Netgear network extender not seen by Rivian, will another work?

[dcmackintosh]

I'm not super tech savvy, but I had set up a Netgear R7000 router in our house, and have a Netgear EX6100 extender closer to the garage, which gives a strong enough signal to be used by our Enphase solar system and other cars over the last several years. The Netgear extender uses the same network names, adding "_2GEXT" or "_5GEXT" to the end.

When in the driveway, our 2025 Gen 2 R1S sees and connects to the main router signals, behaving as expected, downloading 2024.35, etc. In the garage, those signals are too weak, as expected, but it does not even display the extender signals in the list of available networks, like any other device I've tried. Someone has suggested that the Rivian does not like names with certain characters, like an underscore, and I figured out how to change that, but the car still doesn't see that network.

Has anyone successfully used another wireless network extender with their Rivian? Particularly with a Netgear router? I'd rather not have to replace my router and reconnect all of my devices.

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[godfodder0901]

I'm not super tech savvy, but I had set up a Netgear R7000 router in our house, and have a Netgear EX6100 extender closer to the garage, which gives a strong enough signal to be used by our Enphase solar system and other cars over the last several years. The Netgear extender uses the same network names, adding "_2GEXT" or "_5GEXT" to the end.

When in the driveway, our 2025 Gen 2 R1S sees and connects to the main router signals, behaving as expected, downloading 2024.35, etc. In the garage, those signals are too weak, as expected, but it does not even display the extender signals in the list of available networks, like any other device I've tried. Someone has suggested that the Rivian does not like names with certain characters, like an underscore, and I figured out how to change that, but the car still doesn't see that network.

Has anyone successfully used another wireless network extender with their Rivian? Particularly with a Netgear router? I'd rather not have to replace my router and reconnect all of my devices.

Use UniFi. Also, the newest update should make the special characters acceptable. Also, turn off band steering and WPA3.

 

[Osyras]

Use UniFi. Also, the newest update should make the special characters acceptable. Also, turn off band steering and WPA3.

Band steering and WPA3 are a good start but the device is potentially 10 years old as they were introduced in 2014. (it is probably newer than that, but something to consider if it is that old, than upgrade might be needed)

Look for the Wifi security setting and make sure it is set to WPA2 specifically and not WPA2/WPA3 or Auto.

For Band Steering, make sure you are configuring the networks seperatly, if not there should be an option to configure them seperatly or a config called Band Steering that you can disable.

I have many Unify AP's and a controller on our property but I feel they are more for folks that have a good idea on wifi and networking.

Good Luck

 

[Supratachophobia]

I'm not super tech savvy, but I had set up a Netgear R7000 router in our house, and have a Netgear EX6100 extender closer to the garage, which gives a strong enough signal to be used by our Enphase solar system and other cars over the last several years. The Netgear extender uses the same network names, adding "_2GEXT" or "_5GEXT" to the end.

When in the driveway, our 2025 Gen 2 R1S sees and connects to the main router signals, behaving as expected, downloading 2024.35, etc. In the garage, those signals are too weak, as expected, but it does not even display the extender signals in the list of available networks, like any other device I've tried. Someone has suggested that the Rivian does not like names with certain characters, like an underscore, and I figured out how to change that, but the car still doesn't see that network.

Has anyone successfully used another wireless network extender with their Rivian? Particularly with a Netgear router? I'd rather not have to replace my router and reconnect all of my devices.

The Netgear extenders are completely and udder rubbish, hot hot garbage if you will.

But also keep in mind that any extender is going to give you a higher quality signal of whatever the crappy % it's picking up. So if you have 1 bar at the extender, you are going to get 5 bars of 1 crappy bar.

Regarding your specific problem, I assume these networks are not hidden in their settings? And verify what WPA level or god forbid, WEP level you are at.

 

[Supratachophobia]

Band steering and WPA3 are a good start but the device is potentially 10 years old as they were introduced in 2014. (it is probably newer than that, but something to consider if it is that old, than upgrade might be needed)

Look for the Wifi security setting and make sure it is set to WPA2 specifically and not WPA2/WPA3 or Auto.

For Band Steering, make sure you are configuring the networks seperatly, if not there should be an option to configure them seperatly or a config called Band Steering that you can disable.

I have many Unify AP's and a controller on our property but I feel they are more for folks that have a good idea on wifi and networking.

Good Luck

The default settings on unifi are pretty solid and approachable. I have 50 or so sites and for many, the default Wi-Fi settings are adequate.

 

[SwampNut]

Extenders are pretty terrible, and that's an old one. I'd recommend upgrading the entire network to a proper mesh system, which provides multiple AP zones that connect to each other via a separate channel. I am currently using the Orbi 960 system which is crazy fast and very long range, but expensive. The TP-Link Deco AXE5400 is a great low-cost choice, and available at Sam's Club with a big discount.

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