Range extenders keep spoofing the MAC of my router

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Range extenders keep spoofing the MAC of my router

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Range extenders keep spoofing the MAC of my router
Range extenders keep spoofing the MAC of my router
2023-04-17 21:55:42 - last edited 2023-04-17 22:02:05
Model: RE700X  
Hardware Version: V1
Firmware Version: 1.1.0 Build 20220105 Rel. 72283

I have a flat class C home network. My network consisted of an Asus router and four TP-Link range extenders: Three were RE605X's and one was an RE700X. For the past six months I've had "gremlins" on my home network that I couldn't track down. I even replaced my router, thinking it was the issue. Eventually I discovered via traceroutes that when my network issues surfaced, the affected machines would have two hops to the router. The first hop was a TP-Link extender, the second was the actual router. The first hops would alternate between my three RE605X's. Investigating further I found in my ARP tables that the extenders were spoofing the MAC address of my router, causing the router to hit them first. This happened to my wired and wireless devices. I removed the RE605X's and kept the RE700X and the problem went away for a while so I figured that one of them had old or bad firmware. Unfortunately I lost the password to the one that I thought was the problem and I can't log in without factory resetting it, which means I'll never see if the issue was a configuration setting or what.

 

Anyways, the problem has resurfaced with only my RE700X in service. One of my PCs was having intermittent connectivity and a route print showed that it was hitting the RE700X before hitting the router. This PC is wired, Windows Server 2019.  Why does this keep happening and how do I fix it?

 

Below is what it looks like when the problem occurs:

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Re:Range extenders keep spoofing the MAC of my router
2023-04-17 22:25:04

  @JerkyChew,

Usually this is a result of the Range Extender replacing the address of the device with the beginning of its own address - You should see that the MAC addresses of connected devices will be the same for the first half, with only a few digits changed and relayed back to your router.

 

This is a result of how REs have developed. The behavior you are seeing is a result of the Proxy Mode that most modern RE's use. You should be able to configure routes and settings on your rotuer using the reported MAC addresses, as only half is swapped out and each is still unique to the device and which RE it is connected to - you may also take a look at configuring the Access Control settings so that devices don't have the potential to roam between the two REs.

 

Out of curiosity, are you able to wire either of the REs? Connecting these REs to the network with a wired connection allows them to be configured as APs, which is miles better in performance and stability than as a wireless range extender.

 

To put your mind at ease, the RE605 is the only RE that we have that uses Universal Mode, rather than proxy mode, but is more subject to issues or disconnects as a result. That is why you did not see the behavior on that model.

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