Orbi - why can't we change channels on satellites?

For lamens terms, there repeaters or extenders. 

Thanks. 

Being more techinal:

Wireless repeaters and mesh networks are both technologies that can be used to extend network coverage over a given area. Wireless repeaters work by taking an existing wireless signal and re-broadcasting it, while mesh networks see every device on a network directly connected to every other device without the use of a central router or switch. Wireless repeaters are usually best suited to extending the range of a small wireless network, while mesh networks are often used for high-performance business networking.

Operation
A wireless repeater is a device designed to receive wireless signals and then re-transmit them. The main difference between wireless repeaters and regular wireless routers is that repeaters can only re-transmit signals they have already received, rather than generating wireless signals of their own. Mesh networking, on the other hand, is a form of network design rather than a specific technology. In a mesh network, data travels from device to device in short hops until it reaches its destination, rather than being directed by a central device. Both wired and wireless networks can use a mesh topology.

Reliability
The principle advantage of mesh networks is their resilience. Mesh networks do not have a single point of failure, meaning that there is no chance of an individual device failure bringing the whole network down. This contrasts with regular hub-type networks, where a failure in a central router or switch could cut large parts of the network off from each other. Repeaters, on the other hand, do not increase a network's resilience. If the router or access point broadcasting the original wireless signal goes down, all repeaters on the network will be affected.

Scalability
Repeaters can help to scale a wireless network, increasing the network's range while ensuring that devices on the edge of the network still get a reasonable service. You can simply add more repeaters as the network grows, although a signal that has been repeated multiple times will not be as strong as the original signal. Mesh networks, however, do not scale well, as every new device must be connected to every other device, a process that can consume a lot of time and money.

Complexity
Mesh networks are almost always more complex than their hub counterparts, requiring specialized equipment and trained administrators to keep the network running. This complexity has a bearing on the overall cost of the network, making mesh networks expensive to set up and maintain. Wireless repeaters, on the other hand, allow you to keep your network design reasonably simple even as the network's coverage areas grows, as the signal always originates from the same wireless router.

Circular reasoning for sure.  Furry, time to take you team Netgear hat off and give up.

EIther by NG or the chipset developer or both. Again, for the average home user, simplicity is desured. The less users have to do with there systems, the better. I most cases, there is no need to change channels on the satellites. This is handled by the router. 

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molec wrote:

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FURRYe38 wrote:

Users need to remember that the reason why you can't pick channels on the satellites is that they are acting as REPEATERS/Extenders, thus when repeating, they have to be on the same channel as the source wifi signal channel. This doesn't work if the satellites was on a different channel from the source wireless. Repeatersand Extenders work on the same channel for this configuration. 

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This is circualar reasoning? WHY are the satellites acting as Repeaters/Extenders? It's by design choice of Netgear, I assume. 

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molec wrote:

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This is circualar reasoning? WHY are the satellites acting as Repeaters/Extenders? It's by design choice of Netgear, I assume. 

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Anyone who says that Orbi is a repeater/extender does not know how Orbi works. It's simply not a correct statement.

The orbi Satellites work as access points (APs) in a mesh network and the Orbi Router is the main controller which manages the whole network and controls the roaming of devices between the APs.

This is the main idea of all mesh systems. Some vendors chose to have different channels for every AP but Orbi chose to have one single channel for every band. 

The main reason -I think- why Netgear chose this option is to reduce the number of roaming events. Orbi is made for home users and -usually- you will have multiple APs in a relatevely small area so the overlap between the APs is -usually- quite big and therefore devices will keep hopping between the APs if they have different channels (because devices will keep comparing the levels of the signals between the 2 bands of the APs and hop to the AP which has higher level) which will affect the performance of mainly the mobile devices (and consequently the battery life of the devices) and also the performance of the whole netwrork.

By choosing to use the same channel the devices will not need to do too many roaming activities.

On the other hand, in enterprise solutions, the AP's are usually assigned different channels because usually a radio planning is done and the coverage is well studied in advace to make sure the overlap is just enough to cover the whole enterprise.

It's very simple for Netgear to set a channel for every band in Orbi. In fact I tried to set a channel for every satellite in my Orbi (using telnet commands) and had it for couple of hours and I noticed the amount of roamings the devices needed to do. In certain locations of the home one of my static devices made up to 3 roamings per minute while not moving!

So in summary, assigning channels for every AP is good only when you have good radio planning, but otherwise having one single channel is much more effective.

I believe that Netgear can make this as configurable settings, which will mainly benefit those who have big areas to cover, but can give negative impact for people who will use this functionality without enough radio knowledge and tools.