Linksys RE6500 Wifi Range Extender Problem

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171 posts

Master Geek
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#196445 31-May-2016 16:05

I have just bought one of these from Harvey Norman's where it was reduced to $120. It has 802.1 AC1200 5 GHz capability so I was going to use it to extend the range of my Spark supplied Huawei HG659b Wifi router that supports both the 2.4 and faster 5 GHz spectrums.

The router works perfectly OK on both spectrums and I have smart TVs, phones, a Windows laptop computer and an Android tablet successfully connected.

However, when I try and set up the Linksys extender it picks up the 2.4 signal only and won't detect the 5 GHz one. I have tried everything I can think of, even moved the extender closer to make sure it's close enough but to no avail. I have checked the router firmware too - it has the latest.

Anyone experience this problem or know what I can do to fix it?

Jase2985

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#1563180 31-May-2016 16:27

what channel is the 5ghz network on? maybe try changing the channel to 36 or 52

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Master Geek
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#1563186 31-May-2016 16:37

I'm on channel 52 and there is no one else showing up in my neighbourhood using the 5 GHz Wifi band.

sqishy

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#1563786 1-Jun-2016 18:19

Did you try making both devices use the same 5GHz channel

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Master Geek
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#1563865 1-Jun-2016 20:31

sqishy:

Did you try making both devices use the same 5GHz channel

No, because the extender wouldn't detect the 5GHz channel only the 2.4 GHz one, even when I tried to manually specify it. Perhaps the extender is faulty.

richms

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#1563868 1-Jun-2016 20:40

Are you too far away from the router to see the 5GHz network?

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sbiddle

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#1563869 1-Jun-2016 20:44

richms:

Are you too far away from the router to see the 5GHz network?

That's exactly what I was just thinking reading this.

Range extenders are a horrible solution.

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Master Geek
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#1563873 1-Jun-2016 20:55

sbiddle:

richms:

Are you too far away from the router to see the 5GHz network?

That's exactly what I was just thinking reading this.

Range extenders are a horrible solution.

I'm beginning to realise that. Is there a better solution?

I was checking the 5Ghz signal strength on my Android tablet using the app "Wifi Analyzer". It indicated there was plenty of signal strength. Even so I changed the position of the extender so as to be closer. But still no joy.

richms

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#1563876 1-Jun-2016 21:00

Solution is to run a cat5e cable from the router to the location you need internet. Any wireless bridge back will hurt. Not so bad on dual band extenders as you can be talking to it on one radio and it can talk back to the router on the other radio, but it will still not perform as well as an accesspoint wired back to the AP and is increasing the amount of radio noise for everyone else needlessly.

Richard rich.ms

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Master Geek
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#1563877 1-Jun-2016 21:09

OK, thanks for the advice. I need to rethink my strategy then. Running a cat5e cable is not an option, the household boss would never agree. But I do have a powerline ethernet gigabit extender I can redeploy. That should do the job.