My smartphone, Samsung Galaxy S10 is not switching networks as I walk through my house between the base router network and the EX7500 extended network. I have to reboot the phone, turn its wifi off and on, or do something similar to get it the switch networks.

How big is your home? What router do you have? How far apart is the extender from the router? What router is it?

House is about 2700 square feet.Router is a Calix Gigacenter wifi router.Router and extender are at opposite ends of the house on the first floor. Depending on where you are standing, there is about a 25 to 35 dB difference in power levels between the ends. At each end, the power level is about -45 to -55 dB.Extender is an Ex7500.

The EX7500 is a solid extender. but something to keep in mind with extenders and roaming. They shouldn't be at opposite ends. They should be in the middle of where you want coverage. so like this:Router------>extender------->devicesand notrouter-------------------------------->extender/devices otherwise the extender isn't getting that great a signal as well as why would the smart devices connect to it if their connection back to the primary would give them the same speed?https://kb.netgear.com/25508/Where-should-I-place-my-NETGEAR-Wi-Fi-range-extender

I will try and upload the floor plan of my home later today, but perhaps I am not being clear.At the location of the extender, all lights are solid blue. Sometimes the router light will switch briefly between blue and orange on the 5G side, but signal strength and speed is still adequate for the devices in that room.When standing in the room with the router, the router signal is approximately -49dBm and the extender signal is approximately -75dBm. Conversely, when standing in the room with the extender, the numbers are reversed. The extender signal is approximately -49dBm and the router signal is approximately -75dBm. I stress that these numbers are approximate. They can vary by a few dB either way. The point is, no matter which room or general area I stand in my devices have a strong signal and high speed.The problem is, when moving from the area covered best by the router to the area covered best by the extender (or vice versa), I have to manually reconnect to the router or extender. The phone is not automatically switching between signals as the documentation implies it should. The phone is a Samsung Galaxy S10 Smartphone.As far as I can tell, I have all settings on the router, extender, phones, and other devices set for optimum performance, but I still have to manually select what signal my phone is connected to as I roam about the house between coverage areas or I can lose signal entirely.Hope that clarifies things.

Here is the WIFI layout in my home showing current locations of the WIFI Router, WIFI Extender, and all devices (except phones of course). I have also marked a possible location for the WIFI Extender, though I am not sure how that location would affect my phone cennections when walking through the house.

Smart phone not switching between EX7500 and router

12 Replies

plemans
Guru - Experienced User
Jun 23, 2021
How big is your home?
What router do you have?
How far apart is the extender from the router?
What router is it?
- bluesky636
  Aspirant
  Jun 24, 2021
  House is about 2700 square feet.
  
  Router is a Calix Gigacenter wifi router.
  
  Router and extender are at opposite ends of the house on the first floor. Depending on where you are standing, there is about a 25 to 35 dB difference in power levels between the ends. At each end, the power level is about -45 to -55 dB.
  
  Extender is an Ex7500.
  - plemans
    Guru - Experienced User
    Jun 24, 2021
    The EX7500 is a solid extender.
    but something to keep in mind with extenders and roaming.
    They shouldn't be at opposite ends. They should be in the middle of where you want coverage.
    so like this:
    Router------>extender------->devices
    and not
    router-------------------------------->extender/devices
    
    otherwise the extender isn't getting that great a signal as well as why would the smart devices connect to it if their connection back to the primary would give them the same speed?
    https://kb.netgear.com/25508/Where-should-I-place-my-NETGEAR-Wi-Fi-range-extender

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Smart phone not switching between EX7500 and router