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Range Extender Issues

Hey folks...

I'm using the E3200 Range Extender with the G3100 Verizon Router - two units that look identical to each other from the front - and the extender has continual recurring problems. Just wondering if anyone's had similar issues and, most importantly, has found any solutions.

After setup, the front "circle" light turns a solid white and stays that way for days, maybe weeks, after which, I find it suddenly flashing a quick yellow. This is supposed to indicate "too close to the router," but the extender is at least 25 feet away and through three interior apartment walls. In addition - and critically - nothing has changed over those days or weeks, when the unit was working perfectly.

I've had Verizon change this unit 2 or 3 times over the last 6 months or so (I've lost track), and have eventually had the same experience each time. One went months without issue, others have had problems within minutes, hours or days of initial setup. In addition, I've rebooted, reset and re-paired each extender multiple times, each time hoping it'll be the fix that will finally get the thing working.

If none had been able to work properly for extended periods, I would suspect some environmental issue, but, as I mentioned, I've had most of these extenders doing fine for long periods of time, before they suddenly decide to start blinking yellow.

Any thoughts out there? Thanks...

Comments

Cang_Household

Besides the light is blinking yellow, is there any functional anomalies?

If the extender thinks it is too close to the G3100, maybe you don't even need an extender at the first place.

Tramtrist

Thanks for the input.

When the extender fails, it tends to flash quickly. However, it currently shows a solid yellow light, and that was after I reset it again (hit the reset button for 10 seconds, attached Ethernet to the router, waited for the extender to reset to a solid white light, relocated to the desired room, where it restarted to a solid white light).

None of the extenders I've had have been consistent, for example, flashing quick yellow every time. As I mentioned, they usually start solid white and stay that way for a while, then suddenly turn yellow (flashing or solid) after some time.

I'd go without an extender, since I have WiFi bars in the room where I use it, but the speed drops in that room, possibly because there are appliances (kitchen) in between the router and that room. Thus, I thought the extender would be the best solution.

Cang_Household - I recently saw a mention, I believe by you, of device names with spaces or other "unauthorized" characters possibly causing these extenders to reset/restart. To your knowledge, does this mean that every device connected to the extender needs "connecting" characters (LIKE-THIS) or continuous names?

Thanks again.

Cang_Household

For the special characters in host names (except dashes and underscores), I have not conducted field tests with G3100 to verify the hypothesis. It could be a red herring at the end of the day. For G1100, however, the router automatically replaces the special characters with dashes during DHCP transactions. I believe G3100 may have the same behavior dealing with hosts with unacceptable names.

Solid steady yellow means No Internet Connection. It could mean that the extender cannot obtain an IP address from G3100 for some reason.

Do you have coax or Ethernet wires running throughout the house? If so, I recommend to uplink your extenders to the G3100 either using coax (MoCA) or Ethernet wires for better stability. Wireless backhaul is the least favored solution.

Tramtrist

Thanks again, Cang_Household.

I reset the extender again, and it's now sitting there working perfectly - as it usually does, initially. It doesn't look like there's any real commonality to this issue, or any rhyme or reason that can be determined, so I'll hope it'll hold as long as possible!

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