NETGEAR EX6400 AC1900 Review: Conditional Buy (6/10)
One detail keeps popping up like a bad horror-movie jump scare: “all lights are green,” yet phones still see “no internet.” That disconnect between what the device signals and what people experience shapes almost every story around the NETGEAR WiFi Mesh Range Extender EX6400 AC1900—and it’s why the overall verdict lands at a conditional 6/10.
Digging deeper into community troubleshooting threads, the EX6400 often does deliver strong range and speed when it behaves, but some owners describe a recurring failure mode where Wi‑Fi clients stay associated while traffic dies, forcing reboots. One NETGEAR Communities poster said: “i have reset and connected extender to router , all lights are green… and it says no internet… still no internet from extender.”
On Amazon, the renewed listing’s 3.9/5 rating frames that same tension: it’s an appealing “create your own mesh wifi system” promise on paper, but user narratives (where provided here) skew heavily toward stability and “connected but no internet” frustrations rather than day-to-day “set it and forget it” success.
Quick Verdict
The NETGEAR WiFi Mesh Range Extender EX6400 AC1900 is a Conditional buy: Yes if you can tolerate occasional troubleshooting or rebooting; No if you need high reliability for always-on Wi‑Fi clients.
| What buyers say (data-backed) | Evidence from provided data | Practical implication |
|---|---|---|
| Setup can be easy at first | NETGEAR Communities user: “it was easy to set up and connect” | Good for non-technical households initially |
| Performance can be excellent when stable | NETGEAR Communities user: “offers outstanding performance” | Works well for streaming/gaming when it holds connection |
| Major “connected but no internet” reports | “all lights are green… but no internet” | Can break smart-home, work calls, or streaming mid-session |
| Wired Ethernet can keep working even when Wi‑Fi fails | “a device wired… has an internet connection that works fine” | Useful if you mainly bridge one wired device |
| Reboot becomes the recurring “fix” | “The only solution is to reboot the extender” | Ongoing maintenance burden |
Claims vs Reality
Claim 1: “Seamless roaming” / “one WiFi name” convenience.
Marketing leans hard on the idea you can “freely move around your home without the fear of disconnecting,” with “smart roaming” and a unified network name. But the sharpest user frustration isn’t the roam itself—it’s what happens when the extender’s Wi‑Fi looks connected, and devices don’t roam away even though the internet is effectively gone.
A NETGEAR Communities poster described the trap: “all attached devices on the extender would show a ‘ no internet connection ’… after working for a while… the router and all devices connected directly to it would still have an internet connection.” For mobile users, the roaming promise becomes a liability if the phone clings to the extender’s SSID while service is dead.
Claim 2: “FastLane technology… ideal for HD streaming & gaming.”
On paper, the EX6400 is positioned as a speed-friendly extender: “use both wifi bands to establish one super high-speed connection.” User feedback here supports the potential upside—when it’s working. One NETGEAR Communities reviewer said: “when it is working properly this product offers outstanding performance.”
Digging deeper into the same account, the speed story is undermined by uptime: “i could not get the ex6400 to work for even one day without having to reboot it.” For gamers and streamers, the problem isn’t peak throughput; it’s unpredictable drops that force manual resets.
Claim 3: “Easy set up… with the Nighthawk app… takes just minutes.”
The official materials emphasize quick setup and “push of the button.” Real-world reports don’t contradict that first step; they show the hard part is what happens later. A recurring pattern emerged in the community thread: initial success, followed by the “no internet” state returning after minutes or hours.
One user summarized it as: “the ex6400 is set up properly and works fine… for a while. then all devices connected via wifi say they are connected but no internet connection.” The gap isn’t setup difficulty—it’s stability after setup.
Cross-Platform Consensus
Universally Praised
When the EX6400 behaves, users describe a very specific win: a dramatic improvement in dead zones without changing the entire router ecosystem. That is exactly what the product is pitched for—extending coverage—so the praise reads like relief from people stuck with weak signal pockets. The marketing promise of “boost your existing network range” aligns with why buyers show up in the first place.
For households that just need a stronger signal in one corner of the home, the story often starts optimistically. A NETGEAR Communities reviewer called it “easy to set up and connect,” describing a straightforward pairing with a NETGEAR R6250 router and placement where the extender “position[ed] in a location with a strong wifi signal.” That scenario—extender placed correctly, paired cleanly—is the user type most likely to see the “outstanding performance” the same reviewer acknowledged.
Another consistently positive theme is the wired usefulness of the extender. Even in failure stories, Ethernet is portrayed as the dependable fallback. One community user said: “a device wired to the ethernet port on the extender has an internet connection that works fine.” For someone trying to get a game console, smart TV, or streaming box online in a weak-signal room, that single Gigabit Ethernet port can be the difference between stable video and buffering—at least for the wired device.
There’s also a quiet appreciation for how the device’s status lights can be misleadingly reassuring—owners mention “all lights are green” repeatedly. While that’s not praise in the traditional sense, it shows the LED system successfully communicates “connected to router” status, even if it doesn’t guarantee “internet is usable,” which becomes important in the complaint section.
- Best-fit user type: someone bridging one wired device in a tough room
- Best-case experience described: “offers outstanding performance” (NETGEAR Communities)
- Setup sentiment when it works: “easy to set up and connect” (NETGEAR Communities)
Common Complaints
The dominant complaint is not subtle: devices connect to the extender’s Wi‑Fi, yet they can’t reach the internet. Multiple people independently describe the same symptoms—green lights, Wi‑Fi association, “no internet.” A NETGEAR Communities poster wrote: “all lights are green… i go to connect my phone to extender… and it says no internet… still no internet from extender.”
A recurring pattern emerged around time-based degradation. One user said the EX6400 “works fine… for a while,” then collapses into “connected but no internet connection,” while the main router remains fine: “no issues with the internet on netgear r6250 router that is the main connection.” This matters most for remote workers, smart-home owners, and families streaming continuously—any environment where a mid-day manual reboot is more than an annoyance.
The “fix” itself is a major part of the complaint: rebooting becomes routine. A community reviewer put it plainly: “The only solution is to reboot the extender ( not the router ). sometimes the problem would occur within minutes , sometimes hours.” That’s an especially bad fit for users who bought into the “mesh” narrative expecting modern reliability and hands-off roaming.
Some complaints also involve support frustration and a sense of being stuck. One user described “5 calls… hours on the phone with netgear tech support,” being told to chase interference sources like “a microwave oven or cordless telephone,” moving the extender, changing router channels, updating firmware—and still seeing the same failure. The tone hardened into a verdict: “don’t waste your time ; there is apparently no known fix.”
- Most damaging symptom: Wi‑Fi shows connected but traffic dies (“no internet connection”)
- Most affected user types: work-from-home, smart-home-heavy households, anyone needing uptime
- Most common workaround: rebooting the extender repeatedly
Divisive Features
The EX6400’s “one WiFi name” and roaming promise cuts both ways depending on how the failure manifests. For people who only ever noticed weak signal before, sharing a unified network name can feel like a modern upgrade—no juggling different SSIDs as you walk around.
But digging deeper into the same roaming behavior, one user described a downside when the extender loses internet while still advertising Wi‑Fi: “because the wifi is still connected the iphone / ipad would automatically revert to using cellular data… The devices would not revert to the weaker router signal which still had an internet connection.” For mobile users with limited data plans, that behavior turns “smart roaming” into an unpleasant surprise.
So the feature divides along user priorities: convenience seekers may like the single-network idea; reliability-focused users may prefer a setup where devices abandon a broken AP quickly, even if that means distinct SSIDs.
Trust & Reliability
Reliability concerns in the provided data concentrate in the NETGEAR Communities thread, where multiple posters describe the same “green lights but no internet” condition and the need for frequent reboots. One user’s experience escalated from intermittent issues to a sweeping warning: “don’t waste your time… i could not get the ex6400 to work for even one day without having to reboot it.”
There are also trust-adjacent concerns around troubleshooting guidance and support outcomes. The same reviewer described support attributing failures to interference, then recommending replacement—yet “the replacement… had the same problem.” That creates a narrative of uncertainty for buyers: if swapping units doesn’t solve it, the issue may be environmental, firmware-related, or a broader compatibility edge case, but the user story here ends in returning the product entirely.
Alternatives
Only one alternative is explicitly mentioned in the user feedback: the NETGEAR Nighthawk EX7000. In the most detailed account, the EX7000 is framed as a stability-driven upgrade rather than a speed chase. The user who abandoned the EX6400 wrote: “i returned the second ex6400 and exchanged it for a netgear nighthawk ex 7000… provides slightly better performance and , so far after 2 days , appears stable not requiring rebooting.”
That same user acknowledged tradeoffs—size and extra ports they didn’t need: “i don’t need 5 ethernet ports and would prefer not to have it taking up space… but so far it is doing its job well.” For buyers deciding between the two, the community narrative suggests a persona split: the EX6400 appeals to people who want a compact wall-plug extender; the EX7000 appeals to people who prioritize stability and can tolerate a larger footprint.
Price & Value
Pricing signals in the provided data show a wide spread depending on condition and market. A Thailand retail listing shows the EX6400 at “฿ 6 , 000” (out of stock), while eBay listings show used/open-box units ranging from roughly the $20–$120 band depending on seller, condition, and bundle details (for example, “tested working great” listings near $19.99 and an open-box listing at $120).
That resale pattern suggests the EX6400 is commonly traded in the secondary market—potentially attractive for budget buyers willing to experiment, but also a hint that many units cycle through owners. For value-focused shoppers, the key question becomes how much instability risk you’re willing to accept for a low used price versus paying more for a model a user explicitly described as more stable (EX7000).
- Best value scenario: low-cost used unit if you can tolerate troubleshooting
- Higher confidence route (per one user): paying slightly more for EX7000 to avoid constant reboots
- Buying tip implied by community: if problems persist after firmware updates and replacement, returning may be the practical endpoint
FAQ
Q: Why does the EX6400 show green lights but my phone says “no internet”?
A: A NETGEAR Communities user described exactly this: “all lights are green… and it says no internet.” Another said devices stay connected to Wi‑Fi but lose internet until a reboot. The feedback suggests the extender can remain linked to the router while Wi‑Fi clients fail to pass traffic.
Q: Does rebooting actually fix the “connected but no internet” problem?
A: In community reports, yes—temporarily. One user said: “power down the extender and restart and it works fine for a while,” and another wrote: “The only solution is to reboot the extender.” The downside is the issue may return within minutes or hours.
Q: Is the Ethernet port more reliable than Wi‑Fi on the extender?
A: At least one user reported a split outcome: “a device wired to the ethernet port on the extender has an internet connection that works fine” while Wi‑Fi devices had “no internet connection.” For users bridging a console or smart TV, that port may stay usable even during Wi‑Fi client failures.
Q: Is the EX6400 easy to set up?
A: One detailed community account said “it was easy to set up and connect,” aligning with the product’s push-button/app setup claims. The bigger issue in user feedback isn’t initial setup—it’s keeping stable internet access for devices connected through the extender over time.
Q: What alternative did frustrated users switch to?
A: A NETGEAR Communities reviewer who returned two EX6400 units said they exchanged it for a “netgear nighthawk ex 7000,” reporting it “appears stable not requiring rebooting” after two days. They noted it was larger and had more Ethernet ports than they needed.
Final Verdict
Buy the NETGEAR WiFi Mesh Range Extender EX6400 AC1900 if you’re a budget buyer who mainly needs a compact wall-plug extender and can tolerate occasional troubleshooting—or you primarily plan to use the Gigabit Ethernet port as a bridge.
Avoid it if you need always-on stability for phones, tablets, or smart-home devices; multiple community reports describe “connected but no internet” states that only resolve with reboots.
Pro tip from the community: if you hit repeated “no internet connection” while the router stays fine, one user’s path was to “return” the EX6400 and move to the “nighthawk ex 7000” for better stability.
