I purchased a Netgear EX6200 wifi extender and when I set it up to my wifi network it deactivates the Airport router. I've even returned the EX6200 and tried it with a new one. The Airport router works fine with my original Netgear AC2500 extender. Any suggestions?
OS X Mavericks (10.9.3)
Not sure how this question has anything to do with an AirPort Extreme.
The Netgear AC2500 worked fine with the AirPort Extreme, so you know that the AirPort Extreme is working correctly.
The answer to questions like this can often be solved by asking......"What changed"?
What changed.....was the Netgear product.
I imagine that it would be logical to ask Netgear Support what has changed on the new EX6200?
Once you know what has changed on the Netgear product......and what their new and changed requirements might be, then post back with that information, and we might be able to tell you whether those requirements would be compatible with the AirPort Extreme.
Thanks for the feedback. After multiple back and forths with Netgear support they told me to exchange the extender, which I did. The new one has the same issues. I then was on the phone with a support tech and we did the setup from start to finish and still struck out.
Their last response to me was this morning: "To further isolate your case, please try to change the security option of the router into WPA-PSK or WPA-PSK (TKIP)-WPA2-PSK (AES). Once you change the security option of the router, kindly reset and reconfigure the extender and check whether you will experience the same problem."
I used the Airport utility to see what I have. It's listed as WPA2 Personal.
Does that sound like an appropriate thing that I should have to do to set up an extender? I'm not sure that I should have to mess around with the router to make this work.
In order to try the suggestions that Netgear has offered, you would need to change the wireless security on the AirPort Extreme from the recommended setting of WPA2 Personal to WPA/WPA2 Personal.....which is the same as WPA-PSK (TKIP).
This will lower the wireless security level on your AirPort Extreme.
If you decide to "test" out the recommendation, and the lowered security setting allows the Negear to connect, then you will have to decide whether you are willing to make that compromise.
If the Netgear extender still will not connect at the lowered security level settings, then I think you have to conclude that the changes that Netgear has made on the EX6200 have rendered it incompatible with the AirPort Extreme.
If you want to maintain the higher recommended security level on the AirPort Extreme of WPA2 Personal, then you might want to think about using another AirPort Extreme or possibly an AirPort Express, which will be totally compatible with the settings on the AirPort Extreme.
The AirPort Express...at least for now....is not "ac" compatible, so if you have an "ac" version of the AirPort Extreme and you want to be able to extend the faster "ac" signal, that would require another "ac" AirPort Extreme.
Took me a couple of days to get a chance to try. I lowered the security and had the same issue. The extender deactivated the Airport router again. I have emailed Netgear's tech support to see their next suggestion. Thanks.
As a test....
It might be interesting to temporarily turn off the wireless security on the AirPort Extreme and see if the Netgear will connect that way and extend the network correctly.
If this works, then you know that you have a security settings issue that will need to be resolved....if possible. Since you know that WPA2 does not work, and the lower WPA does not work either, I am not sure where you would go from here unless there are additional settings on the Netgear device to try.
If the no security "test" does not work, and the Netgear will not connect with no security......then it is a no brainer to conclude that it will never work with security enabled.
If this is the case, then you have to look for another Netgear product that might work.....or.....use another Apple device, which you already know will be compatible for the purpose that you want.
I'm trying to hook up a Netgear EX6200 wifi extender to the Airport Extreme. When I go thru the setup the Airport becomes deactivated.
