Question Wifi extender is bamboozling me...

neuk

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Jun 1, 2012
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18,510
Ok guys so bear with me on this one.
I have a Virgin media router plugged into a wall. On another side of the flat I am connecting to it using a tplink wifi extender (1) and my pc is plugged in via ethernet into the extender.
Now every so often i would get drops from the extender on the pc so i have to reach down and switch it off and on again and it picks it up fine.
I mean its not really a massive PITA but its still annoying, however whats got me thinking is recently we set up a private VPN and nomachine system so i could WFH during this corona mess. When the VPN is up, it runs flawlessly through the extender. But at the same time occasionally, my browser, whatsapp, steam , everything not going over the VPN would drop the connection whilst nomachine works fine and i can connect to the office with no hiccups for hours on end....

I mean how in the hell does that even work?

1 (https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/range-extender/re450/)
 
Sounds like it's losing connection to a DNS server, but maintaining its connection to a specific IP address that it doesn't necessarily need to reach out to a DNS server anymore.

You could try setting alternate DNS servers for it to fall back to depending on your ISP.
 
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neuk

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Jun 1, 2012
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18,510
Just the extender. There is a light display that represents connection, if it even flashes red for the signal getting weaker it drops the browser, steam and whatsapp connections. But like i said, my nomachine was unaffected by that.