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Forum Discussion

alokeprasad's avatar
Jan 06, 2024
Solved

No web interface over WiFi; Fine over Ethernet

Hi,   I was using a PC connected to Ethernet. I replaced it with a MacBook on WiFi.   I had a heck of a time trying to connect to the Orbi (and a Qnap NAS) web interface in a browser on the Mac. ...
  • CrimpOn's avatar
    CrimpOn
    Jan 06, 2024

    http://orbilogin.net (and several other URLs) connect to the router web interface because the router DNS feature intercepts those URLs and responds with the IP address of the router itself.  If the DNS request actually went through the Internet Service Provider network to a DNS server somewhere (GoogleDNS, CloudFlare, OpenDNS, etc.) there is no way on earth that the DNS server would know what the local IP address of the router is on thousands of customer networks.  By using the actual IP address, the web browser connects directly to the router web interface without performing a DNS query.  192.168.1.1 is the most common IP for Orbi routers (on the LAN side).

     

    If Safari went to that web URL at Netgear, that indicates to me that the DNS query was not processed by the Orbi DNS feature.  The DHCP process which devices use to learn their IP address also returns information about  the subnet mask (255.255.255.0), the internet gateway, and the DNS server IP address.  By default, most residential routers return their own IP address for the gateway and DNS server.

     

    Modern web browsers are getting "too smart".  Some now have settings to perform secure (encrypted) DNS lookups using special DNS servers rather than the traditional unencrypted port 53 lookup.  iPhones have all sorts of modern features that  create issues with WiFi systems (randomizing MAC address, for example).  Perhaps the iPhone and Mac are going around the Orbi DNS feature?