Mac not agreeing with Netgear wi-fi range extender

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I'm in a basement apartment using the wi-fi from my landlords upstairs (with permission, of course), but the wi-fi in the basement is really weak, so I got a Netgear EX2700/N300 wi-fi range extender. After some initial start-up difficulties, the wi-fi signal in the basement is great, but my Mac Pro and Macbook Pro both occasionally drop the signal.

The bizarre thing is that the signal never appears to disappear, but my Macs will suddenly stop receiving internet from it. If I wait a bit, the problem resolves itself or I can go into the Network Preferences -- Assist me -- Diagnostics. At that point, the ISP, Internet, and Server lights will all be yellow. If I select my extended wi-fi network, it asks "Network Diagnostics wants to access key 'NETGEAR_EXT' in your keychain". I click 'Always Allow' and the connection re-establishes. Not a huge problem then, except that it happens multiple times a day. The quick fix makes me think the problem is on the Mac end, especially since my Android tablet never has an issue with the extended network.

I'm running OS 10.9.5 and I've downloaded the most recent firmware for the range extender. Any ideas on what the problem is?

p.s. I hope I'm not duplicate posting. The only related thread I found was this (http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/in...23-setting-u-netgear-wifi-range-extender.html) but it's not the same problem.
 

chscag

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What you're experiencing is a problem with range extenders when trying to amplify a weak signal. The reason your Android tablet or phone doesn't drop the signal is because it's probably designed to operate with a weaker signal and signal ups and downs. Your Mac Pro and MacBook Pro are more sensitive to signal fluctuations. That might be why they're dropping the signal. Have you tried re-locating the Macs to see if that made a difference?

Also, it's possible your Macs may be getting signal interference from somewhere such as a remote telephone. Since you're bootstrapping off your landlord's WiFi, you have no control over signal channel, encryption, and DNS. The real answer to your problem is to obtain your own connection and router.
 
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Thanks for your reply chscag - it makes sense that the computers might be more sensitive than mobile devices (my iPhone also seems unaffected). Moving the Macs around doesn't seem to make a difference, and the apt is pretty small in the first place so I don't think it's distance.

If I did have control over encryption, DNS, and signal channel, what changes could I make to mitigate or solve the issue?
 
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My recent experience might relate to your problem. I recently got an iPhone 5 and iPad. Both consistently dropped WiFi in my bedroom, 2 rooms away (same floor) from the router. My old iPhone 3 and Windows laptop had no problems getting a strong WiFi signal in that location. Turns out that the older devices use a 2.4gHz frequency from the router. The newer Mac devices "support" a 5gHz connection frequency, meaning that if it's available, they'll try to use it. Most routers put out both frequencies (dual-band), and are configured with the same SSID (network name) and password for both bands - meaning that your device displays one network ID, you put in the password, and your device chooses the frequency. I'm guessing your landlord's router is set up this way. Problem is, the 5gHz, although faster, is a shorter wavelength, so it's weaker. It has a problem passing through walls and has a shorter range even in open air. Thus the problem with my new 5gHz devices dropping WiFi, where my old 2.4gHz devices had no problems. Now you would think that, since the new devices CAN operate on 2.4 gHz, that they'd automatically switch to 2.4gHz when out of 5gHz range, since both bands were configured with same network ID and password. But no, the devices just dropped the signal and switched to cellular data. I solved the problem by going into the router settings and giving different SSIDs to the two frequency bands (I kept the same password for both). Thus, they show up as two different networks on my devices, and I can choose the faster 5gHz close to the router, and the stronger 2.4 gHz farther from the router. You don't have that option, since you can't reconfigure your landlord's router. Getting your own internet connection and router would be expensive. I'm guessing your Android tablet doesn't support 5gHz; therefore it uses the 2.4gHz connection and does fine. But your Mac devices are choosing the 5gHz, and showing them on the WiFi selection menu, even though the signal is too weak to use (my devices also showed the network on the WiFi menu, even after dropping the signal). Is there any way to configure your range extender to only amplify the 2.4gHz signal?
 

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