After factory rest, SSID now shows up as wifi extender

[jkareka]

Logged in a few days ago and all settings and devices were gone. I had to do a factory reset on the Netgear router for it to add to my device list. I have had the Netgear router and 2 Arlo cameras since 2014. It has never shown up as a WIFI network  since it was originally installed. I have lived in the same house and have had the same lousy internet provider (Xfinity). Since doing the factory rest it is now showing up as  WIFI network.

Yes I have read all the emails about not being able to hide the SSID which is what it is. However something changed either in the setup process with this router or something in the code when adding a device.

I suppose no one from Arlo has any input on what changed and why?  Anyone in the community that might have had the same happen to them?

It is my understanding that Netgear router is so the the Arlo cameras can talk to the cloud. It is not a separate network on my current network and it shouldn't be showing up as a extender. Any input would be kindly appreciated.

Thanks so much

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

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@jkareka wrote:

Logged in a few days ago and all settings and devices were gone. I had to do a factory reset on the Netgear router for it to add to my device list. I have had the Netgear router and 2 Arlo cameras since 2014. It has never shown up as a WIFI network  since it was originally installed.

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Not sure how you checked for this, but my base stations have always had visible SSIDs (shown up as a wifi network when I looked).  I've also had Arlo cameras since 2014.)

One aspect is that I think Arlo has changed the SSID names over the years (originally NetgearXXX???).  So they might have been easier to miss before.

Note Netgear divested Arlo back in 2018, so Arlo hasn't been part of Netgear for some years now.

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@jkareka wrote:

It is my understanding that Netgear router is so the the Arlo cameras can talk to the cloud. It is not a separate network on my current network and it shouldn't be showing up as a extender.

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It's not an extender, and you can't use it like one.  But its SSID is visible, and so you will still see it when you look for networks in your PC or mobile device.