I had an Opal. v3.x worked OK except it often did NOT reconnect to wifi so the repeater would go down and I would have to manually connect, every day in a remote location (plenty of signal) It worked great with Samba shares to my KODI installed firestick to share files on a USB drive or flash connected to it.
I heard that 4.x would fix the reconnect issues so I ugraded the firmware. Yes, it worked better, still sometimes did not reconnect, but less often. However, the new version removed file sharing!
So I did some research and asked some questions, seemed that the Slate Plus A1300 would be better all round. So I bought one.
It isn’t. Using the latest STABLE firmware (which appears to be the same as the latest BETA it doesn’t stay connected to wifi for any length of time. And, to add insult to injury, it often cannot see wifi sources (like a hotspot) when it is RIGHT NEXT TO the router!
In addition to this issue, the SAMBA sharing doesn’t work with the KODI installed firestick at all (and is much more difficult to setup) and basic FTP shares are gone completely. DLNA seems to work, but not great.
Any manufacturer fixes? I want to like this router, but now I have 2 that aren’t really working well at all. VERY different than the original 1200 OPAL install. Well, except the wifi disconnects and never reconnect issue!
I never said i was connecting remotely. I am in the same room with the router. I already have SSH access (when connected to the host router in repeater mode)
I never said it didn’t operate. Perhaps I was unclear. When scanning for wifi, it simply doesn’t see most of the OTHER wifi signals. Including my own cellphone hotspot less than 1 foot away. I can sometimes connect as I have saved the SSID, but that isn’t guaranteed. When I can finally connect to something and it loses connectivity, it will not reconnect properly.
Have you checked in LuCI, to see if your Country Code is set correctly? Network > MTK WiFi. (It maybe slightly different on the A1300). Sometimes it’s set to US, which can cause problems.
Sorry, I missed that. Have you tried forcing using the 2.4 or 5GHz network. I’m guessing it’s currently on Auto. Just to test if it improves anything.
I’ve had a pretty glitchy experience with Repeater Mode on 4.x on Slate Plus and now Creta, but I haven’t noticed Slate Plus having trouble seeing wifi networks on 4.x.
What I have noticed is that sometimes Slate Plus with 4.x will refuse to “see” wifi networks that every other device I have can see, good signal strength, etc. I still haven’t figured out what is happening or why, but I have noticed that eventually the networks appear after waiting a few minutes.
If you can rule out that this is what you’re experiencing, and your Slate Plus is definitely not seeing nearby networks ever / at all (as opposed to some / most of the time), then I would suspect defective hardware.
Overall, 4.x firmware Repeater Mode seems to have a considerable number of bugs which make it much less useful than it could be.
I agree, its very glitchy. I am using it now with my cell phone, yet it doesn’t see it on a scan. And disconnects/reconnects randomly. Sometimes never reconnecting at all. Almost like it’s a sleep mode issue, but who knows.
Still glitchy seeing other wifi routers. But once connected it’s fine. If the other router gets rebooted, the 1300 doesnt see it so doesnt reconnect or gives up trying.
Humm… here’s a shot in the dark but are you using WPA-2 or WPA-3? I’d try WPA-2 if the latter.
… & I’d be checking the logs after ea. fresh reboot just to get a clear view of what’s happening/not happening.
logread
logread -e netifd
If there’s no improvement I’m leaning on the side of a bad radio in the Slate Plus… but a reflash & fresh logwalk isn’t something I’d ever dissuade anyone fr first doing.