Wndr3300 as range extender not working anymore

Question

I have a r6700 in one area I’d my house and a wndr3300 in another area. I followed the following instructions below using a Ethernet cable to connect the r6700 and wndr3300 and have the wndr3300 wifi set to the same SSID so devices don’t have to swap and moving around the house is seamless.

https://community.netgear.com/t5/General-WiFi-Routers-Non/Setting-up-a-repeater/td-p/1078576

The range extension was tested with a Wi-Fi range meter and shown to have made an improvement.

The past few weeks the range has reverted back with areas that once had good signal strength have none. I’m talking being own room across from the wndr3300 and having 0 strength on 2.4 or 5 ghz bands.

Is there anything I could try or check as I can’t seem to get any resolution to this.

plemans · Answer

The WNDR3300 is a pretty old (2007) router. It was pretty solid in its time but its 14 years old.&nbsp;
I'm frankly impressed its still working.&nbsp;
What I'd try doing is seperate out the ssid's on it. Some devices are "sticky" in that they won't roam unless you've router supports the roaming protocols. Which the WNDR3300 doesn't.&nbsp;
See how the strength is when you can actively choose to switch between the WNDR and the R6700.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
MIght be time to check into upgrading.&nbsp;

plemans · Answer

It can "handle" more devices than they list. Its more about what they recommend for an "up to..." to prevent slower speeds/performance.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
If it was me and I was needing a router and an access point for coverage, I'd be looking at renewed/refurbished mesh systems like the RBK43. It can usually be found for pretty reasonable renewed and would be a full mesh system with the roaming protocols. plus it supports both wired and wireless backhauls.&nbsp;

occicat · Answer

I picked up another r6700 for cheap last night to use for now in the meantime the wndr3300 seems to have something wrong with the wifi portion after changing the SSID's and noticing poor connectivity, wired is fine however if you plug a device into the back of the wndr3300. 14 years is certainly a long time and it's done wonderfully. I really hate to put my Netgear gear out to pasture like that but it's probably time.I'm going to take a look at the&nbsp;RBK43, I haven't been paying attention the the network/router game in a while so I have to familiarize myself with the new tech in the RBK43.

occicat · Answer

That's the goal temporarily. I've got a r6700 currently that was the replacement for the old wndr3300 and that was relegated to being an access point that has a ethernet cable run from the r6700 to it.&nbsp;So now I'm going to replace the wndr3300 with another r6700 and plug that into the base r6700 via ethernet cable and hopefully see how that works for the time being.&nbsp;&nbsp;And then read up on the newer tech that's out there from Netgear for a future upgrade cause I have a feeling it's going to be around the corner.&nbsp;

occicat · Answer

Time flies I suppose, I did not know that it has been that long.

I’ll try changing the SSID and see if that helps.

Would it be advantageous to get a second r6700 to use as a repeater and replace the wndr3300?

Also, I just saw I’m 23 devices out of 25 on the r6700. I saw the r7000 which can handle 35 devices. Not sure if I should go for the r7000 and demote my r6700 as a repeater or am I misunderstanding how attached devices are handled?

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Wndr3300 as range extender not working anymore

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