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Struggling with 2860ac / AP900 WiFi Set-up

  • rjsdavis
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17 Aug 2019 01:38 #1 by rjsdavis
Hello to all

I'm struggling to set-up my AP900 with my 2860ac router. I'm a reasonable user, but not a super-user / tech, so the 258 page AP900 manual is a little much for me!

All I want to do, is set-up the AP900 to repeat and spread the WiFi signal around the house to increase speed and signal strength. It's a bit irritating to find that I can't set this AP900 to do this simultaneously on both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies simultaneously! Therefore, I've opted to use 2.4Ghz, as all WiFi devices in the house can use it.

I've set 2.4G to Universal Repeater and 5G to AP.

I've had the AP900 connected to my 2860ac via an ethernet cable, into Port A1 on the AP900. I've accessed the AP via the 2860 control panel, by clicking on the AP section underneath "Central Management". It showed the AP900 icon, and clicked through into the device without problems, which had been allocated 192.168.1.20 as an IP address.

I tried using the Quick Start Wizard from the AP900 control panel, but this didn't seem to work at all well. So, I started to use the various sub-headings, underneath the Wireless LAN - 2.4 Ghz menu heading on the left-hand control panel. It seemed to be the AP Discovery menu screens that are key - it scanned the WiFi networks, found the 2.4 Ghz signal from the 2860ac router, I selected it etc, and all seemed to be well.

When I scanned for WiFi networks on my laptop after I thought I had finished setting it up, it found a "hidden network" which was secured, in addition to the main 2.4G and 5G WiFi networks from the 2860. I went through the set-up screens again, and found that I had inadvertently "hidden" the SSID on the 2.4G channel. I removed the tick, the AP reset, and the hidden network disappeared from a WiFi scan.

The problem is, I'm not sure if this actually now works? If it's working, should I still just expect to see the same two WiFi networks as broadcast from the 2860 router, but that the signal strength would/should be far stronger now? Or should I now be seeing a third WiFi network when I scan for WiFi networks from a device? I am confused, as I did have a hidden network showing, which was distinctly separate from the 2.4G and 5G WiFi signals, and now there isn't a third distinct WiFi signal. That's what is throwing me a bit...

On the AP900 unit, the ACT light is blinking on / off slowly but steadily. The 2.4Ghz light blinks alot and randomly, as if it is transferring data. That's it. I just can't figure out if this is now working as it should and is actually set-up, or if I've completely botched the set-up as I'm not really totally sure what I'm doing!

Many thanks for any replies!

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