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 regrettably, it doesn't appear that quality and support has improved ... I'm posting in the hopes that I can be proven wrong.
The AC1900 randomly restarts; the "2.4", "5.0", and "Device Connected" lights will go amber and the Netgear Logo light will begin to flash. A few minutes later, the "2.4", "5.0", and "Device Connected" will return to solid green. The problem is consistent but when it occurs is not.
I have factory reset the unit, confirmed that the latest firmware (EX7000-V1.0.1.78_1.0.140) is installed, and reconfigured the unit as an extender - no luck, the problem persists.
I looked at through the interface in the hopes of finding logging options - luck.
I have created an account and registered the product in the hopes that I could open a Support Ticket but there is no method of creating an online support case. I clicked the "Upload Proof Of Purchase" but all that does is provide information on supported upload formats for the proof of purchase.
Has anyone else experienced similar issues? The AC1900 to a Rogers Hitron Cable Modem.
Many folks have had issues with the 1.0.1.78 firmware, so it'd be useful to rule that out.
You do have 90 day phone support via my.netgear.com - though it's often not easy to reach them. The upload should be giving you a way to actually upload the pdf (or jpeg). If you aren't seeing that with safari, perhaps try downloading FireFox or Chrome, and seeing if it is a browser-specific issue.
Downgraded the F/W to version 1-0-0-66; there are significant differences in the newer F/W ... looking like WiFi Mesh, WiFi Backhaul, and some of the other "Smart" features were not implemented.
I'll keep an eye on the AC1900 for the next few days and see if the random restarts persist.
AC1900 seems stable since the downgrade; no random restarts.
One downside of the downgrade is when using Fusion 11 Virtual Machines when the MacBook has established a connection via the AC1900. The VM's are unable to obtain an IP address as a result of the way virtual MAC are generated - did not experience this problem with the latest F/W. Temporary workaround is to set the VM network adapter to use the same address as the MacBook instead of trying to obtain its own from the Router DHCP.
Additionally, the following features are missing:
- Mesh feature: which includes One WiFi Name, Smart Connect, and Smart Roaming - Ethernet backhaul feature
- WPS clone SSID feature in AP mode - 802.11k neighbor report for 802.11k capable WiFi clients
Hopefully an updated F/W will address issues with the random restarts.
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).
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.
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.
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.
