Netgear extender overriding HubOne router

[#1]

We recently got a Netgear extender to extend the wifi range. It works as it's supposed to but it's blocked the HubOne router and we can only connect to wifi via the extender. This is despite the router strength being significantly stronger than the extender (e.g. Can't connect to router in the same room but can get a poor connection to the extender three rooms away). Any advice to resolve this would be appreciated.

[#2]

If you are in same room as Hub One, can you confirm if you completely shut down your wifi device (and I do mean turn it off completely).  Then turn it back on, does it now connect to Hub One ?

In general wifi devices will lock onto first signal they see and will stubbornly stay connected to it even if the signal is weak.  The signal has to completely disappear before the wifi device will seek out a stronger signal.  

Mesh wifi systems like BT's Whole Home wifi overcome this issue.

[#3]

Have you given the extender a different SSID name to the HubOne?

[#4]

I've tried forgetting network, resettIng etc. The router and extender have different names so it's clear when connecting. If the extender is switched on the router signal is strong but just does not function. I called Plusnet for technical help but they only suggested changing the router channel and if that didn't work then I need to speak to Netgear.

The extender does its job perfectly but I don't understand why a weak signal from it 40ft away is of more interest to my laptop/iPad/two IPhones than a seemingly strong router which is 3ft away!

I changed the channel from 11 to 6 and it made absolutely no difference. I assume it is a configuration issue but I can't work out what else to do.

[#5]

I used to use a Netgear extender, can't remember how I set it up - but I think when you set it up you tell it the SSID of what you want it to extend and it automatically chooses that name and appends something like _EXT on the end. May not be the same model but possibly similar.

So unless the OP has changed it I would imagine that is not the issue. I guess first thing is to turn off the extender and see if the router wireless works, so you know that is causing the problem.

But yes, still worth checking the SSID's as @Gel said. Though I am not sure quite how wireless works - you would see two SSID's of the same name, and wouldn't it work by connecting via the WiFi MAC address.

Though I could be wrong.

[#6]

Router works perfectly when the extender is turned off. Sadly if the extender is turned off teenage son's gaming computer has no wifi. Using the extender solved teenager's computer problem brilliantly but just moved the problem to a different area of the house. We don't live in a mansion so I just don't understand why the router and extebder won't play nicely together. Do you think it would make a difference if I got a Netgear router instead of the HubOne?

[#7]

On your HubOne are the 2 channels broadcasting with same SSID. Perhaps trying giving the 5ghz a differing one?

[#8]

Thanks. I'll try that. The extender has separate names for each channel but the router doesn't. I'm not sure that will change anything though as I can connect to both of the extender channels and not at all to the router. This is despite the router appearing to connect but doesn't function when I try to actually use it to download emails.

[#9]

Thanks for the suggestion of changing the name on one of the channels. I did this and put the extender and the teenager's gaming computer on the 5GHz channel and everything else on the 2.4GHz channel and so far it's working well.