NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Could Orbi work well if connected to a load balancing router without them competing?
I plan on hooking an Orbi up to a load-balancing router that has two internet connections to on it.
Are there Orbi settings that I need to be mindful of so that both routers are not competing with each other?
Wouldn't want the routers to nerf wifi speed because they're competing with each other by trying to do the same things twice like firewalling, QOS, WMM etc. (If this concern is even valid)
3 Replies
I would recommend using the Orbi system in AP mode if behind any king of primary router. Having two routers online will present a double NAT problem. Not recommended. You could use the Orbi in router mode if you placed it's IP address in the DMZ, however this may defeat the load-balancing features of the primary router.
Does that load balancing router also have wireless capability? Do you plan on still using that capability if you connect Orbi in AP mode?
Not being familiar with your original router, it is best to diable wireless functions in the original router and use Orbi's mesh capability in AP mode. The load balancing should be transparent to Orbi in this case.
Yeah, if you put the Orbi in AP mode, and disable the wifi on the other router (if it has wifi), then it should work fine. The load balancing should be completely transparent to the Orbi, too. As far as the Orbi would be concerned, it would have one WAN connection, to the load-balancing router, and wouldn't know or care what happened to any packets after that. No different than the load balancing your ISP does when routing your data already.
With the Orbi in AP mode, all it will be providing is wifi access and a mesh network. All the routing functions would be handled by the load-balancing router. QoS/WMM, DHCP, access control, etc. The Orbi in access point (AP) mode will do exactly like it sounds like: make it an access point. As if you plugged an antenna into an ethernet port, basically, and it provided no other functionality other than adding a wireless connection. In reality, it's a bit more complicated than that, but, at a practical level, that's how it's treated.
