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blasf69's avatar
blasf69
Aspirant
Nov 18, 2020

RAX35V2 Walmart special

Hello, I just purchased a Netgear Nighthawk AX4 AX3000 4 stream router. On the bottom sticker Model: RAX35 

When I log into the web interface the model displayed is RAX35V2 

I searched google for RAX35V2 and found next to nothing. The only interesting link was to a FCC filing from Netgear which modifies the bottom sticker to remove the V2 from the model. Any idea why they did that?

Since Netgear has no mention of the router on their website maybe they were expecting the router to be released later this year??

Sorry for taking your time, but I figured someone here might know what's up.

One last question. I find several websites mentioning WPA3 is backwards compatible with WPA2. When I have the RAX35V2 set to WPA3, my windows 10 computer can't connect but will connect when I switch it down to WPA2. I think its possible if you have a mixed mode, which this router doesn't seem to have.. greaaat!! I guess you get what you pay for.

Thanks for any feedback.

 

 

7 Replies

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  • plemans's avatar
    plemans
    Guru
    Nov 18, 2020

    WPA3 was *supposed* to be backwards compatible. Not all devices (tablets, phones, etc) haven't played nicely with it. 

    In terms of the v2, it could have been a hardware change during testing. I've been involved in betas that had to have changes done to the hardware due to issues found during the beta. Technically the released is a V2 but its considered V1 since it wasn't the released product. Maybe that's what you're seeing? 

    • blasf69's avatar
      blasf69
      Aspirant
      Nov 19, 2020

      Thanks for your quick response! Well the reason for all this is because I was trying to upgrade the firmware. I wanted to upgrade firmware and configure the router before I hooked it up to the internet. So I downloaded firmware for RAX35 since that's what the sticker says and tried upgrading firmware.

      The RAX35 zip file contains RAX35-V1.0.3.80_1.0.1.img  and RAX35-V1.0.3.80_1.0.1_Release_Notes.html

      From the administrator menu I select Router Update, then select the .img file and hit upload and receive the following error:

      Please assign the correct file. The file format is *.chk

      Seems weird if they completely switched firmware formats from .img files to .chk files in between one model, right? I dunno.

      I didn't see the v2 in the upper left until after attempting the upgrade. So I considered myself lucky I didn't brick anything, heh.
      also in the upper left:
      Firmware Version V1.0.2.32_2.0.38
                                                     ^ I'm guessing this denotes V2?
       
       
      • plemans's avatar
        plemans
        Guru
        Nov 19, 2020

        I didn't even find that firmware for any of the RAX devices. Or anything on a V2 other than the FCC 

        Christian_R Any idea whats going on with this version? 

  • ANewUser's avatar
    ANewUser
    Aspirant
    Jan 05, 2021

    I've purchased the same ROUTER from Walmart.

    I didn't checked on the Internet about that router before purchasing -  I just saw the price ($112) and immediately decided to get it.

    My previous router was Netgear AC2350. I did not have any issues with it until recently.

    In the last month, I would check my Internet speed (from Xfinity) around 7:00am. It's about 489mbps.

    Cool, but...

    Around 10:00am it would go to about 50mbps.

    After a few days of similar results, I've called Xfinity and they sent a technician to work  on my issues. After checking all my connections, the technician figured out  that my problem was not with Xfinity or my Arris gateway/modem, but with my Netgear AC2350 router.

    My AC2350 had all recent updates; therefore, I've decided to get a new router.

    I got RAX35v.2

    The instalation of RAX35v.2 was, more or less, easy, and the wired computer showed constantly my internet speed at around 400mbps. I was happy with it, but...

    I've noticed that it shows only one network - Netgear...

    I did not see a network of the 5 GHz band. 

    Now, my biggest issue. 

    I've re-installed my Netgear Mesh extender AC2200 EX7300.

    I was not too dificult to re-install it with the help of Netgear App, but...

    With my previous AC2350 router and the  same Mesh extender EX7300, I used to get about 230mbps around the Mesh extender by using the 5 GHz band.

    Now, I can get only about 96mbps.

    Is the signal from RAX35v.2 weaker than from AC2350?

    Should I purchase a new Mesh Extender, like EAX80 or something similar?

    Maybe, Dual-band AX1800 Add-On Satellite (MS60)?

    Or, maybe, I should return RAX35v.2 and get 

    the NETGEAR Nighthawk AX1800 Dual Band Mesh WiFi 6 System, 2-Pack (MK62)

    Thank you for your help. 

    • Christian_R's avatar
      Christian_R
      NETGEAR Employee Retired
      Jan 11, 2021

      Hello ANewUser,

       

      If you recently purchased the device I would recommend contacting our support team as newly purchased devices are provided with 90 days of complimentary support. You may open a ticket by registering your device using the link below. 

       

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

       

      Christian