P1 not connecting to WiFI range extender

Hi there, I have a problem with a P1 not connecting to WiFi through a range extender. I did not find anything on the forum that resolved the issue, so hopefully someone may be able to assist. The following is the scenario:

  1. Home setup with fiber and WiFi router.
  2. Range extender (TP-Link TL-WA850RE)
  3. SSID of WiFi router: CNET_0725
  4. SSID of WiFi extender: MyOffice
  5. Band: 2.4GHz
  6. I can connect my phone to MyOffice and get internet access
  7. Using WiFi.scan() on the P1 provides the following log message ssid=MyOffice security=3 channel=11 rssi=-36
  8. After reset, the P1 flashes green, then goes white and then starts breathing blue. So, it sees the network but does not connect. I am quite sure the password is correct because it is the same the one used on my cell phone when I connect to the same extender.
  9. I have also run the cloud-debug tool, the output is below:

0000015090 [app] INFO: Starting Tests!
0000015090 [app] INFO: Platform: P1
0000015090 [app] INFO: Binary compiled for: 2.3.0
0000015090 [app] INFO: Cloud Debug Release 2.3.5
0000015090 [app] INFO: System version: 3.3.1
0000015091 [app] INFO: Device ID: 30003b001747393336303036
0000015091 [app] INFO: No Ethernet (not Gen 3)
0000015101 [app] INFO: Antenna: external
0000015108 [app] INFO: IP Address Configuration: dynamic
0000015115 [app] INFO: Configured credentials:
0000015130 [app] INFO: ssid=MyOffice security=wpa2 cipher=AES
0000015130 [app] INFO: Available access points:
0000015225 [app] INFO: ssid=CNET_0725_EXT security=wpa2 channel=1 rssi=-40
0000015450 [app] INFO: ssid=SmartLife-82A7 security=unsecured channel=6 rssi=-76
0000015637 [app] INFO: ssid=MyOffice security=wpa2 channel=11 rssi=-51
0000015703 [app] INFO: ssid=CNET_0725 security=wpa2 channel=11 rssi=-77
0000015853 [app] INFO: ssid=AQS_SETUP security=wpa2 channel=10 rssi=-50
0000015853 [app] INFO: ssid=HOME-TP-2 security=wpa2 channel=1 rssi=-79
0000015853 [app] INFO: ssid=HOME-TP-2 security=wpa2 channel=1 rssi=-83
0000015853 [app] INFO: ssid=HOME-TP-2 security=wpa2 channel=1 rssi=-72
0000015853 [app] INFO: Connecting to Wi-Fi
0000025854 [app] INFO: Still trying to connect to Wi-Fi 00:10
0000035854 [app] INFO: Still trying to connect to Wi-Fi 00:20
0000045854 [app] INFO: Still trying to connect to Wi-Fi 00:30
0000055854 [app] INFO: Still trying to connect to Wi-Fi 00:40
0000065854 [app] INFO: Still trying to connect to Wi-Fi 00:50
0000075854 [app] INFO: Still trying to connect to Wi-Fi 01:00

Any ideas ?

There is no obvious reason it should not work. The SSID broadcast is seen by WiFi.scan so it is visible on 2.4 GHz. Security type is 3 (WPA2) so that should work.

The only thing is if your password has non-ASCII character in it (accented characters and such), which don't work well on the Photon 1 and P1.

Hi @rickkas7, thanks for your suggestion. To test out what you said I hard-coded the credentials in the P1 software. I still had no success. The SSID and password uses only standard alphanumeric characters. For the TP-link extender mentioned I also put it in AP mode and connected it to my network switch with an ethernet cable, and even this did not work. As before, WiFi.scan() sees the station, but does not connect. I also made sure the channel bandwidth is set to 20MHz. I tried a Xiaomi Mi WiFi Range extender without any luck either. In all cases I checked the station's characteristics with a WiFi scanner app called WiFiman, and cannot see anything weird. Even tried it on other P1 based units. Finally I went out and bought just a cheap WiFi Router/AP (Tenda F3) and it worked right away.

This is bizarre! My takeaway is, steer clear of any WiFi extender/repeater, even supporting an AP mode, if you need to reach units that are far away. Of course, this was tested out only with the ones I mentioned, other brands/models may be fine.

I would like to understand what the root cause of this is because in all cases I could connect to the WiFi station with my cellphone, but the P1 flatly refused. Will it be different with for instance a P2 or other versions of deviceOS (for the record I am using 3.3.1 with the P1) ?

Any other ideas out there ?

Without knowing the cause I can't say for sure what might work.

But the P2/Photon 2/M-SoM are entirely different from the P1. They have a different MCU and Wi-Fi stack, and support both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, so there is a possibility it may work more like a phone.

The version of Device OS on the P1 is unlikely to make a difference unless you are running a very, very old version like 0.4.6 instead of any 1.x, 2.x ,or 3.x version.

Thanks @rickkas7. I am now upgrading our product to the P2 so for any new P1 installations we will just avoid using any range extenders and hopefully not see the same issue with the P2.