Smart Wifi Plus Discs not connecting as extenders

[pst99]

Hi, I've recently migrated to EE from BT and got all new Kit...Smart Hub Plus, 3 Smart Wifi Plus discs and Hybrid Connect.

No matter which way I add the Smart Wifi Plus discs I cannot get them to show up as extenders which means I can't manage them (i.e. turn the lights off as they are too bright at night in my bedroom) and I can't see through any interface which devices are connecting through them...

I've tried adding using a Cat5 cable, using WPS button on hub and adding through EE app. I always end up with the solid aqua light and they do appear to be working (I see the additional BSSIDs being broadcast against my SSID) but they stubbornly refuse to show up as extenders in the router admin interface or in the EE app.

Has anyone else experienced this and found a solution...or are there EE bods here that can help?

[JimM11]

@pst99 Your not the first to complain for not showing up in the hub manager or the app, or which devices are connecting to them, and some have reported that after a couple of day's once they all work together figure out what is supposed to be going on in the mesh, then somethings start to filter through. So it's either going to be patience or hands up in the air. Do keep the forum advised to how its going. Not many report back so can be very hard to figure what's happening. Not sure if a call to EE CS Technical support will help but you could try that!

In the Advanced section, wireless and extenders, is the operation completely non functional.

[Ewan15]

Try adding just one extender and follow the wizard in the EE App, to see if that gets it to appear.

If it does add the next one and follow the same process.

[pst99]

@JimM11 , thanks...had them connected a few days this time...so far no cigar...will post on here if anything changes.

I've actually already mentioned this to customer support as I've had numerous problems as part of my migration from BT to EE. Apparently 'from their end' they can't see them at all...which seems a bit odd to me - as I say from a bit of tinkering my end (netsh wlan networks show mode=bssid) I can see all the additional BSSIDs broadcast by the Discs against my SSID. Equally if I look at the BSSID that various computers say they are connected to I can see they are passing through them (and they have internet...so they appear to be working). I can't do this on non-computer type devices...so what they are connected to is a mystery...and the TV box in the kitchen still drops out periodically so that would be useful to know...

It's just really frustrating to not be able to turn the lights off on them as they are very bright at night...i've taken to facing them  downwards which probably isn't great for signal strength!

Also the 'at a glance' view in the router interface to see how everything is connected is useful and helps me tweak where things are put.

[JimM11]

@pst99 That's why i was wondering if in the advanced section of the web manager were you are supposed to be able to add assign extenders etc if its completely non functional. Not an app fan, never will be, and its as much use as a chocolate fireguard as far as i am concerned. Black tape round the EE Logo should block the suckers out. Try the main light off, 1st page you may be lucky and it turns them all off. Good your work around is working ok, i use wifi analyzer on the laptop or mobile when i wish to see were the device is connected to, just need to know what the mac's are, bit of a pain.

Asus and AI mesh user, just works don't care, shows what were how long sleeping awake jumping around etc. Mesh can be the biggest pain especially when trying to bed it in...

[pst99]

@Ewan15 . Alas I've tried that to no avail.

When adding via the app (or the Wifi Extenders page of the router admin interface) the 'add' times out and gives an error - even though the light on the disc goes solid aqua (which suggests it added)

something clearly isn't quite 'finishing' but what that is I have no idea.

I reset the disc between attempts to add, and have tried all 3 separately (and left just one connected for a period of time).

All attempts end the same way...the disk is 'connected' as it has the solid aqua light, it broadcasts additional BSSIDs (1 for 2.4GHz and 1 for 5GHz) but it never makes it into any app/admin interface as an extender so isn't manageable.

It does show up as a network client like all my other devices.

[pst99]

@JimM11  Yeah, I'm not an app fan myself. I prefer to use the admin interface.

I have to say both app and admin interface are much slower than the equivalents for the BT equipment...and anecdotally both the openreach engineer EE sent out first to investigate and the EE engineer they sent later both commented that the EE equipment is 'worse' than the old BT kit based on the experience so far

I've tried the turning off the main light...and alas it only affects the router, not the discs...interesting that the option to schedule the light status is missing on the EE router...that was quite handy on the BT one

I may end up sticking a bit of electrical tape over the lights on the discs in the short term 😉

[bobpullen]

@pst99 - is there anything non-standard about your hub setup? i.e. have you changed any of the settings away from default values? Thinking things like DHCP, IP address allocations etc?

[pst99]

@bobpullen Yes, I have DHCP turned off on the router as I use a Raspberry Pi for DHCP so I have control over DNS (again, just like I used to on my BT setup).

That being said...I have tried the discs before and after changing the DHCP away from the router - the results were the same.

[JimM11]

@pst99 Web user, for everything apart from when you have to use the app, Can see the extender layout page but as i say not using EE smart wireless, so obviously cannot add, set up or see what's happening, and the web interface gets slower and slower every day, got to 30 days without reset, pages taking 10-15 seconds to open, reset router back 3-5 seconds.