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Forum Discussion
Client Isolation between Router and Satellites?
I upgraded to an Orbi Router (RBR50) and two Orbi Satellites (RBS50) to get coverage for my house, and the backchannel speed is as great as advertised. That said, I am running into odd network issues...
I addressed the issue by setting it to AP, and use the FIOS Quantum Gateway routing functionality. Another issue I discovered was that UPnP didn't work correctly. Before, I found some instructions how to set the FIOS Quantum Gateway into bridge mode and use Orbi as router, but apparently it didn't work properly. Setting Orbi to AP addressed it.
But, why would you do that? I had the Quantum router, but I wanted to get rid of the router, so I replaced it with the Orbi for performance improvement.
Putting the Orbi into AP mode and connected to the internet through the router I wanted to replace would be defeating the purpose of having the Orbi Mesh-Network in the first place.
Wouldn't it? I might be missing something as to why anyone would do that.
I would appreciate understanding your reasoning. Might help me understand things better.
I can't get rid of my FIOS modem/router, since my connection from the in-house box is coax, not ethernet . Once you have ethernet and only internet service, i think you can remove the FIOS modem/router.
AP for FIOS router seems to be officialy recommended/supported, I don't see any performance downgrade (actually an upgrade, since I had issues with lost connections before).
https://kb.netgear.com/31100/How-do-I-set-up-my-Orbi-system-to-work-with-Fios
my modem has Ethernet output and plugs into the Orbi via the ethernet/internet port. So I can and did dump the Quantum Router and installed the RBR50. Reset the modem and all the correct way.
As I said, it works. I have 3 PC's hard wired to the OBR50 and all 3 of them get full bandwitdth all the time to the internet.
Its when devices start connecting to WiFi that things go wonky... devices drop randomly, connect to the RBR instead of the RBS when the RBR is on the other side of the house from where I and the RBS are. (shouldn't it connect to the closest Orbi automatically?)
Just to add here, using the Quantum Router for routing (need it for coax connection), and the Orbi addresses the issues I had. I behaves the same way, one network for router and satellites, same throughput between satellites and orbi router, etc. Devices now show up in both the Quantum Router and the Orbi web admin - quantum router appears to display the accurate count of devices, Orbi web admin not reliability all of them. To get a “real” count, I go into the FIOS router interface.
Originally, I followed this guide to set the FIOS G1110 router to bridge mode:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r31057540-Networking-HOW-TO-Bridge-G1100-So-your-Router-becomes-Primary, and use the Orbi in router mode.
While technically I was able to set it up, i had the following problems:
- G1110 router interface was only accessible via the WAN port. Not a huge issue, but you need connect to another ethernet port to get into the interface rather than just an IP address.
- UPnP didn’t work correctly, which was a big issue for me. Plex, Gaming, apps, etc couldn’t automatically setup their own external ports, so I lost functionality.
- My Jongo A2 streaming devices couldn’t find each other. Didn’t track down the root cause, I read somewhere to ensure multicast is turned on, but I don’t understand why Orbi in router mode wouldn’t handle it. Maybe as previously mentioned, setting a static route would have helped.
- Connectivity issues - internet connection would consistently drop, basically not stable. That’s a no-go for this configuration. Verizon has some remote control over the FIOS router, maybe some system didn’t like it running it in bridge mode - purely a theory though, I didn’t troubleshoot this further.
Fios G1110 + Orbi in AP seems to be the way to go, I am happy with the peformance and Orbi in general.
Greystorm64 wrote:
Putting the Orbi into AP mode and connected to the internet through the router I wanted to replace would be defeating the purpose of having the Orbi Mesh-Network in the first place.
Wouldn't it? I might be missing something as to why anyone would do that.
I would appreciate understanding your reasoning. Might help me understand things better.
Using the Orbi in AP mode does not defeat the purpose of Orbi at all. The main feature of Orbi is WiFi coverage. Orbi's router functions are nothing special. Using Orbi in AP mode gives you all the WiFi coverage of Orbi and allows you to use a more capable router for the routing functions.
OK, I think I can understand that. I purchased the 7000 sqft offering, came with an RBR50,RBS50 and RBS40.
The 40 is dead anding being RMA'd.
Would I set up 3 AP's? would they all still be the same wifi SSID? Would devices move from AP to AP as they moved away from one AP's zone into another?
Would I hard wire the OBR50 to my Quantum Gateway (after turnning the Orbi into a Bridge? I assume, I would disable the wifi on the Quantum and only keep the ORBI SSID visible?
OK, all well and good, my Quantum router seemed to always give my hardwired devices full bandwidth of 150MB all the time. The Orbi was to get rid of dead spots and improve the performance of the wifi (as the Quantum Wifi side had some real performance issues.
BUT, that wont stop my issue of devices dropping from the Orbi's randomly. It wont stop all the devices to connect to the RBR even through an RBS is much closer. It wont stop devices from bouncing between 2.4 and 5ghz networks at random times.
It wont solve the issue of the device list on the RBS's are allways empty, even when I have a device hard wired to one of them (and the device works fine and has full access to the internet).
It wont solve the issue of the RBR device list not showing all the devices that are on the network. And I have verified by checking for the precnesne of abcense of MAC address of devices that were actually accing the internet or streaming from the internet. the device showed up no where in any device list... and it would show up for hours, even then. It was random. Some would finally show, some would never show, and others would drop from the list, but still seem connected to the internet.
SO, I could use the FiOS router, set up 3 AP's with my ORBI's and still have all these random issues.
I am close to packing it all away and sending it back.
Get me a NightHawk router with an AP or 2 to ensure I cover the access points. I just didn't want the family and guests to have to figure out which AP or Router SSID they should connect to.
When you change Orbi to AP mode, the entire system becomes a network of access points with one SSID.
Yes, you would hardwire the Orbi RBR50 Yellow Internet port to a LAN port on your existing router. Yes, you would disable WiFi on your existing gateway.
There is a bug in the current Orbi firmware, where the attached devices list incorrectly shows where devices are attached. Most devices show as connected to the RBR. So, you believe all your devices are attached to your router, but that is almost certainly NOT the case. To be certain which Orbi your devices are connecting to, you would need to check on your devices and see what MAC address they are connecting to for WiFi. If your devices are giving you good throughput, then you don't really need to worry too much about where they are attached.
When Orbi is in AP mode, you can refer to your existing router to get a list of devices on the network. I you have manually configured any devices with a static IP, these devices may not appear in any router device list. Manually configured client devices could also cause IP conflicts which could lead to devices dropping off the network.
Many devices (laptops, cameras, Macs) simply are not designed to roam, and will not roam, so you will need to reboot them or cycle their WiFi off/on after you move the device, or after you reboot or power-cycle Orbi. Note that when Orbi reboots, the RBR will come up first and many of these "sticky" devices will attach to the RBR and stay there.
I don't know what's causing your devices to drop randomly. I have run Orbi in access point mode for a year now and have never encountered this issue, except when I had the satellite too far from the router, or when I had other wireless devices too close to Orbi or improperly configured. Usually these types of issues are caused by RF interference from other devices (wireless speakers, nearby WiFi devices, Bluetooth, etc.) or are due to issues with devices from different manufacturers not working well together. Moving the satellites closer to the RBR, and making sure you separate the Orbis from any other wireless devices might resolve the dropouts,