2 TP-Link Products not working well together

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2 TP-Link Products not working well together

This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
2 TP-Link Products not working well together
2 TP-Link Products not working well together
2020-07-24 02:12:25
Model: Archer A7  
Hardware Version:
Firmware Version:

Cross posting in extender subforum as well, because I am not sure if this is a problem with the router, or the extender.

 

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I have a TP-Link Archer A7 Router and a TP-Link re200 v2.0


The TPLink re200 apparently only gets onemesh at v3.0 and v4.0, so mine doesn't have it, even though I ordered it only 3 months ago.

 

However, you'd still think they could work okay together, being the whole point of the range extender is to extend the range.

 

I have my router on the main floor and my extender upstairs (connected via ethernet cable). The network names/passwords/etc. are the same.

 

The problem is when walking from upstairs to downstairs, connectivity is lost, and I have to toggle wifi on/off (or switch between the 2.4ghz and 5ghz networks, either way, essentially reconnect).

 

I've gone through every setting, troubleshooted multiple times, and it's very frustrating losing connection when merely walking downstairs.

 

Maybe OneMesh would fix this, maybe not, but it's hard to trust a company when their own products don't even work well together.

 

Thoughts?

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#1
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Re:2 TP-Link Products not working well together
2020-07-24 11:20:24
I have a C7 and an RE200 v1 working fine. I am using a WIFI connection between the router and extender instead of an Ethernet connection and my SSIDs are different with a suffix of .EXT on the extender SSID. I use one band for transmit and the other to receive. We have iPads and phones that we use through out the house. I do not move around while streaming so I do not know what would happen as I change from one band or device to the other but would expect a disruption. However, I do not need to do anything to establish a connection when bands or devices change.
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#2
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Re:2 TP-Link Products not working well together
2020-07-24 16:16:30
Thanks for your input! I have them on the same SSID, as I want to extend the network, not create a second one. If there was a second, I'd imagine it would have the same problem--be upstairs on the extension, go downstairs, lose connectivity until it connected to the main floor wifi. That's what it's doing now, rather than switching over. Very disappointing.
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#3
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Re:2 TP-Link Products not working well together
2020-07-24 17:32:23
As I understand, a Mesh system should work seamlessly and a Non-mesh extender will not.
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#4
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Re:2 TP-Link Products not working well together
2020-07-24 20:34:13

@arebelspy 

 

I make my SSIDs different like @ArcherC8 reason being, having the same SSID seems convenient, but you have no control over what your device will do.

 

You can have a case where a device tries to stay connected to an AP even though there is another named the same closer. 

 

Having two APs named the same won't give a seamless connection when it jumps from one AP to the other, you will have a network drop as it communicates and connects over.

 

At least with having different SSIDs, you know which network you are connecting to, and know when to switch over. 

 

OneMesh would take care of all that, but since that is not an option I think different SSIDs would be the next best option.

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#5
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