EE mini hub doesn't see TP Link WiFi extender

[Stevet17]

Hi, I've just received a EETV mini hub so I can watch TV on a second screen in a garden room. WiFi in the garden room is provided by a TP Link WiFi extender linked by a cable to the router in the house. I have successfully connected to the WiFi in the garden room on my phone and laptop, however the EE mini hub can't locate it. Any ideas how to resolve this?!

[Alex_H]

Hi @Stevet17,

Welcome to the EE Community

What is the model of TP-Link you are using? Our TV boxes do officially support the powerline adaptor model TL-PA7017P. Does the Mini box connect fine to your WiFi when setup near your router? 

Have your router and EE TV Box Mini been restarted? 
 

Alex
 

[Stevet17]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for your reply. Its an Omada EAP115, same as this I think -   https://amzn.eu/d/iArEp5q

The box does connect to the main WiFi router but the signal is too faint in the garden room to be effective.

I've restarted the mini box, but not the router - will try that tomorrow.

Steve 

[Lesley_W]

Thanks @Stevet17 

Let us know if you see any improvement.

Lesley

[Midnight_Voice]

@Stevet17 

IIRC, EETV Box Pros and Box Minis only work on the 5GHz band, and the EAP115 only works on the 2.4GHz band, so they will never see one another.

But you might still be on a hiding to nothing anyway, as the EAP115 maxes out at 300 Mbps, which may well be less than your broadband speed.

You could try the EAP655…

I still can’t figure out what this device is though. Is it a wireless access point on the end of an Ethernet cable back to the router, or what?

One problem with third party devices on an EETV installation is multicast, which EETV requires for the Boxes Pro and Mini to show the live channels. The manual for the EAP115 does refer to multicast, which is promising for the EAP655, but doesn’t guarantee interoperability..

[Stevet17]

Tried restarting the router too but makes no difference.

I also tried connecting an ethernet cable from the mini box to the TP Link - after doing this it said the box was connected to the internet (see photo) but no channels were available 

 

[Stevet17]

Hi, yes it's an access point on the end of an ethernet back to the router. Tried connecting it to the mini box with another ethernet cable - shows box now connected to internet but no channels available (see other post for image)

Steve

[Midnight_Voice]

@Stevet17 

I’m waiting for someone at EETV to moderate the image so we can see it.

My hypotheses at the moment are that you have overcome the 2.4GHz problem by using a further Ethernet cable, but you aren’t getting Multicast, so no channels will run.

But what about starting an app, such as Now or Netflix, on the Box Mini? If you now have a connection, those should work, at least, as they don’t rely on Multicast. So please try this, and report back.

For my garden room, I didn’t run Ethernet to it; instead, I piggybacked on the mains from the house to it, with a pair of PowerLine Adapters, where the remote one was an AP for both WiFi and Ethernet cable.

Multicast wasn’t an issue for me then; but if it had been, there are PLAs certified to pass Multicast, which EETV recommend,

Do you have mains from the house to the garden room? If so, this may be a better solution than persisting with the EAP155, which even though it’s now connected, still has the speed limitation I spoke of, and may or may not be compatible with EETV multicast.

[Stevet17]

Hi, thanks for your reply. I've just tried apps and they do work, if the further ethernet cable between the EAP115 and mini box is connected.

The WiFi speed in the garden room is approx 70Mbps so well under the limit you mentioned.

I do have mains electricity extended to the garden room. There is a separate consumer unit there though - I have read elsewhere that this could cause a problem if trying to use PowerLine Adapters?

Steve

[Midnight_Voice]

@Stevet17 

As I surmised - you have a connection, as shown by the apps working, but not multicast, as shown by the live channels not working.

It isn’t separate consumer units that can stymie OLAs, though - it’s separate metered circuits. Again my surmise, but I would imagine you only have one meter at your house?

In fact, it’s usual for garden rooms to have a separate consumer unit, because it’s something standard to bring all the internal wiring back to, for a single well-understood connection to the mains run back to the house. My garden room had one - still does, indeed, for the new owners of the house.