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.
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.
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:
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!
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.
Same issue here. 3 extenders connected to Wifi 7 Router. showing no devices connected and don't actually think any are. Wifi Range is poor in extremities of the house and can't now get Wifi in the garden. Firmware of the hub and app needs a real good looking at to get it displaying correct reliable information that is consistent - same with the app, which has been updated tonight but is no better!
