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What does the health of my extender mean?

What the health of the extender means and how to find it.

Updated over a week ago

Where is extender health displayed in the Plume Home app?

Health is displayed in multiple places in the Plume Home app, however, the most detailed view is found in the Extender details screen.

Topology

Open the Network page and under the Connectivity tab, tap on Topology. The color used for the extenders represents health. The info icon opens a legend for what's shown on screen. Tapping on any of the extenders will open the Extender detail screen.

NetworkConnectivityTopologybutton.png

NetworkConnectivityTopology.png

NetworkConnectivityTopologyLegend.png

Extenders list

Open the Network page and under the Connectivity tab, scroll down to the Extenders list at the bottom of the screen. The coloured dot next to each extender in the list represents its health rating. Tapping an extender in the list will open the respective Extender detail screen.

NetworkConnectivityExtendersList.png

NetworkConnectivityNodedetailPoorSignal.png

How is health measured?

Health uses a combination of WiFi signal strength, available airtime, and data transmission speed to provide a health rating (Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor). The measurement displayed in the app is for the connection between that extender and its immediate parent accompanied by the band and channel used for that WiFi connection. If there is more than one WiFi hop between the extender and the gateway, the health will be displayed for each. Tapping on this rating brings up a description.

NetworkTopologyExtenderExcellent.png

Excellent

The extender has a stellar connection to the upstream extender. The WiFi environment is wide open for communications between the extenders, and all applications should run flawlessly.

ExtenderCardExcellent.png

Good

The connection to the upstream extender is okay. All applications on the connected devices should run without any major impairments. Some initial buffering may happen for very high-speed applications such as 4K video streaming

NetworkTopologyExtenderPoor.png

Fair

The connection to the upstream extender is not ideal for real-time or high-throughput applications, like 4K video streaming.

ExtenderCardFair.png
NetworkTopologyExtenderPoor.png

Poor

The extender is not able to communicate well with the upstream connected extender. It may be too far from it or large amounts of interference may exist in its current location. Connected IoT devices or downstream extender and their connected IoT devices may continue to work, but real-time applications such as video conferencing or streaming may suffer.

ExtenderCardPoor.png
NetworkTopologyExtenderPoor.png

Gateway extender

The extender is connected to its parent or the modem or router by Ethernet. As long as the Ethernet has been negotiated at the proper speed, this connection should not bottleneck performance downstream.

ExtenderCardGateway.png
NetworkTopologyExtenderPoor.png

Offline

This extender is currently disconnected from the network. It is either disconnected from power, too far from the other extenders or is experiencing a malfunction.

ExtenderCardOffline.png
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