# Does Homey Bridge acts as range extander or repeater? **URL:** \ **Category:** Questions & Help\ **Tags:** homey-pro, homey-bridge\ **Created:** [November 13, 2023, 8:53pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547 "2023-11-13T20:53:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rmb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/rmb/32/79135_2.png) [@Rmb](https://community.homey.app/u/Rmb)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 10:02am UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/21 "2023-11-14T10:02:14Z")
I will try and see what is happening. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_S1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/alex_s1/32/79236_2.png) [@Alex\_S1](https://community.homey.app/u/Alex_S1)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 10:32am UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/22 "2023-11-14T10:32:05Z")
For me Zigbee extansion doesnt work. It doesnt make if I pair it with bridge being halfway to the device or not. After pairing it also doenst change anything placing the bridge between controller and HP. The tools.devpage onl shows one bridge. The second one isn´t shown.The not shown one is not responsible to the Zigbee devices I´m refering to, so it is just a side note. ---
**Author:** ![Rmb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/rmb/32/79135_2.png) [@Rmb](https://community.homey.app/u/Rmb)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 11:59am UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/23 "2023-11-14T11:59:21Z")
I paired the ZigBee device with the HP23. Then I put it so far away it was not pingable. I did not paired it again with the bridge. I just switch on my bridge which is halfway between device and HP23. After a while the ZigBee device was pingable again. Just how a mesh network should work. As the current route from a device to the coordinator is no longer available, another route is set up. No need to pair again to start retouting. ---
**Author:** ![Rmb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/rmb/32/79135_2.png) [@Rmb](https://community.homey.app/u/Rmb)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 12:01pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/24 "2023-11-14T12:01:50Z")
> [@Alex\_S1](#): > > After pairing it also doenst change anything placing the bridge between controller and HP. Did you use the ping command to test that something has changed? ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_S1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/alex_s1/32/79236_2.png) [@Alex\_S1](https://community.homey.app/u/Alex_S1)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 12:05pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/25 "2023-11-14T12:05:17Z")
Thanks for sharing your experience and how you set it up. But in my case it doesnt make any difference if a Bridge is involved or not. I also see no option to pair the device with the Bridge. It can only be paired with the HP directly. In Mesh it should NOT be possible to pair it with the Bridge. Not sure if the Bridge should work as repeater in this case and pairing could work through it. In my case it is very simple: The Zigbee controller is far enough away to have a bad signal. The bridge doesnt change anything. I tried the connection with Bridge being on and off. No difference. ---
**Author:** ![Rmb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/rmb/32/79135_2.png) [@Rmb](https://community.homey.app/u/Rmb)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 12:12pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/26 "2023-11-14T12:12:57Z")
> [@Alex\_S1](#): > > The Zigbee controller is far enough away to have a bad signal. Sorry to consist on this: The only way to be sure it is far away enough, is to to ping the device a few times, an getting no responses but time outs **all** the time. A bad signal might not be enough to start rerouting. “No available route” will start rerouting the route. ---
**Author:** ![Rmb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/rmb/32/79135_2.png) [@Rmb](https://community.homey.app/u/Rmb)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 12:19pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/27 "2023-11-14T12:19:25Z")
> [@Alex\_S1](#): > > Not sure if the Bridge should work as repeater The Homey bridge is just a ZigBee device, and as it is connected to the mains, it is a ZigBee router. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_S1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/alex_s1/32/79236_2.png) [@Alex\_S1](https://community.homey.app/u/Alex_S1)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 12:54pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/28 "2023-11-14T12:54:54Z")
Sorry, but this is simply not true and not how a Mesh works. When the connection is poor a device looks for Mesh components which provide better signal and connect to it. Same as WiFi routers and devices do. Connecting to a device with poor signal while others available with better signal is not the intention and idea of Mesh. I also tried to unplug the HP and letting the Bridge only on. In this case it should connect to Bridge even when there is no other function available due to the HP being off. After powering the HP on again, nothing has changed. Still same poor connection. ---
**Author:** ![Rmb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/rmb/32/79135_2.png) [@Rmb](https://community.homey.app/u/Rmb)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 1:11pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/29 "2023-11-14T13:11:56Z")
Let’s not discuss all details of the ZigBee protocol and offsets and time-outs being used, we cannot measure them any way, but focus how to get things clear. The ping command is just behind the 3 dots in the ZigBee network table in the developers tool. It takes only a few second to issue the command. So why not use it? ---
**Author:** ![robertklep](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/robertklep/32/160628_2.png) [@robertklep](https://community.homey.app/u/robertklep)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 1:14pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/30 "2023-11-14T13:14:27Z")
> [@Alex\_S1](#): > > When the connection is poor a device looks for Mesh components which provide better signal and connect to it. That’s not necessarily the case for Zigbee: either a device can deliver a message to its next hop, or it can’t. If it can’t, it will (should) start a network rejoin and look for another router, but if it _can_ deliver a message (even if it requires a few retries) it will not start looking for a “better” route. ---
**Author:** ![Rmb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/rmb/32/79135_2.png) [@Rmb](https://community.homey.app/u/Rmb)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 1:15pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/31 "2023-11-14T13:15:14Z")
> [@Alex\_S1](#): > > I also tried to unplug the HP and letting the Bridge only on. In this case it should connect to Bridge Only if the bridge acts as a ZigBee Coordinator. That is not documented anywhere. When you connect the bridge to Homey cloud it will most likely do so, in coorpation with the cloud. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_S1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/alex_s1/32/79236_2.png) [@Alex\_S1](https://community.homey.app/u/Alex_S1)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 1:20pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/32 "2023-11-14T13:20:40Z")
🙂 Did it already many times. In 9 of 10 cases I get a time out after 5 seconds after sending a ping. ---
**Author:** ![Rmb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/rmb/32/79135_2.png) [@Rmb](https://community.homey.app/u/Rmb)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 1:20pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/33 "2023-11-14T13:20:46Z")
In Dutch we call it “een klapperende lijn” , “a flapping line” which is an instable communication line. Very weird things happen when you try to isolate the problem. The best thing to do is to cut the line, so you get a stable system with one line not working. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_S1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/alex_s1/32/79236_2.png) [@Alex\_S1](https://community.homey.app/u/Alex_S1)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 1:22pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/34 "2023-11-14T13:22:11Z")
Ok, when it really works this way, it is new to me. Sorry! In my cases 9 of 10 pings do not reach the controller. ---
**Author:** ![Rmb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/rmb/32/79135_2.png) [@Rmb](https://community.homey.app/u/Rmb)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 1:22pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/35 "2023-11-14T13:22:54Z")
Make the distance bigger, so 10 out of 10 time outs occur. In my system it took several minutes before rerouting occurred. One single successful ping might keep the bad route up and running.🤬 ---
**Author:** ![robertklep](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/robertklep/32/160628_2.png) [@robertklep](https://community.homey.app/u/robertklep)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 1:25pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/36 "2023-11-14T13:25:16Z")
> [@Alex\_S1](#): > > In my cases 9 of 10 pings do not reach the controller. What kind of device is it? Also, the 5-second timeout is imposed by the web interface of Homey and IMO too short to be very useful. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_S1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/alex_s1/32/79236_2.png) [@Alex\_S1](https://community.homey.app/u/Alex_S1)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 1:28pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/37 "2023-11-14T13:28:26Z")
It is a Gledopto RGB-CCT controller which previously worked with Hue perfectly. I trie three of them so far. ---
**Author:** ![robertklep](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/robertklep/32/160628_2.png) [@robertklep](https://community.homey.app/u/robertklep)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 1:35pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/38 "2023-11-14T13:35:05Z")
I assume that the rest of your Zigbee network is healthy? Also, instead of using a Bridge as a router, have you tried plugging in another router device at the same location as where you tried to use the bridge? ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_S1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/alex_s1/32/79236_2.png) [@Alex\_S1](https://community.homey.app/u/Alex_S1)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 1:36pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/39 "2023-11-14T13:36:24Z")
Unfortunately I dont have other Zigbee devices here. ---
**Author:** ![robertklep](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/robertklep/32/160628_2.png) [@robertklep](https://community.homey.app/u/robertklep)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 1:47pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547/40 "2023-11-14T13:47:49Z")
Since you have three of the Gledopto drivers, and they are _probably_ routers too, you can try using one of those? [Previous page](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547.md?page=1) [Next page](https://community.homey.app/t/does-homey-bridge-acts-as-range-extander-or-repeater/94547.md?page=3)