Vodafone Mesh Wifi Extender Sagemcom Fast286

[doby]

How can I get my hands on one of the mesh wifi extenders (Sagemcom Fast286) without subscribing to the Pro plan?

I don't need everything the Pro plan provides, I just need better wifi coverage in one room and presumably these units have been tuned to work with the Vodafone Wifi Hub. 

Are these sold standalone?

Edit: 

I've been doing a bit of digging about and it seems Irish provider 'Eir' are offering this extender (albeit in the standard Sagemcom case design) as a standalone product for €99. There are various other providers throughout Europe who have licensed them but I can't actually find them on thier websites.

It says on the Eir product page it works with all broadband providers but I have my doubts if it'll intergrate the way I want it to, I'd presume it would need the Vodafone firmware. 

Vodafone want to charge £312 over course of the contract for them.... (admittedly you can request up to 3). Why not sell them standalone too?

[doby]

Double post. 

[Anonymous]

Not actually certain that the WiFi extender supplied in the UK is the Sagemcom Fast286.  At the time of that declaration, Vodafone was experimenting with various devices - even showing some of them off at trade fairs!

[doby]

Yeh it's possible. I got the model number from a YouTube video which wasn't English but it did look the same.

Also to correct my first post,  the Eir one is actually a Fast266.

So damn annoying Vodafone have put them on subscription and they're so new it'll be a while until some show up on eBay.  

[gipjon]

What is so good about the fast 286

[Cynric]

If it's one room, then what other solutions have you considered and why have you resolved on mesh?

[doby]

Yeh it's more of "I WANT THIS" rather than the only solution available. 

Seeing as it's going to be a non starter I've already gone off the idea. 

[doby]

Well, I bought the first one that appeared on eBay. Paid £44.

I'm presuming (hoping) it will work without being a Pro subscriber, not long till I find out! 

[doby]

So, I now have the booster and have run into issues. 

The tile does not show up in the app. The WPS route results in LED flash sequence errors and because Vodafone don't provide manuals with ANYTHING I have no idea what they mean.

The interface results in a 404 and auto routes to [ip address]/2.0/gui/

Currently pulling my hair out on chat support. Yay.

Edit: They now tell me after 2 hours of repeating myself that they won't work without the Pro plan and needs activating.

idontbelieveyou.gif

Edit 2: Via the WPS route and with it showing a long flash short flash LED sequence, its connected and data is coming through it's LAN port but it's not emitting WIFI, or rather devices can't see it (hidden SSID?) I'm not sure what the problem is, but it's clear something needs to be toggled and there has to be a way to access a menu to do so! 

[Terand]

Hi

Did you ever resolve this issue. I also have the FAST 266 extender and am looking for best setup configurations. Also is it best to have the dual bands both with the same SSID for extending the WiFi?