and very restrictive for many people since it isn't really plug and play like the EX6100v2 is. You need to get the networking hands a bit dirty.
I have mentioned all of this to Netgear support and hopefully they may release a firmware in the future to make it work just like the EX6100v2 does. I obviously have no idea what types of devices are effected by this, but from my own experience it is a 32 inch LG Smart TV model 32LB6500 and Netgem model N7700 and N7800 series pay TV boxes. My latop with a Netgear AC6210 USB adapter was fine - no problems with that one!! Luckily of course all my effected devices have advanced networking screens where I can over-ride the automatic settings.
Re: EX7300 dropping internet connectivity after client devices have slept, rebooted or powered off
Hi,
Thanks for the reply. I had contacted Netgear support but they were unable to help. That said, I did come up with a "solution" last week but wanted to let the repeater go for 5 days or so to make sure the "solution" worked (it does).
So this solution / workaround is to manually set up all IP address, DNS, gateway info into the client devices as well as setting their IP addresses as static in the router. This shouldn't have been necessary as it wasn't required for the EX6100v2 model and does make the EX7300 quite fiddly to setup. It also means that anyone visiting who wants to use the wifi runs into the same problem if they have an "affected" device - not much good to be honest.
This might be fine in my own home. I am a hermit where the network is fully locked down, I'm the only person who lives here and no one ever visits, but it would be potential problem for a lot of people and not really something that should be required for a basic domestic home wifi setup.
This is a pity since the EX7300 itself - when it is set up properly - is absolutely awesome - incredible range, incredible signal to noise ratios - just superlative in every way. Just a real pain to set up and very restrictive for many people since it isn't really plug and play like the EX6100v2 is. You need to get the networking hands a bit dirty.
I have mentioned all of this to Netgear support and hopefully they may release a firmware in the future to make it work just like the EX6100v2 does. I obviously have no idea what types of devices are effected by this, but from my own experience it is a 32 inch LG Smart TV model 32LB6500 and Netgem model N7700 and N7800 series pay TV boxes. My latop with a Netgear AC6210 USB adapter was fine - no problems with that one!! Luckily of course all my effected devices have advanced networking screens where I can over-ride the automatic settings.
