On your main router, channel is fixed as 1?
How did you check the current channel of RE200?
On Status page of its web interface, what's the channel displayed under 2.4GHz?
Provide some screenshots.

By the way, your firmware is not the latest version.

Hi, thanks for the reply.
Yes, my router is fixed on channel 1.
I checked the output of the RE200 using inSSIDer on my laptop... it shows CH1+5. On the status page, it says Channel 1.
You may or may not be aware that using inSSIDer on a smartphone or tablet only shows the root channel and not the full bandwidth; so looking on those devices it would "appear" the RE200 is only transmitting on Channel 1... that is incorrect! It IS on 1+5.
In the RE200 set-up, there is a CHANNEL BANDWIDTH drop-down set AUTO but greyed out. This is what needs changing!

The firmware; I just re-checked and the website shows the latest to be: RE200(UK)_V1_141020, which is the same as I posted in the OP so I'm confused.
Point me in the right direction :-)


UPDATE: I have found what looks like might be an updated firmware, dated May this year, but it is for the EU product and the actual version, v3.14.2, is the same as I already have. Is this the update you refer too? I have asked TP-LINK if this is usable on the UK product and if there's any point!
Mike

It cannot be changed because it will be the same as the main router's channel if it is configured successfully like it displays on Status page...
What's the version of inSSIDer you tried? What does 1+5 mean?

That's the problem; it isn't the same channel as the main router's channel.
The inSSIDer version is v3.1.2.1 for Windows. The app version, for mobiles etc, will only show the root channel (Channel 1 in my case) so you won't see the doubling of channels on them!
My router is set to 20mHz bandwidth and transmitting on Channel 1 only. So, if the RE200 is purely "extending" the original router signal, it too should only be on Channel 1 in 20mHz bandwidth.
What it is actually doing is transmitting on 2 channels added together to give a 40mHz bandwidth theoretically doubling the speed. This is 1+5. (Channel 1 plus Channel 5). On a graph it's much easier to see exactly what is going on.

OK, now I'm really confused. I just went downstairs to get a screen-grab from the laptop to show you the graph and... it's now only extending on Channel 1. I did update the firmware this afternoon on your suggestion so maybe that's the answer! (The update was NOT on the UK website, only the EU one).

However, because the mode is shown as AUTO, I also have to believe that maybe, on occasson, when it's "quiet" data-wise, it drops back to single channel 20mHz working! I've only ever checked it during the day, never this late. It must have an AUTO setting for a reason.

So, I appreciate all the time you've given me and, after a re-check tomorrow, I'll let you know if indeed that WAS the answer or whether it just dropped down to single-channel working because it was "quiet" :-)
Regards,
Mike

Looks like I was right! The RE200 does reduce to 1 channel when it's "quiet".
Here's the graph I promised to show what Channel 1+5 looks like:





The BLUE line is the original signal from the router.
The ORANGE line is the doubled-up channel from the RE200.
Regards,
Mike

Even with the firmware upgrade, there is still no way to change the RE200 channel number or the channel bandwidth.
So, why on earth is the channel-bandwidth drop-down menu there? Seems like a heck of a waste of programming to include something that can't actually be changed!

Hi,

For your issue, I suggest you to test again with Acrylic Wifi which is much better than inSSIDer.

Probably, the situation will be the same so I suggest you to open a ticket with the TP-Link support.

I think it's a wrong firmware programming...

HiSpeed wrote

Hi,

For your issue, I suggest you to test again with Acrylic Wifi which is much better than inSSIDer.

Probably, the situation will be the same so I suggest you to open a ticket with the TP-Link support.

I think it's a wrong firmware programming...

I have run Arcylic Wi-Fi this morning and here's the result.





It shows the same information as inSSIDer only much prettier!
The Green line, on Channel 1, is my router output and the Orange line, on channels 1 and 5, is the RE200 output. The laptop is about 1/2 way between the Router and the RE200.
As you suggest, I will open a ticket with TP-LINK and see where we go from here.
Thank you for the reply,
Mike

mlhifi wrote

I will open a ticket with TP-LINK and see where we go from here.

Please, give their answer here, it's an interesting issue...

HiSpeed wrote

Please, give their answer here, it's an interesting issue...

It IS an interesting issue. Metageek have come back to me and, sadly, it's due to a limitation in the Android operating system... it only has the ability to detect the primary 20mHz channel. So, my Windows laptop is the ONLY way for me to see the real Wi-Fi situation in my area! So, if you rely on a mobile device, beware: you are NOT seeing the full picture. This, of course, still doesn't give me a way of reducing the bandwidth of my RE200. Regards all, Mike