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Forum Discussion
Solved
Managing "Guest" access
Besides our "normal" SSID, I currently use one of the "guest" channels on my Netgear AC5000 for my connected house and the others for visitors. How are these needs addressed by the new Orbi?
I installed the most recent update to my Orbi system and now have "Guest" access control. This resolves my issue. Thanks, Netgear, for addressing this concern.
You shoud understand that a jury-rigged setup (connecting a router into the Orbi system) is not going to provide you with a secure, isolated guest network. Your guests will have full access to your home network.
Thank you for letting me know. I had assumed that if I plugged my old Linksys E1000 into a port on the Orbi Satellite and created a "guest" account on it for my visitors to use, it would restrict their access to files and peripherals. Do you know of a reasonable workaround, or should I consider exchanging the Orbi for a router with a guest account feature.
There is no other option at this time. Put a router in for guest access (does nothing since you still have access to the Orbi network) or wait to see if they actually come out with an update like they say. The bad thing is no commitment to any time this year or next, just a future update is all that is being said.
You may be able to go modem to old router and the Orbi in ap mode? And use guest account on the old router but still it's back to the point of paying $400 and having to use your old hardware for a feature that should have been available at release.
IMO just being told that gets under my skin.
Putting the old router between the modem and the Orbi and running the Orbi in router mode will work. But this is less than ideal because traffic for devices on the Orbi network will undergo double-NAT to get to the Internet. This can cause some apps to break, particularly gaming, but it can work. I would only do this as a last resort. If you must absolutely have a guest network and can't wait, then return the Orbi and get something else.
Thanks, Ether, for the insight. As you may have guessed, I have only a basic knowledge of how routers work, so I appreciate that you pointed out the drawbacks in my plan. I have been impressed with the speed and coverage of the Orbi so far, so I am reluctant to exchange it. It's just frustrating. For now I think I will keep my Verizon Wi-Fi service running as a backup if my broadband goes down, and then I can use the Verizon network for friends. It's much slower and limited to 16GB/month, but it should do for my occassional guests.
