topic Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue in Broadband & Landline

Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

gwe47 — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 11:48:05 GMT

Hello,

I've recently changed to EE from BT and received a Smart Hub + and Smart WiFi + Extender as part of the deal. I am after some advice or re-assurance that the Smart WiFi + is working as it's supposed to.

EE insists that their app is the best way to manage their devices. I therefore first attempted to add the Smart WiFi + extender using this. After repeated attempts, with factory resets of both devices in between, the result is always that the extender seems to pair (the LED is solid aqua) but the App after several minutes returns an error that it's unable to find any extenders - try again etc.

The Hub Manager looks like this in the relevant screens.

Advanced WiFi SettingsNetwork devicesAs highlighted, the Smart WiFi Plus shows in connected devices, but it doesn't seem to be recognised as an extender. There are 0 devices listed as connected to extenders. We used to have a BT Smart Hub 2 with extender dishes, and with this it was possible to see the extenders in the Hub Manager, and also see which devices were connected to which extender. It seems to me that this EE kit is not working as it's supposed to be but looking for comments from other owners of the same kit, or experts and so on here.

As part of troubleshooting I've attempted to pair it using Ethernet also. Same result. Also using the "add extender" dialog in the Advanced WiFi settings always fails, but it does actually pair the extender at some level (LED turns solid Aqua).

Thanks for any tips.

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

JimM11 — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 14:08:38 GMT

@gwe47 Can we be doubly sure, please read the label on both your EE Router and your EE Smart wireless device and post back the info, or take a picture of both devices front and back and post them up.

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

JimM11 — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 17:35:42 GMT

@gwe47 Quick link to a previous OP picture similar for you to see. Tried link again

Smart Wifi Extender shows not connected - but has Blue Light? - The EE Community

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

XRaySpeX — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 17:13:11 GMT

@JimM11 : Linky don't compute!

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

JimM11 — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 17:26:21 GMT

@XRaySpeX It's the site being weird will try again.

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

XRaySpeX — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 17:35:01 GMT

@JimM11 : Still don't compute! Don't you test 'em before you post 'em?

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

JimM11 — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 17:41:16 GMT

@XRaySpeX Its a link to a previous pic! Had to go link the post thread instead.

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

XRaySpeX — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 18:01:24 GMT

@JimM11 : I knew what it was intended to be but didn't know which 1 . So I was unable to correct it.

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

ChrisCornwall19 — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:15:29 GMT

I got my extender this week and had the same issue. Was aqua but not doing anything or showing in the app. Solution seemed to be to unplug it, then power off the main hub, power it back on, then once booted plug in the smart WiFi plus again. This time it does show in the app with the message “This device is expanding the range of your Wifi” and shows signal strength good. The “view home network” button shows how many devices are connected through it, which in my case is almost all of them as I’ve put it centre of the house and the hub is by an outside wall where the ONT is.

Only issue since is my LG TV which now connects at 5Ghz - it seemed happier with the long distance 2.4Ghz signal it had before as it keeps disconnecting now.

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

gwe47 — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:19:38 GMT

Here's the pictures requested. Apologies if they're not great quality, as lighting not great in location they're in.

SH32BSW30ASH32BSW30A

Yes I had a look at the other thread and it appears to be a similar situation with that poster. I note it was unresolved however.

I actually had an EE engineer out today, and she went through the factory reset process and was able to use a phone app to add the extender, so it appeared as an extender in the advanced WiFi settings. They also gave me a second extender. However no devices appeared to connect to it, at least according to the hub manager. When I put the router back to my slightly altered settings (WPA3 for better security, and DHCP disabled to use my own DHCP server in Pi-Hole), it's reverted back to what I showed in the first post (no extenders detected).

I'm currently testing the WiFi using Netspot (a wifi survey app which records signal strength at any given position) on a MacBook Pro, and it at least picks up all the extenders, they seem to be syncing to some extent (all operate on the same WiFi channels for example and have the same SSID). I will test further to see whether it connects to the extenders, or whether it always tries to connect to the hub.

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

gwe47 — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:47:11 GMT

Thanks for this. I will have a play around power cycling both devices to see if I can get the same result. Did you have to re-pair them after power cycling, or was it just something that seemed to sort itself out?

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

ChrisCornwall19 — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 07:47:17 GMT

It just seemed to sort itself out, but I had previously paired using the EE app. I waited for the smart hub to be back up and online before powering on the extender. It does take ten seconds or so for the EE app to pickup the fact that it’s connected when you first open the app (it defaults to the setup card), but keep waiting for the blue dots loading indicator then it looks like this:

Initially instead of “strong signal” it said something about the device being too close and could cause interference but that’s because I set it up in the same room as the hub. I then unplugged it and took it through to the living room and plugged it in there. Before powering it on I used a free phone app called WiFi Sweetspots to find a good place to put it, the place I had initially planned to put it was showing a surprisingly poor signal (remember it can only extend the signal it gets).

Once connected the home network view looks like this:

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

JimM11 — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 08:57:16 GMT

@gwe47 The object of labels/pics was to establish that you had the right units, which you do have, and if you now wish to throw in that you have done this that etc after the fact it's just not a good way of the ground running. The software on web/app is just not the best for operating, and showing what is going on, and the mesh indication is not the best. If you wish to disable the DHCP on the EE Smarthub+ router then why would you be surprised when you do not get back what you expect?

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

gwe47 — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 10:19:13 GMT

@JimM11 wrote:
If you wish to disable the DHCP on the EE Smarthub+ router then why would you be surprised when you do not get back what you expect?

Well, it worked as expected on the BT Smart Hub 2. The routers DHCP server was not required on that system to get the extender discs working. I ran it like that for several years.

Anyway, it appears that devices are connecting to the extenders despite the routers configuration screen not showing they're connected, so that will do I guess.

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

gwe47 — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 11:20:07 GMT

Thanks for the information, that's helpful to see how it should work. Power cycling didn't result in any changes unfortunately. The app (which I don't particularly like using) or hub manager never showed devices connected to extenders (before or after putting in any custom settings) in my case. Today I checked using Netspot that devices are connecting to the extenders when they are nearer, and it does seem to actually be working, in that it is using the extenders, and they are providing a connection with good speed in more distant areas of the house.

The WiFi networks starting "EE-63" are mine, and the two showing "Sagemcom" as the vendor is the router, while the others are extenders. It's showing it's connected to the strongest 5 Ghz WiFi network (an extender in this instance), all strongly suggesting it is working as a mesh network. I just think it may be buggy firmware in that it doesn't properly show what's happening in the app or hub manager!

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

ChrisCornwall19 — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 11:32:29 GMT

I only really use the EE App as I'm just using it "as it comes", but for reference I've checked in the Hub Manager app and it does give a confusing picture. You can see from my previous post that the EE App sees the range extender and tells me it's extending, and that's working as devices with previous poor signal now have good signal and I can see them connected to it in the app (also no more complaints from my daughter about "rubbish WiFi").

When I look in Hub Manager I can see the extender is connected, but it doesn't list any devices as connected:

But when I go to the network view, it says I have no extenders:

The EE App seems to give the true picture (same screenshot as before hence the device counts not matching):

Interestingly, from the middle picture you can see I have two devices connected via Ethernet - one of those is my TV which is plugged into the extender (trying this as the TV doesn't seem to like the newfound previously out of reach 5Ghz WiFi and keeps losing connection unless I re-enter the WiFi password/do WPS).

The Hub probably needs a software update to fix what it is reporting.

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

gwe47 — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 22:21:02 GMT

Thanks for that. Strange isn't it, and I think it's got to be bugs in the firmware. Pairing two devices should be easy!!

BTW if you are having connectivity problems with your TV on 5G, have you tested enabling WiFi 6 Compatibility mode on the router WiFi settings? I've noticed some older WiFi devices I have tested do not work well or even at all in WiFi 6 Performance mode. I replaced an old 802.11n dongle I had on one computer (it was showing very strange behaviour with the SH+ router, constant dropouts and slow speed) with a new WiFi 6 compatible one, just a cheap uGreen USB device, which immediately connected with a solid 1200 mbps link. But where that can't be done, the compatibility mode is an option to try.

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

ChrisCornwall19 — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 22:35:19 GMT

Thanks for the tip. The TV's been ok whilst working on ethernet today, so I'll leave it like that and look at the WiFi 6 options if it starts playing up.

Cheers

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

martinmcd21 — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 22:06:41 GMT

I’ve found that if you plug two devices together by Ethernet in the same room just one, it establishes a solid pairing. Then I move the mesh node where I want it and it all seems to work fine from there.

Re: Smart WiFi Plus - pairing issue

bobpullen — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 12:13:25 GMT

Replying to some old post here but...

@gwe47 - I had a similar problem when using my own DHCP server. I posted a convoluted workaround some time ago here.

I've since found that you needn't do this though on the more recent 2.x firmware builds. Everything works as expected without me having to tinker around with DHCP config files. I have factory reset since my SH Plus was upgraded which may also have helped.

@ChrisCornwall19 - Your symptoms sound a little different but again, would be interesting to know if you still see the same following a factory reset on the latest firmwaret.

@Luckybob28 - Your problem sounds completely different. It's a different hub type and your symptoms aren't the same i.e. nothing is actually connecting to your extenders. Are you still having problems?