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hbafna's avatar
hbafna
Aspirant
Dec 12, 2020

EX8000 + R8000 setup questions

I have a Nighthawk R8000 AC3200 tri-band router. I just got the EX8000 tri band extender. I want to set these up for optimal wifi performance. My router has the following three networks

1. 2GHZ - NW1

2. 5GHZ lower channel - NW2

3. 5GHZ upper channel - NW3

 

I was hoping to setup such that the extender is extending NW1 and NW2 and using NW3 for front and backhaul. Will this give me the best performance?

 

If so how do I set it up this way, as I did not see any option to set the upper channel n/w for front and back haul

5 Replies

  • plemans's avatar
    plemans
    Guru - Experienced User

    The EX8000 uses 1x 5ghz band for backhaul. It can't be used for both fronthaul AND backhaul. 

    the only way to use all 3 bands as fronthaul is if its hardwired in and running in access point mode. 

     

    It also has the option of fall back 2.4ghz backhaul. I usually disable this during setup. 

    Easiest way to accomplish what you're trying to do it is using the setup assistant, it asks you which 2.4ghz and 5ghz ssid to connect to. I usually uncheck the 2.4ghz. and then when setting up the 5ghz, you just selct the one you want. 

    I attached an image of what it looks like for my EX8000

    • hbafna's avatar
      hbafna
      Aspirant

      Thank you. But by not selecting the 2.4ghz, it wont also extend it. When I think more about it, I really want the extender to use a dedicated n/w for backhaul. I want this to be the upper channel 5ghz n/w. On looking more into this as well as connecting with support, there is an option to do this via fastlane configuration. However this option just does not show up for me in the Web UI for configuring the extender. Here is the support page link

       

      https://mywifiextxt.net/netgear-ex8000-setup/

       


      plemans wrote:

      The EX8000 uses 1x 5ghz band for backhaul. It can't be used for both fronthaul AND backhaul. 

      the only way to use all 3 bands as fronthaul is if its hardwired in and running in access point mode. 

       

      It also has the option of fall back 2.4ghz backhaul. I usually disable this during setup. 

      Easiest way to accomplish what you're trying to do it is using the setup assistant, it asks you which 2.4ghz and 5ghz ssid to connect to. I usually uncheck the 2.4ghz. and then when setting up the 5ghz, you just selct the one you want. 

      I attached an image of what it looks like for my EX8000


       

      • plemans's avatar
        plemans
        Guru - Experienced User

        hbafna wrote:

        Thank you. But by not selecting the 2.4ghz, it wont also extend it. When I think more about it, I really want the extender to use a dedicated n/w for backhaul. I want this to be the upper channel 5ghz n/w. On looking more into this as well as connecting with support, there is an option to do this via fastlane configuration. However this option just does not show up for me in the Web UI for configuring the extender. Here is the support page link

         

         


         


        By not selecting the 2.4ghz, it doesn't "not extend it". It just forces the use of the dedicated 5ghz backhaul. I have it setup this way and use the 5ghz and 2.4ghz fine.