Forum Discussion

Tutor

Nov 13, 2018

Random Restarts

Hi Folks, Went against my better judgement and purchased a Netgear AC1900 WiFi Range Extender. It had been well over two decades since I've considered purchasing a Netgear products and regrett...

Nighthawk Mesh

Troubleshooting

StephenB

Guru - Experienced User

Nov 15, 2018

Thx for your followup. I am wondering if you saw 802.11k neighbor reports in AP mode when you were runnign the current firmware. Some here have asked about that, and I haven't seen a clear response (either from Netgear or from a community member).

hgagne wrote:

Additionally, the following features are missing:
- Ethernet backhaul feature

Ethernet backhaul is the same as AP mode, so I am not sure what you are meaning on this point.

hgagne

Tutor

Nov 15, 2018

I don't recall seeing the neighbor reports in the quick test I did in AP mode ... was intending to use the AC1900 as a WiFi Extender and switched to AP when troubleshooting the restarts. Certainly didn't see any 802.11k related features in WiFi Extender mode.

Since I'm only using one AC1900 to the Rogers Hitron Modem, the backhaul isn't much value to me. For those who use multiple AC1900's, the backhaul would allow for multi-hopping throughout the Mesh (amongst AC1900's). With F/W x.66, the configuration features appear to be missing. Again, I did a quick AP test and wasn't looking very deeply at the configuration features.

Cheers,

StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Nov 16, 2018
hgagne wrote:

Since I'm only using one AC1900 to the Rogers Hitron Modem, the backhaul isn't much value to me.

There are other performance benefits to the AP mode. Overall throughput is higher, and wouldn't be limited by the router WiFi speeds. And you can place the extender farther from the main router, since you don't need a wifi connection between the AP and the router.

I'm mentioning this for the benefit of other readers.
hgagne
Tutor
Nov 16, 2018
Agreed; AP Mode is preferable.

For the benefit of others as well; WiFi Extender Mode is useful in cases where physical cabling is not possible such as in a rental unit and/or running cable to the AP location is too difficult/practical.