I bought a rbk23 in US, will move to Germany soon, can I use it's newst firmware of Europe? Will I brick the orbi?

FW is not region specific. You can select from the drop down box under the log out button on the RBRs web page to select a country listed i n the drop down. bearyoung wrote:I bought a rbk23 in US, will move to Germany soon, can I use it's newst firmware of Europe? Will I brick the orbi?

FURRYe38 wrote:FW is not region specific. bearyoung wrote:I bought a rbk23 in US, will move to Germany soon, can I use it's newst firmware of Europe? Will I brick the orbi?That's true. Cumbersome: There is (to my limited Obri-insight) no way top adjust the wireless legislation on the FCC (US) units - these are locked to US/FCC - so no way to operate legally under European (or other legislation - this is only possible on European [xxxxx-n00EUS] or Asia/pacific [xxxxx-n00PAS] models coming with the worldwide [WW] preset). Worse: Depending on the channels configured, region sensitive clients (like mobile phones) might fail to see any connect the wireless radios.

Is that possible to change the settings to WW via telnet? I saw someone has succesed on a rbk53.

US is more restrictive on the 2.4GHz channels, not allowing the channels 12 and 13.On 5 GHz your Orbi will default different channels that would be used in Europe.But all those channels that are available in USA are ok to use in Europe.So don't worry. Just use it.

I believe this is the post describing how to change the Regionhttps://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/ORBI-RBK53-Region-Change/m-p/1811833#M72806

Firmware of europe | NETGEAR Communities

11 Replies

FURRYe38
Guru - Experienced User
Oct 25, 2019
FW is not region specific. You can select from the drop down box under the log out button on the RBRs web page to select a country listed i n the drop down.
bearyoung wrote:
I bought a rbk23 in US, will move to Germany soon, can I use it's newst firmware of Europe? Will I brick the orbi?
- schumaku
  Guru - Experienced User
  Oct 25, 2019
  FURRYe38 wrote:
  FW is not region specific.
  bearyoung wrote:
  I bought a rbk23 in US, will move to Germany soon, can I use it's newst firmware of Europe? Will I brick the orbi?
  That's true. Cumbersome: There is (to my limited Obri-insight) no way top adjust the wireless legislation on the FCC (US) units - these are locked to US/FCC - so no way to operate legally under European (or other legislation - this is only possible on European [xxxxx-n00EUS] or Asia/pacific [xxxxx-n00PAS] models coming with the worldwide [WW] preset). Worse: Depending on the channels configured, region sensitive clients (like mobile phones) might fail to see any connect the wireless radios.
  - bearyoung
    Aspirant
    Oct 25, 2019
    Is that possible to change the settings to WW via telnet? I saw someone has succesed on a rbk53.
- CrimpOn
  Guru - Experienced User
  Oct 27, 2019
  FURRYe38 wrote:
  FW is not region specific. You can select from the drop down box under the log out button on the RBRs web page to select a country listed i n the drop down.
  I may be mistaken, but I think the drop down menu under the Logout button is to select the language rather than the WiFi Region.
  - FURRYe38
    Guru - Experienced User
    Oct 27, 2019
    Yes, this was my intended understanding and responce. I should have included that as well.
    
    Thanks.
3nwq
Aspirant
Oct 26, 2019
US is more restrictive on the 2.4GHz channels, not allowing the channels 12 and 13.
On 5 GHz your Orbi will default different channels that would be used in Europe.
But all those channels that are available in USA are ok to use in Europe.
So don't worry. Just use it.
- CrimpOn
  Guru - Experienced User
  Oct 26, 2019
  I believe this is the post describing how to change the Region
  https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/ORBI-RBK53-Region-Change/m-p/1811833#M72806
  - bearyoung
    Aspirant
    Oct 27, 2019
    My concern is that I am not sure if this works on the rbk23, as you wrote, the method is for rbk53.
- schumaku
  Guru - Experienced User
  Oct 27, 2019
  3nwq wrote:
  But all those channels that are available in USA are ok to use in Europe.
  Afraid, this is not longer correct - it was upon a time. Channels 149..165 are no longer allowed to be used in Europe for WiFi - only max. 25 mW for SRD. And this is exactly where Orbi does prefer to run the wireless backhaul in the FCC version - that's why the impact on the client connections is limited.

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Firmware of europe