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Tenda MW6 Nova Whole Home Mesh WiFi System Reviewed

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View attachment 12911 View attachment 12912 I am in the same boat as all of you, bought the MW6 for backhaul reasons otherwise I could just use cheap extenders. Anyhow, using the method above my “main” cube that is connected to the modem says “Gateway” but the other ones do not so I have no idea if they are wires or wireless. I connected one of the other two cubes using the LAN port to the main cubes LAN port but can’t see the difference or confirm if it’s wired. Any advice is appreciated. Their support is clueless, and says it can’t be done or tell me the tech expert will call me back...

Attached pics of the Basement which is the main(Gateway) and Office which are wired.

Based on your pics they are connected wired. If there were connected wirelessly you would see the typical signal bars similar to your cellphone. The "<...>" symbol means its connected via ethernet. You can mix and match wireless and wired backhaul. Simply do not connect the 2nd ethernet port marked with the same "<...>" symbol to the network and you'll be connected wirelessly on that node.
 
1ED96F16-4ABD-433E-97AD-6A987A49CFB5.png Makes sense thank you big help. Looking at the one that is not connected via Ethernet it has the signal per attached. Mystery solved.
 
I just received this email from Tenda about up coming (2018) firmware releases...

"Just to let you know, we will add AP steering, QoS, Parental control with content filter, etc into the next firmware release coming before June 1st. We believe you will have a better experience with this new update..." - Tenda

for you which is better? (photos of the interior)
Tenda Nova WM6 V1 (Release 08/23/2017)
Tenda Nova WM6 V2 (Release 05/09/2018)
 

Attachments

  • Tenda Nova WM6 V1.pdf
    1.5 MB · Views: 874
  • Tenda Nova WM6 V2.pdf
    2.2 MB · Views: 1,087
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Hi all...
I have some problem with the backhaul...
I have the 3 Nova kit, i have connected the first one a week ago to test it in bridged mode, and it work.

Now i have connected the 2 one with lan cable, i can see on app but without backhaul, it keep connecting with wifi...

I have resetted it, put near the first for some time and then moved to the new room with the backhaul...

No solution...

Help
 
Hi all...
I have some problem with the backhaul...
I have the 3 Nova kit, i have connected the first one a week ago to test it in bridged mode, and it work.

Now i have connected the 2 one with lan cable, i can see on app but without backhaul, it keep connecting with wifi...

I have resetted it, put near the first for some time and then moved to the new room with the backhaul...

No solution...

Help
Hi,

I had the issue at first. Unplug the power and remove the Ethernet cable. Plug it back in and let it connect via wifi first. Once connected plug in the Ethernet cable into the port with this logo ( <--> ). Then go into the app and you should see the same logo by connection quality on that Nova. If that doesn't work, confirm your Ethernet is working by just plugging it into your laptop.
 
Hi all...
I have some problem with the backhaul...
I have the 3 Nova kit, i have connected the first one a week ago to test it in bridged mode, and it work.

Now i have connected the 2 one with lan cable, i can see on app but without backhaul, it keep connecting with wifi...

I have resetted it, put near the first for some time and then moved to the new room with the backhaul...

No solution...

Help

I have added and removed nodes before. Its absolutely unnecessary to connect via WiFi to start. This may have been a requirement with older firmware but the current firmware does not require it.

All nodes, even the "master" that connects to the internet, must be connected via the 2nd "<...>" port. What this means is all nodes that want to connect via backhaul must be able to reach each other via the 2nd port. Make sure the master isn't wired backwards; I don't recall clearly but I believe master doesn't care which port is connected to the internet and thus adds to the confusion. Make sure the internet is connected to the port with the globe symbol; and all other nodes including the master linked via the "<...>" port.

Furthermore, all additional nodes should also be removed and re-added since the software occasionally becomes confused regarding your configuration.
 
Tnx all, i have plugged the first node with wan port, moved to the 2nd port and now both works with backhaul...
 
Bridge Mode - DHCP mode: I found the post from candleman very useful. I had issue because I was connected be behind a router and set the MW6 as DHCP. This caused all kinds of issues. Once I changed it to bridge mode things started to fall into place. Individuals with network issues should check to insure there network is connected correctly for their MW6 configuration.

How to reset MW6:
Has anyone figured out how to to completely reset the MW6?

Backhaul Wired vs Wireless: I have noticed when my backhaul is wireless I can still get my max internet speed. makes me wonder if I need have a wired connection. BTW my internet is 50Mbps.
 
Do the Novas have to be directly connected to each other for ethernet backhaul, or can they go through a switch? I am using the R7000 that the MW6 replaced as a switch, but there seems to be trouble once I plug in one of the non-master Novas with an ethernet cable for backhaul. The whole thing blows up and can't wirelessly connect to the routers until I remove the cable. Plugging a laptop into the R7000 gets internet no problem so that seems to be working.
 
Mine showed up last nite. Turned the wi-fi off on the Fios Actiontec router, created a wireless network with the same name and credentials as the ActionTec on the MW-6 and switched to bridge mode on the WM-6. Took about 15 minutes after the software/firmware update. Easy, peasy.

It's using the wireless backhaul and signal strength (and throughput) throughout the house is now awesome where I previously had dropouts in several parts of the house.

Two thumbs up!
 
Yes you can but you have to use a switch and not a router. I’m using tp link 8 port smart switch and ethernet backhaul works for me. Maybe you can try enabling bridge mode on your R7000 so that the main nova handles the dhcp.

Do the Novas have to be directly connected to each other for ethernet backhaul, or can they go through a switch? I am using the R7000 that the MW6 replaced as a switch, but there seems to be trouble once I plug in one of the non-master Novas with an ethernet cable for backhaul. The whole thing blows up and can't wirelessly connect to the routers until I remove the cable. Plugging a laptop into the R7000 gets internet no problem so that seems to be working.
 
A little less then a week of usage. Overall, stellar performances. But.....

I've experienced some odd "locational" issues on my Nexus 7 tablet.

I use the app "Twilight" to adjust the display tones at night. (turns off the blue display after dark). On Tuesday evening the app didn't seem to be working. So I opened it up and it indicated that it was in the middle of the day. Twilight uses a iplocation function to determine the geographic whereabouts of the device to set the appropriate tone level. The autolocation feature indicated that I was on the east coast of China..... H'mmm. I manually reset the location and went to bed.

A day or so later, I engaged the autolocation function to see it it would repeat the location issue, but it accurately positioned the location. Until the next morning, when it told me I was back in China.

Yesterday, I got up and looked at my tablet and this notification was showing:

Screenshot.jpg


As Weather Underground shows, I'm in Reston, VA. Google, however thinks I'm in Fuzhou, which is on the east coast of China.

The weird part is this is the only device that uses wi-fi in my house that has demonstrated this behavior.

This makes me fairly uncomfortable as obviously some segment of my traffic is being routed through China. I've done some basic investigation using iplocation.net and online TraceRoute functions and nothing odd emerged, but I'm really don't know what I'm doing.

Has anyone else experienced this? I'm within the Amazon 30 day return window and I'm giving serious thoughts to sending it back and biting the bullet and getting the Ubiquiti Amplifi system.

Thanks!
 
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Okay, we're done.

I fired up my wife's rather ancient Acer tablet, and Weather Underground is giving a notification of weather in Fishi, which is north east of Fuzhou.

I'll turn the thing off today and return it.

Be forewarned.
 
Haven’t gone back to the wired backhaul yet, but does anyone know how to reboot the system from the app?
 
Bridge Mode - DHCP mode: I found the post from candleman very useful. I had issue because I was connected be behind a router and set the MW6 as DHCP. This caused all kinds of issues. Once I changed it to bridge mode things started to fall into place. Individuals with network issues should check to insure there network is connected correctly for their MW6 configuration.

How to reset MW6:
Has anyone figured out how to to completely reset the MW6?

Backhaul Wired vs Wireless: I have noticed when my backhaul is wireless I can still get my max internet speed. makes me wonder if I need have a wired connection. BTW my internet is 50Mbps.

Wired vs wireless backhaul
I have had issues with wired backhaul over an ethernet network in the house.
Solution as stated by candleman: connect the gateway (first nova) directly to the router via wan connection. From there with lan connection to the switch, and from the switch to LAN network in house. Like this, wherever in the house a nova is connected directly to LAN, it uses wired backhaul (sign<....>). Like this, all nodes are connected to each other via the LAN connection, and only the starting node uses the WAN connection (in) and LAN connection (out). Worked great for me and runs in well in DCHP mode, bridge mode not necessary.
 
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Hi everyone,

I setup two Tenda MW6's and so far so good, except that my laptops (Dell 15 7000 with wireless AC and a Surface Pro 3) won't connect to the 5 Ghz band no matter what I've tried. I forced both laptops via advanced properties to only use 5 Ghz, but the Dell won't even see the 5 Ghz band and my Surface Pro 3 sees it, but won't connect. The Dell sees all of my neighbors 5 Ghz SSID's, but not mine. All of our cell phones connect to 5 Ghz with no problems. Any ideas? By the way, this is an issue because 2.4 Ghz is data transfer is too slow. 5 Ghz should be much faster as seen on my cell phones. Speedtest.net shows about 20mbps versus over 130mbps on my cell phones.

I'm using firmware 1.0.0.16 and rebooted the devices and still have the same issue.

Thanks,

George
 

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