NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Solved
Before you buy the orbi system - what you need to know performance and feature wise
hi guys i have started this post to clear up some misconceptions about the orbi system and where its aimed and what it can do first what it can do provide overall better wifi coverage by ...
oh and i forgot
no usb functionality at this stage ether
there is a long list of things that ether will be added or may be added but no real ETA on when or if they will be implemented , only time will tell
pete
I have a question that might relate to the mesh topic. When I put the Orbi router into AP mode then what is the role of the satellite? Do I get extended coverage with both the router and satellites acting as switch and access points? Or does changing the router to AP mode somehow disable the functionality of the satellite? Everything is working fine when the router is in AP mode I just don't know if it is now just using the router instead of the satellite or whether it is now using both as APs since I don't need the routing functionality on the Orbi, what I really purchased it for was wifi performance and coverage.
powrby4d wrote:I have a question that might relate to the mesh topic. When I put the Orbi router into AP mode then what is the role of the satellite? Do I get extended coverage with both the router and satellites acting as switch and access points? Or does changing the router to AP mode somehow disable the functionality of the satellite? Everything is working fine when the router is in AP mode I just don't know if it is now just using the router instead of the satellite or whether it is now using both as APs since I don't need the routing functionality on the Orbi, what I really purchased it for was wifi performance and coverage.
hi
the sat operates the same wether the orbi router is in router mode or ap mode as atm it is just connecting back to the router via its 5 gig backhaul , it would be just the same if you could have ethernet connected the sat would work the same
so yes they still both work and both work as switches , all that happens is the routing functionality in the orbi router is bypassed and what ever you have the orbi router connected to the controls everything router and dhcp wise
pete
Thanks Pete for the reply. So when in AP mode does the router act as a second AP in tandem with the satellite to increase total WiFi coverage or does AP mode basically mean that it is acting as a switch for wired clients as well as a wireless bridge in the 1.7MHz band and only the satellite is providing wifi to connected devices?
Basically what I want to know is whether there is a wifi coverage advantage to running the router in AP mode or is that just a way of turning it into a switch for wired connections plus the satellites. I'll be honest I put mine in AP mode and after a while had a lot of flaky behavior so I switched it back to router mode which seems more stable but when I turned off DHCP on the Orbi to get the addresses assigned by the uplinked router for a flat address space ( important for DIRECTV) I could not get any connections to the Orbi and had to do a factory reset to get things running again temporarily with segmented subnets.
Somjust trying to sort out if AP mode has a coverage advantage for connected devices or is basically "switch" mode since sooner or later I need a flat address space by either AP mode (not lucky so far) or disabling DHCP in router mode (also not lucky so far). Thanks for the advice.
hi powrby4d
yes when in ap mode all it does is bypass all router functionality , the router and sat wifi work exactly the same as do the ethernet ports
the wifi will work the same in ether router mode or ap mode for both the router and sat and ethernet ports
you cant just turn of the dhcp in the orbi as you still have a dual nat situation and is why your devices will be playing up
so its ether bridge the upstream modem or router and let the orbi do the routing and wifi etc
or
leave the upstream router working as it is and set the orbi system in AP mode
the performance of the wifi should not change in ether mode , just make sure the upstream router has its wifi disabled if you are using the orbi in the same space
hope that helps
pete
Just to add and clear up what Pete said, As he said the WiFi part of Orbi works the same regardless of 'mode' and normaly when you put a router into AP/Bridge mode it automaticly disables the DHCP/Firewall and routing in faver of allowing your primary router handle those functions, In most cases you "never" want to have 2 or more DHCP servers on the same LAN and in most standard cases is there is no need for it. I don't own Orbi yet but I will shortly for testing and to compair to Luma that I am currently testing to see what one is going to land a new home at my daughters new house so I can confirm for you that setting Orbi in AP/Bridge mode will automaticly disable DHCP but it should, Just check this to make sure DHCP is disabled..
Hope this helps....
I am sorry I am a tad bit confused on what your asking and your setup so I have some questions below-
1. What do you mean by "you need a flat address space"?
2. By the sound of your trouble it almost sounds to mean the you ISP in this case DIRECTV has only provided a modem and not a modem/router combo, Could you please provide the make and model of the ISP supplied equipment?
3. How is the main Orbi connected to your network?
No, sorry, to be unclear just was trying to be brief. DirecTV when streaming will check to see if all the devices doing streaming are on the same subnet as the receiver. If not then they assume you are not at your home network and are streaming outside your home and they will refuse to stream the content. This may be changing as they have more competition in the streaming market now, but in general their unrestricted streaming infrastructure is designed for in home use and after much frustration trying to deal with mysterious messages from Directv stating that the "device must be on the same network as the receiver" when everything in fact was on the same network, I figured out that all wired and wireless devices must be on the same subnet as well as conform to some kind of bizarre and misguided latency algorithm that they use that can yield differing results between wired and wireless devices. My receivers are wired and of course most of the streaming devices are wireless. Not to mention that I want to look at one router client list to view all the devices on the network , bandwidth consumption, firewall rules, etc except for the those bridged in with VPN (different topic). In my case I have a multi-WAN router with cable, DSL, and 3G backup that I use for ISP service from three different providers. This router provides DNS and DHCP services for the entire network, including multiple uplinked switches at the access layer. It does not do any WiFi. I have multiple wired access points for this network that I am attempting to replace with a consiolidated Orbi system to take advantage of the wireless backhaul and more aesthetic appearance of the satellites so that I have more flexibility for AP placement. So I need everything on the network to delegate or inherit DNS and DHCP from the main router. My question was whether putting the Orbi router into AP mode actually gave it AP functionality as would be the case with most home wifi enabled routers but now I understand that the "system" is in AP mode not the router, which in AP mode is acting as a switch for wired connections and the satellite. I can also see that support for wired badkhaul will be really useful for Orbi since mine had trouble syncing with the satellite at about 30 feet line of sight so that will be a big improvement for the future to expand coverage with satellites beyond the range of the wireless backhaul. Sorry for the long expalnation and thanks everyone for the help and interest.