How do I create dedicated backhaul between X6S EX8000 Wireless Extender and Asus triband router?
I am trying to connect my EX8000 wireless extender to my main router, an Asus triband GT-AX11000. The default SSIDs for the two 5 MHz bands on the router are xxxxx-5G for low band, xxxxx-5G-2 for hi band. They have the same password.
During setup, the GUI askes for which bands I want to extend (2.4 and -5G). There is no way to request the 5G-2 band for backhaul connection, and since it has a different SSID, the extender doesn't see it and connects to the low band.
If I make the SSIDs the same for both 5 MHz bands, then the extender does connect to the hi band, but my Apple devices find the hi band and connect to it as well (even after I hide SSID and have all the Apple devices "forget network"), so the backhaul is not dedicated.
What is the correct way to solve this?
Model: EX8000|AC3000 Nighthawk X6S Tri Band WiFi Mesh Extender
Re: How do I create dedicated backhaul between X6S EX8000 Wireless Extender and Asus triband router?
Not 100% on this but the Ex8000 has the 2x 5ghz bands. It prefers to use the wider (1733mbps) for the backhaul versus the other 5ghz channel that is only 866mbps. Reason why is its pointless to have a wide fronthaul if its constricted by the backhaul.
I don't remember off the top of my head which 5ghz is the 1733mbps backhaul that it prefers and I'm not home to hook mine back up.
Does it matter in speed which 5ghz you connect to? If its an issue of which devices you prefer on each band, you could just swap the ssid's around so they auto-swap.
Is it connecting with the wider 5ghz backhaul since I don't remember which one it is?
Re: How do I create dedicated backhaul between X6S EX8000 Wireless Extender and Asus triband router?
That’s the problem. The EX8000 is Tri band, and is supposed to connect to the high band for faster backhaul as you say. But there seems to be no way to tell it the SSID of the backhaul band. If I make it the same SSID as the low band it will connect to high band, but so do my other devices. If different SSID, the extender doesn’t see it.
Re: How do I create dedicated backhaul between X6S EX8000 Wireless Extender and Asus triband router?
It asks for the SSIDs of the bands to extend (but not of the high band for backhaul). I can disable low band but then it will connect to a high channel on my more remote access point, which is a dual band router with many other devices sharing it. If I disable the low band on the router and turn off the access point radio, it will only connect to hi band if has same SSID as the band I am telling it to extend. It seems to need to know the SSID and PW for the backhaul band (makes sense) but there is no way to input that info. If I trick it into connecting to hi band and then go back and change SSID it reconfigures to connect to my access point (which is definitely not stronger. It would need to know the info for the backhaul band in order to connect to it, wouldn’t it? Firmware is latest.
Re: How do I create dedicated backhaul between X6S EX8000 Wireless Extender and Asus triband router?
I tried configuring my router and access point (also an ASUS router as AIMesh, which gives everything the same SSID, but lamely, ASUS mesh reserves the hi band for ITS backhaul even though my access point is wired and doesn’t need it- so its not available for the extender
Re: How do I create dedicated backhaul between X6S EX8000 Wireless Extender and Asus triband router?
Main router is triband Asus GT-AX11000. I also have Asus RT-AC68U in access point mode with wired backbone - it is dual band. Trying to get the Netgear EX8000 to use the GT-AX11000 high band as dedicated backhaul. Please read previous posts this thread for more detail.
When I go into Asus AIMesh mode between the two Asus routers, it dedicates the GT-AX11000 high band to mesh backhaul, despite the fact that I have wired backhaul and don't need it. Asus threads indicate that this is know issue.
Currently, I am not in Mesh mode. Extender is connected to my dual band access point 5MHz ch 161 at 867 MBps. There are quite a few devices on the access point 5 MHz band, so not a dedicated backhaul, and slower than if it were connected to the main router hi band. Works, but not ideal. Again, see previous posts for what happens when I try to get it to connect to main router hi.
EX8000 firmware isV1.0.1.206. All firmware is latest. Thanks!
I had to update FW from v52 to v64 on the EX7500 to get it to connect finally. IT would not connect using v52.
Asus was factory reset and using default settings from setup wizard with Smart Connect enabled. AX mode was disabled. I went back and re-enabled AX mode on the Asus router and I lost connection to the EX for about 2 minutes. I saw the 5Ghz radio signal on the EX had been lost on its web page while the 2.4Ghz was connected still. I waited and finally got connected with the EX's web page and found the 5Ghz radio was reconncted:
It seems to be working. The front panel 2.4 and 5Ghz LEDS are off. Once I connected my iphone to near the EX, the 5Ghz LED lit up. Once I disconnected the iphone, the LED turned back off.
Same configuration with Asus router. I disabled AX mode first. The EX connected. Then re-enabled AX mode and the EX kept the connection. iPhone connected. Saw front panel LED turn on. Front panel LED turned back off after I disconnected the iPhone.
Re: How do I create dedicated backhaul between X6S EX8000 Wireless Extender and Asus triband router?
Thank you for your detailed info!
Interesting - on my Status page, it shows the channels that the Extender is using to connect to the router - in my case channel 161, a high band channel, but on my wired Access Point (I can tell by the channel numbers reported on the routers' interfaces), not the GT-AX11000.
Since the "connection to existing network" is supposed to be dedicated and exclusive, I am wondering if your backhaul is low band- 867 MBps is the upper limit for low band, while for high band it can be 1700-something. Since your high band channels are available under extender wi-fi. The backhaul is supposed to be exclusive.
I also have Smart Connect enabled, so all the SSIDs are the same now. I have AX on, but tried it before with AX off and didn't make a difference.
I guess 7500 and 8000 firmware versions are different. Netgear website lists current firmware as 1.0.1.202, but my EX8000 upgraded itself to 206 a while back. It now says its the latest when I check through the device.
Re: How do I create dedicated backhaul between X6S EX8000 Wireless Extender and Asus triband router?
Come to think of it - thinking out loud -
Triband device divides high and low 5 MHz channels into two separate networks with separate throughput and bandwidth.
A dual access device has all of the 5 MHz channels under one network - but its the same range of channels.
So if the triband router's hi band is dedicated as backhaul for an extender connection (what I'm trying to acheive) - but my wired access point (third device) is dual band and will offer ALL the 5MHz channels, including the router's "dedicated" channel - can the backhaul ever actually be dedicated?
In other words, if the EX8000 backhaul to the router is on hi band ch 157, and other devices connect to my wired access poinr on the same channel (can anything prevent that?) , is the backhaul still dedicated? I guess it is on a different radio..
Re: How do I create dedicated backhaul between X6S EX8000 Wireless Extender and Asus triband router?
Maybe semi solved. I have smart connect enabled all GT-AX11000 bands with same SSID.
Changed the 5MHz channel on my wired access point (RT-AC68U) from "Auto" to "36" - a low band channel. That device had been sitting at 161.
Suspected that the EX8000 know to look for an upper band channel for backhaul, but when they saw TWO upper band channels, it might just take the upper one, which was the wrong device, a dual band device that could not form a dedicated backhaul.
This seems to have worked! - the EX8000 connects to the GT-AX11000 5MHz-2 channel and seems stable there as long as I have the competing deviced locked in lower band. BUT, friggin Apple devices - only - iphones, iPads, Apple TVs... are also managing to connect to the GT-AX11000 5MHz-2 band.
I know Apple devices share wifi credentials, and as I recall that can't be turned off. Since the SSIDs and PWs are the same for all bands, doing "forget this network" doesn't stick. Do I have to block MAC addresses on 5MHz-2 for every Apple device we own (quite a few 😞 lol)
I can live with this of course, but trying to get it perfect, just because.
Model: EX8000|AC3000 Nighthawk X6S Tri Band WiFi Mesh Extender
Re: How do I create dedicated backhaul between X6S EX8000 Wireless Extender and Asus triband router?
Yes, Orbi does this. It take the low channels of 5Ghz 36-48 and puts this on 1 wifi radio. The higher channels, 149-165 are reserved for it's wireless backhaul between the base router is it's extenders. This is only for wireles backhaul and is not user configuratable or usable by user devices. It's only used between the base router and the extenders. I don't know for sure if the same limitation applies to non mesh routers that have the ability to let the user configure the 3rd radio for dedicated wireless backhaul. I presume it may not as I did notice to day that I could connect to either of the 5Ghz radios with either of the extenders.
I would bring this up with ASUS to see how to configure the ASUS for MESH and if there is a deticated wireless backhaul. I believe there maybe however I haven't tried this. I presume that since ASUS has there AI MESH system, this would be something similar to NGs Orib MESH system.
Re: How do I create dedicated backhaul between X6S EX8000 Wireless Extender and Asus triband router?
Yes, it makes sense that Asus AiMesh would operate that way - but if that is the case, it should provide a way for 3rd party devices that want to use the backhaul the same way to use it. The Netgear EX8000 extender does not show up as a potential Asus Mesh node if I search for nodes. I guess Asus AI Mesh is Asus only. I've pretty much given up on that.
But using my setup without Mesh - just Asus router, Asus wired access point, and Netgear EX8000 extender - should work, and is working. I'm just trying to figure out how to make the extender's backhaul band dedicated, with no other devices on it.
Re: How do I create dedicated backhaul between X6S EX8000 Wireless Extender and Asus triband router?
Probably something that may not be compatible. Something to ask ASUS about to see if it maybe possible with there HW. OF course, some mfrs only allow compatibiity with in there own domain so something to keep in mind.
