Phantom or ghost extender

[Twiss]

Smart hub plus coupled with 2 smart wifi plus units, one of which is wired backhaul. Today noticed EE app displayed not only the 2 smart wifi units as normal, but there was an additional “extender” being displayed, along with “online” and “no signal”.

Investigation showed that even after powering down the two smart wifi plus units, the phantom “extender” was still showing, still supposedly online and connected by WiFi. Resetting the smart hub cleared the showing of the “extender”.

However powering up the first smart wifi plus unit (ie ethernet connected) would bring up the correct indication for itself, but in addition the phantom “extender” would reappear. Again it could only be cleared by turning off the smart wifi plus and resetting the smart hub.

It is as though that particular unit’s WiFi is triggering the error, albeit not to identify it, but enough to bring up an indication in the app which gets its info from the smart hub. But would have thought that there should be no WiFi communication between smart hub and an ethernet connected smart wifi plus unit. Likewise one asks the question why should the smart hub still show the presence of an extender, and online, when all extender devices are powered down, unless an erroneous positive indication is somehow locked in until a subsequent reset.

Coincidentally, it was noticed late last night that that particular smart WiFi unit was rebooting, and subsequently during the night I was aware of much led activity, the unit being located not far from the bedroom door. But all steady blue this morning, however maybe a faulty smart WiFi unit. Certainly something unusual was occurring during the night.

Has anyone experienced a problem like this?

[JimM11]

@Twiss There is new FW being pushed out to the + units currently started 5/12/2025 so do not be surprised if strange things happen especially overnight, you may wish to see what and where each of the units is at!

[JPS111]

I have this exact same issue with a phantom extender. I have reset the main hub which got rid of the phantom extender but now have another issue. When I reconnect the extenders they appear they are fully connected (solid aqua light) however none of them (I have three) show up in the app or the Hub Manager at all.

[Peter_W]

Good afternoon @JPS111.

Outside of the issue of these not appearing in the app / hub manager, when they're showing the Aqua light do they appear to be functioning normally and boosting the signal?

Peter

[JPS111]

@Peter_W - Thanks for the response. Yes they do appear to be functioning normally which makes it even more strange. 

[Hannah_F]

Hi there, 

Thanks for flagging this issue. I can confirm the 'phantom extender appearing in the app' is an issue our app teams are aware of and now have a fix to resolve. We'll look to get this fix out as soon as possible in Jan. 

Thanks for your patience,

Hannah 

[bobpullen]

@JPS111 - any non-standard config on your setup? e.g. using your own DNS/DHCP server or anything like that?

FWIW, I'm also seeing a phantom app extender that I'd not noticed before. 

[JPS111]

@bobpullen No unique DNS/DHCP just the EE standard ones in the hub manager.

[bobpullen]

@JPS111 - ah, fair enough - I've known of similar symptoms in the past when that's the case so thought I'd ask.

Perhaps worth another reboot of hub/extenders, or the 'nuclear option' of factory resetting/re-pairing the extenders too. If it's not having a matrial impact on WiFi functionality though then perhaps not worth the hassle.

[Twiss]

I had read somewhere that EE were aware of phantom extenders appearing in the app, but I feel that what I see goes somewhat further than just bugs in the app.

The app correctly shows my 2 WiFi units, one Ethernet connected, one WiFi connected, both being named. It also shows the devices connected to each unit. In addition it shows an un-named “extender”, said to be WiFi connected, online, but having no signal. Oddly when you go for its details, the time in service always starts from the moment you look for those details! Clearly, this is my “phantom extender”.

In contrast the smart hub manager shows “Extenders” in Wireless connections, and opening that up shows all the connected devices, and specifies to which of the two WiFi extender units each is connected to. But also shown under Ethernet connections is “Extenders” to which no devices are connected. 

So you ask yourself why are both “real” units shown as WiFi connected when clearly they are not. Likewise, what is the extender shown as connected via ethernet but has no devices connected to it. While it looks suspiciously like it could be my phantom extender, then why is it shown as ethernet connected.

So the app clearly does not reflect the hub manager. Being identical should taken for granted as that is where the app gets its info. Furthermore, if differences were evident, I would have put my money on the hub manager providing the true picture, but from what I see, it appears that one cannot believe either.