EX7700 mesh extender - work with 2.4GHz only router

[Gihan]

My main router only has the 2.4GHz band. Will this extender provide 5GHz bands and maintain the FastLane if I configure to use with that?

Thanks,

Gihan 

[plemans · Accepted solution]

You can set it to run off the 2.4ghz for the fastlane. Issue is the 2.4ghz is still the limiting factor. You're not going to see faster 5ghz speeds because of the bottleneck being 2.4ghz. 

You'd be better off to hardwire in the EX7700 and run it in access point mode. 

[plemans · Accepted solution]

You can set it to run off the 2.4ghz for the fastlane. Issue is the 2.4ghz is still the limiting factor. You're not going to see faster 5ghz speeds because of the bottleneck being 2.4ghz. 

You'd be better off to hardwire in the EX7700 and run it in access point mode. 

[plemans]

Or upgrade the router before upgrading the extender. 

[Gihan]

Thanks for the reply plemans. I got this router FoC from my ISP along with a Fiber connection. Unfortunately they don't have 5GHz option. I'll check with the wired option. Thanks again.

[schumaku]

Year 2020 and Fiber ISP with 2.4 GHz only ... somewhat hard to believe.

Either way, if establishing some network cable(s) form the router is feasible, there are much better (and less expensive) solutions available.

If you need just one wireless access point, look into Netgear's Essential Wireless Access Point models WAX204 WiFi 6/802.1ax or the WAC124 802.11ac.

If you intend to deploy multiple wireless access points, head to https://www.netgear.com/business/wifi/access-points and filter for "Mesh" - this will give you options on WAC5xx (802.11ac) and WAX6xx (WiFi 6/802.11ax) - ideally powered by a PoE resp. PoE+ switch (a non-managed can be sufficient), and set-up with Netgear Insight.

[Gihan]

Unfortunately there is a monopoly in here providing fiber connection. So ISP provide cheap routers FoC and there is no option to upgrade even with paying additional amount 😞

[plemans]

If you have the extender, it'd be worth trying it hardwired in. 

If you haven't, you could always get a router to connect to the current router and put it in access point mode. 

Or even just an access point. 

It always sucks when ISP's lock you into things. 

[schumaku]

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@Gihan wrote:

Unfortunately there is a monopoly in here providing fiber connection. So ISP provide cheap routers FoC and there is no option to upgrade even with paying additional amount 😞

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Some more insight (ISP, CPE, ...) would be useful for the community.

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@plemans wrote:

It always sucks when ISP's lock you into things. 

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As long as these Fiber connections are "classic" P2P fibers, for plain IP/Internet, installing a router with a fiber WAN interface is possible (typically where the fiber port is the interchange point), or where a Gigabit Ethernet port is the interchange port (so called ONT) so it's plain IP over fiber, or sometimes "encapsulated" in a VLAN. Customer CPEs have to be cheap - so they try to provide the bare minimum.

When it comes to fiber but it's on a XGS PON network where multiple subscribers are sharing the same fiber link, it's however not possible to connect any router or switch to a XGS PON, because this requires a strictly specified ONT (special hardware and software, with specific encryption by subscriber, ...). There we're f**ed.

[Gihan]

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@schumaku wrote:

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@Gihan wrote:

Unfortunately there is a monopoly in here providing fiber connection. So ISP provide cheap routers FoC and there is no option to upgrade even with paying additional amount 😞

---

Some more insight (ISP, CPE, ...) would be useful for the community.

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ISP : Sri Lanka Telecom (https://www.slt.lk/)

CPE: Huawei EchoLife HG8245H5 GPON Terminal