Trouble stayting connected to 2.4 customized band.

[Lboomer]

Recently purchased a Generac standby generator that comes with Mobile Link to monitor generator status.

I have the Nighthawk MR80 base station with two satellites. Base is in the house and the last sat is in the garage about ten feet from the generator.

Generator uses the 2.4 band for communication. Set this up no problem and it ran for two weeks just fine. Since then it has had several interuptions. Have spent many hours on phone with their tech support. They claim I needed dedicated 2.4 band for the generator and maybe it doesn't like mesh network systems but they weren't 100% sure about that. 

Went into my settings and created customized 2.4 band just has the gen on it. Very easy. 

Since then I can connect the gen to the custom band and it will run fine seemingly but I keep gettting notifed by their app that the gen is disconnected from the WIFI. If I check the generator it shows connected with 70% wifi strength. 

They are telling me its a problem with the mesh system and a 2.4 range extender would work better. I'm not sure a range extender from the base station which is 100 feet away would really work.

Any ideas what I may be doing wrong?

Suggestions?

[FURRYe38]

What is the distance between this one device and the MR or nearest MS satellite? 

Possible there app could be saying the devices is off line incorrectly while it's online or the device could be ping ponging around and not staying locked on to one wifi signal source, i.e. MR or MS. Placement of the MR and MS and distances between them is important. 

Do you have any MS deployed and if so, how many and what is the distance between the MS, each other and in between the MS and MR...

[Lboomer]

The distance between the MR and the first MS is about 45 feet. From that MS to the next one is about 100 feet. The generator is about 10 feet from the last MS. Have a solid four bars at the generator nearest the MS.

Fast.com speed test is about 60 MBps on the custom 2.4 band.

Only the one MR and two MS units.

I have a tv in the garage is why one unit is so far away and that MS supplies signal to the Tv and the firestick. They work fine.

Their tech dept just emailed me and tell me that the gen does not work with mesh units like EERO. 

What is strange is that for two weeks while I was gone this system was running fine. That was before I customized the 2.4 band just for its use.

Currently the gen says it has 70% WIFI signal which tech support says it can run on as little as 18-20%. Their app says thier is no WIFI.

[FURRYe38]

100 feet maybe a bit of a stretch between 1st and 2nd MS. Possible this distance could be a factor. 

Is the device working ok and it's app just not liking the MESH system? 

Unless the device is doing some heavy traffic, 60Mpbs should good enough for this device. 

There app maybe limited or more restrictive in how it's detecting it's device thru the MESH system.

[Lboomer]

Suddenly this afternoon it was working when I got home.

After that I moved the MS closer to base so its only 60 feet now. Generator still shows 70% signal which they say is fantastic.

Now they trying to tell me they think it was in the middle of a firmware update is why it dropped out. After I bought a range extender they insisted would be better thant he mesh signal.

Is the Netgear AC1200 range extender better than trying satellite to the garage? How would I just get that to run off the MS?

Isn't a range extender basically the same thing as the MS?

[michaelkenward]

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@Lboomer wrote:

Now they trying to tell me they think it was in the middle of a firmware update is why it dropped out. After I bought a range extender they insisted would be better thant he mesh signal.

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Who are "they"?

Firmware updates involve a reboot. A satellite on the edge of its range might well lose the connection. Don't spend more money until you have confirmed that you need to.

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Is the Netgear AC1200 range extender better than trying satellite to the garage?

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Which one?

AC1200 is not a reliable guide to model number. Many devices come with an AC tag, but it is essentially a label that Netgear, and other brands, attach to hardware to describe wifi speeds.

Several extenders support Mesh WiFi 6.

[FURRYe38]

Any progress on this? 

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@Lboomer wrote:

The distance between the MR and the first MS is about 45 feet. From that MS to the next one is about 100 feet. The generator is about 10 feet from the last MS. Have a solid four bars at the generator nearest the MS.

Fast.com speed test is about 60 MBps on the custom 2.4 band.

Only the one MR and two MS units.

I have a tv in the garage is why one unit is so far away and that MS supplies signal to the Tv and the firestick. They work fine.

Their tech dept just emailed me and tell me that the gen does not work with mesh units like EERO. 

What is strange is that for two weeks while I was gone this system was running fine. That was before I customized the 2.4 band just for its use.

Currently the gen says it has 70% WIFI signal which tech support says it can run on as little as 18-20%. Their app says thier is no WIFI.

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[Lboomer]

Relocated the second MS back to original location before I started having troubles. Approx 70 feet from the first MS and 40 feet from the generator.

Worked with their tech support again Sunday to make a connection and they decided their WIFI module might be at fault and should be replaced under warranty. They also were not sure if a firmware update for the gen was causing the interruption. They have many theories and little solutions.

After we spent an hour on this Sunday I think they were just fed up talking to me. On my own I was able to go through the steps and re-establish a connection and it has not gone down since Sunday afternoon.

I'm not sure what to think but the dealer is replaceing the board in November sometime.

[FURRYe38]

Thanks for the update. 

[Lboomer]

Thank you for everyones help so far. Still working as of today.

[FURRYe38]

Glad you got it working. Please mark your thread as solved so others will know. Be sure to save off a back up configuration to file for safe keeping. Saves time if a reset is needed.
https://kb.netgear.com/24231/How-do-I-back-up-the-router-configuration-settings-on-my-Nighthawk-rout...
Enjoy. 📡

[Lboomer]

Well I would love nothing better than to mark this problem as resolved but it just went down again about an hour ago.

Ran great last two days and then boom its says no WIFI on the app - generator says it has 52%. Whos right?

Dealer says they wont be able to get here until November to replace the WIFI board or whatever they are going to do. Kinda frustrated with this company. The generator company I mean - Generac. Their techs seem very knowledgeable and great to work with but this app and its connection are a PIA.

I don't see how you can have a WIFI connection as a selling point and it only works within a narrow band of products. Claiming after the fact it doesn't play well with mesh systems seems like piss poor planning.

Have email into the dealer to get sooner service , lets see if that gets somewhere.

[FURRYe38]

Ya Seems like the devices data is passing thru then something stops between it's app and the device itself. The app may have issues with MESH systems. I don't know though.

Hope they can figure this one out. 

[Lboomer]

Still not working. Based on Generac opinion to contact Netgear and get them to open ports 80 and 443 I contacted Netgear. They wouldn't work with me at all unless I paid for a 2 year subscription to  their help line. I was forced to do that. Let me say I'm not opposed to working with people from other countries but I have a very difficult time understanding some heavily accented english. 

I spoke w several of the Netgear techs over a couple days. They all claimed to be able to correct the problems. The first one to help me guaranteed success after I paid the fee and his "correction" only made things worse. Generator would connect but with no wfi speed/signal. Each tech after that suggested letting them remote access my computer. I was having none of that and insisted they walk me through the steps. The last and final tech insisted I copy and paste a firmware update to my routers but the computer never gave that as an option. And they just kept repeating the same thing like htey were following a flow chart. I gave up with that person.

I have requested my money back since I could barely understand them and they have done nothing to assist with my problem. After returning my router to the previous settings  it is back to at least connecting and staying connected for a few days with good signal. 

Awaiting manufacturer techs to assit w this problem.

[michaelkenward]

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@Lboomer wrote:

They wouldn't work with me at all unless I paid for a 2 year subscription to  their help line. I was forced to do that. Let me say I'm not opposed to working with people from other countries but I have a very difficult time understanding some heavily accented english. 

Who did you talk to? Was it something you found with a web search? These can land you with a scam site that has nothing to do with Netgear.

Netgear's paid-for support comes with a one-off troubleshooting option.

Unfortunately, the support website is a mess. There is no way that I can see to access Gearhead support.

All in all, Netgear's support options are a mess.

Best try to fix things here. It costs nothing.

[Lboomer]

Thats for sure. I get landline calls from these scammers that sound just like the people I was speaking with from Netgear support. How am I supposed to trust one of them when they sound like the scammers? It was a link through my router admin so I'm pretty sure it was legit site.

They are supposed to be refunding my money but 3 days later I'm not seeing it.

Thanks

[FURRYe38]

These are the only official NG support links that you should use for making contact with NG support:

https://my.netgear.com/support/contact.aspx
https://www.netgear.com/support/contact.aspx

[michaelkenward]

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@FURRYe38 wrote:

These are the only official NG support links that you should use for making contact with NG support:

https://my.netgear.com/support/contact.aspx
https://www.netgear.com/support/contact.aspx

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Sadly, those links can be useless.

Try this:

NETGEAR Support | NETGEAR

On that page click through to the one that says:

NETGEAR Premium Support

That takes you here:

GearHead Support | NETGEAR

Nothing on that page links you to access to support of any sort.

Then there is this:

NETGEAR ProSupport for Home | NETGEAR

This gives you an array of options. None of which is easy to understand, or even to sign up for. The links go all over the place.

Is Netgear's GearHead deal dead? That used to be the one-off package to fix something. No one- or two-year contracts that you have to remember to cancel.

We seem to be seeing yet another step on the road away from buying a bit of hardware to paying for a support service with a hardware thrown in.

That sort of mess is an open goal for scammers to dive in and sell fake support that is more in line with what people expect to see.