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RE450 cannot use 5 GHz host network

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RE450 cannot use 5 GHz host network

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RE450 cannot use 5 GHz host network
RE450 cannot use 5 GHz host network
2020-09-13 17:19:17
Model: RE450  
Hardware Version: V2
Firmware Version: 1.0.4 Build 20171220 Rel. 73615

I purchased the RE450 to extend my 2.4 and 5 GHz networks of my ASUS RT-AC3200 tri-band router.

 

I've configured the RE450 to extend both a 2.4 and a 5 GHz network.

 

As host network, I use the 2.4 GHz network of my router. This works fine, but is slow.

 

If I enable the 5 GHz network as a host network, I get fast speeds and everything works fine for a short period of time (a few minutes to a few hours) until the extended networks cannot reach the internet anymore. I can reboot the RE450 to get things working again for a short time. If I disable the 5 GHz host network on the RE450 (which I can still do via the web-interface reached on a wifi network on my router), everything is stable and works again but it is slow.

 

The 5 GHz network I'm using as the host network is on channel 153. It is 80 MHz wide. There are no other 5 GHz networks on channels 100 - 165 in my area.

 

The placing of the RE450 doesn't seem to be a problem. The signal is plenty strong. I did try moving the RE450 close to the router, but I still see the same behavior. I don't think it is a signal strength, RE450 placement, or signal interference issue.

 

When I turn on the 5 GHz host network on the RE450, the Sytem Log (on the RE450) shows two identical entries: "ERROR: 2.4/5GHz failed the connection to the front end, due to: Connecting timed out." I assume there is one message for each of the two host networks. I'm not sure if this is relevant because one second later, I see in the log that the connection was successful and keys were exchanged with the front end. So it looks like the connection back to the router was established fine.

 

Below are my 5 GHz settings on the router, which I believe are the default settings. Is there anything that is not compatible with the RE450?

 

Any help would be appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Lumbuji

 

 

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#1
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6 Reply
Re:RE450 cannot use 5 GHz host network
2020-09-14 22:52:58

@Lumbuji 

 

I'd place the RE450 in the same room of the router just to rule out distance being the issue as 5G doesn't travel that far.

 

If that checks out, leave the router on Auto for width and channel, factory reset the extender and set it up to the 5G. 

 

If the drops still continue I would reach out to support at that point.

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#2
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Re:RE450 cannot use 5 GHz host network
2020-09-18 10:56:48

@Tony 

 

Thanks, Tony. I did try to move the RE450 close to the router, and I'm still seeing the same problem.

 

I found that my ASUS router was using a legacy setting on the 2.4 GHz network to be backward compatible with b/g networks. That was slowing down my 2.4 GHz network. Once I changed that setting, my 2.4 GHz network is much faster and can now be used as the host network for the RE450.

 

It is stable and the speed is usable with the 2.4 GHz host network. I still don't know how to use the 5 GHz network as the host, but since I need the RE450 for my son's online schooling and things are currently stable and working, I don't want to experiment further.

 

I noticed that the RE450 uses TKIP encryption instead of AES. I don't see any way to change that. TKIP is considered weak, so I'm surprised that a product sold in 2020 has that as the only option!

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#3
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Re:RE450 cannot use 5 GHz host network
2020-09-18 18:12:26

@Lumbuji 

 

The extender pulls the encryption from the router. You will need to specifically set the router to WPA2 + AES. Then set up the extender through the web browser, do the quick set up so it can adopt the AES.

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#4
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Re:RE450 cannot use 5 GHz host network
2020-09-18 18:24:27

@Tony 

 

Interesting. My router is set up with WPA2-Personal / AES for all networks. But the RE450 provides TKIP encryption for the extended networks.

 

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#5
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Re:RE450 cannot use 5 GHz host network
2020-09-18 20:53:13

@Lumbuji 

 

Is the router set up for both WPA2-PSK (TKIP) + (AES) or Auto or only WPA2-PSK-AES like below?:

 

 

If that is what the router is running, set up the extender but through the web browser rather then tether. 

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#6
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Re:RE450 cannot use 5 GHz host network
2020-09-18 21:59:29

@Tony 

 

The router is set to WPA2-Personal with AES only. It is not set to auto or TKIP/AES.

 

My iPhone warns me about TKIP networks. There is no warning for the router networks, but there is a warning for the RE450 extended networks.

 

I did set up the RE450 through the web interface.

 

 

 

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