N300 EX2700 sets up just fine, but at smartphone wifi connection "sign in to connect" fails
I am at a complete loss as to what should be done as I feel like I've cover ALL the bases. But incase I have not, I'm here asking for a fresh set of eyes on my issue.
Hardware:
N300, model: EX2700, WiFi extender
Background:
I changed/updated my ISP router as mine was 7 years old and showing issues. I setup the router and everything works. I then turned my attention to factory resetting the existing ex2700 - which was working just fine - and setting it up again to my new router. This is where everything went to hell.
Issue:
Setup with router was successful, but when any smartphone in the house tries to establish a connection to the WiFi extender, a pop up states "Sign in to Connect". This option is selected and it launches a browser that tries to connect to mywifiext.com and after about 3 seconds, it shows an error: {"reset": "1"}.
Troubleshooting steps taken:
Multiple times, I tried the factory reset using pin at bottom of device (holding down for at least 7 seconds)
Wireless connection: used router WPS to connect to Ex2700 and then sign in - this failed (same result as described above in "Issue")
Physical connection: used network cable to connect to the extender, lauched the netgear new extender setup page and:
1st attempt: used netgear genie smartsetup - failed
2nd attempt: used website's manual setup and tried changing SSID for the EXT to something other than the _EXT appended name + picked a different password (not the same as the router password) - still failed (same thing happening as desribed in "Issue")
3rd attempt: updated to the latest firmware from Netgear website for the EX2700 and installed this using the firmware update link. After, repeated 1st and 2nd attempts (above) again - only to have it fail again.
Interesting facts:
Setup is always 'successful' - meaning: the extender establishes connectivity with the router, setups up the Extender name "router name_EXT" and establishes a successful password (default/same as router and i've also tried setup up my own).
When using the connected method of setup using my laptop connected to the EX2700, the browser screen in Netgear geneie confirms the successful setup of the EX2700 by giving me the new name and the EXT password.
When I scan for the newly establshed EXT wifi, I am able to see it from my smartphone (or any smartphone), but that's where the problem start....we select it, enter the correct password and then get redirected to that mywifiext.com page where we get the {"reset": "1"} error show up.
