**I found a Connection issue Resolution for wired backhaul !! **

I think the switch is a red herring here. I connected everything within a range that got at least moderate wireless backhaul. I left it that way for one day. Then I connected one of the satellites to Ethernet. Lights never changed. Twenty minutes later, the web interface showed it as Wired.

Waited a day, did the same thing with the other Satellite. That one fought it more. Went red. THings connected to it wouldn't talk over the internet. 30 minutes later and it all settled in.

I'm not sure what kind of loop-prevention tech Netgear is using for this (I didn't watch with Wireshark), but my guess is that it's not run-of-the-mill STP because STP on my Sonos system works great and instantly on this very same network.

I also know eero doesn't use STP because they don't do full blocking. They'll actually leave both routes open for possible backhaul fallback, and they do loop-prevention after that, at least as far as I'm told.

My guess is that Orbi is employing something attempting to be similar in functionality to what eero provides, but for some reason it's just really slow at adapting to any changes whereas I've not experienced that with eero.

While I'm at it, Linksys's Velop (the other tri-band solution) also reacts nearly instantly to topology changes (like eero), but requires the one "main" unit to be online before anything else will work (like Orbi).

In comparison, the Orbi experience with Ethernet backhaul still feels like a "bolt on" and not a fundamental change to the core. I could very well be completely wrong about this, of course. But remember, Orbi was not built with Ethernet backhaul in mind initially and was added after-the-fact due to customer requests.

One thing is for certain: regardless of whether or not Orbi is using Ethernet backhaul, that 4x4 radio is (currently) never used for front-haul traffic. So even though Orbi is a tri-band solution from a hardware standpoint, it's not quite the same as Velop or eero in that regard. Both of those do open up all 3 bands for front-haul traffic. That said, Orbi's 4x4 backhaul often blows away the 2x2 backhaul from other vendors when used in longer-distance scenarios... it's all a balance. There is no perfect solution.

And I'm meandering off-topic, so I'll stop! ;) 

FURRYe38 wrote:

I would do this, remove the switch or bypass the switch.

Do a factory reset on the router and 1 satellite. Set up from scratch, add 1 satellite first via wireless. Then connect this 1 satellite directly to the router and give 5 minutes. Look for the top LED to turn BLUE. Can you get to this stage?

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