Top Tips for pairing your WiFi Extenders to the Smart Hub 7 Pro

[Chrissy_G]

We’ve seen a few customers asking for help pairing their extenders wirelessly with their Smart Hub 7 Pro. We haven’t been able to confirm a fault, but if you need some more help, there’s a reliable workaround that usually gets things connected first time.

Pair using an Ethernet cable first

If your extender isn’t pairing wirelessly, starting with a wired connection helps it settle and complete any updates.

• Plug an Ethernet cable between your Smart Hub 7 Pro and the Smart WiFi 7 Pro.
• Wait until the extender shows a steady aqua light.
• Once it’s steady aqua, leave it connected for 10 minutes. This gives the extender time to finish any firmware updates.

Switch back to wireless pairing

• After 10 minutes, unplug the Ethernet cable from both devices.
• Keep the extender powered on.
• Wait up to 5 minutes for it to pair wirelessly.
• You should see a solid aqua light again once pairing completes. Try not to unplug the power during this step.

Move it to the best spot

Once the extender has been solid aqua for around 5 minutes:

• Power it off.
• Move it to your preferred location.
• Power it back on and let it reconnect.

Placement makes a big difference

For the strongest WiFi, place your extender halfway between your hub and the area with weaker signal, rather than right at the edge of your home. Remember, to get the best results your WiFi Extender needs a strong signal to your Smart Hub 7 Pro. 

This guide shows how to get the best setup.

[JimM11]

@trevQPK Mesh is NOT easy especially when weak wifi signals are at play and you do not have the tools to look at what is going on, your powerline wired backhaul is keeping it all up, and really not a bad speed at 250Mb/s,👍👍

[Lard]

Thanks all for your advice. I have resolved the issue. The missing piece of the guidance is after moving the extender to its location and turning it on you need wait for it to flash aqua. When this happens to go onto the EE app, select Manage and then broadband and complete the set up of the extender from there. It should then reconnect work as expected.

[JimM11]

@Lard Are you saying that this part is wrong that you have found in your case when trying the guidance? @Chrissy_G 

Move it to the best spot

Once the extender has been solid aqua for around 5 minutes:

• Power it off.
• Move it to your preferred location.
• Power it back on and let it reconnect. It start's to flash Aqua, then you need to do your steps to complete if flashing!

[Lard]

Yes. In my case I had to then log onto the EE app to complete set up of the extender. It didn’t automatically connect with the main hub when I moved the router and switched it back on as the guide suggests it should do.

[JimM11]

@Lard Just asking as a few have posted the same effect with flashing Aqua light, so it may be useful for both @Chrissy_G and any others following the thread to see....

[ZombieMkI]

As someone who suffered with these for the better half of 9 months, they are not reliable and I would highly recommend looking at other solutions rather than paying for these.

In summary, the Smart WiFi Pro package does have some pros, but it has some major cons that IMO aren't worth the extra £8 a month it costs vs just buying and setting up your own kit:

• EE software (and especially the EE app!) is unreliable and cannot be relied on. If you want to manage these things, do it via the WebUI (eg https://192.168.1.254) for your router
• If you need to pair up the Smart WiFi extenders so they could run wirelessly, my recommendation is to physically cable them to the router (or the mesh unit you want to pair them to) then leave them on for about 10 mins, then disconnect and place where you need. Please note you will be having to re-do this step several times a month
• The Smart WiFi extenders regularly become unpaired (on a weekly-daily basis) when connected to each other Wirelessly
• It doesn't state this, but the Smart WiFi extenders CAN pair to each other rather than just straight to the router, but looking in the app / webUI implies its just paired to the router
• The worst offender imo, when connected via ethernet, the link speed degrades in half

[AndyBell79]

I have tried the wired workaround for the 10 mins wired then 5 mins unwired.  Seems to hold the connection but as soon as I power the extender back up after turning off it flashed green for a while them just flashes orange. It's sitting right next to the main router as well. 

[JimM11]

@AndyBell79 Have you also tried what @Lard did after the power back on sequence, or is that not functional for to be done.

Do you have any other wireless wifi transmitting devices in use?

[ZombieMkI]

When moving the mesh unit maybe power off the router then power it and the mesh router back on at the same time. I found the router gets into a state where you have to do it that way 

Hence why I'm not a fan of these as they're just a lot of hassle for the cost of £96 a year. For that there are more reliable solutions at a similar price that give you more control.