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Forum Discussion
Orbi RBR50v2 and Nighthawk AC1900 as two different routers/networks in my home
I currently have a Nighthawk AC1900 as my home router. I'm planning to install an Orbi RBR50v2 with two satellites. Home and garage is around 5000 sq ft. I'd like to use the Orbi mesh for my home network and security cameras. Can I still run the Nighthawk for guests and friends to use when they're visiting?
5 Replies
Yes you can though the NH router would be connected to the Orbi router if you use the Orbi router as you main host router.
Wifi channels would need to be far appart between the two systems and it would be best to run a different SSID name on the NH router as well. Placement of the NH router should be at a distance from the RBR or RBS as well.
Thanks for the quick assist, FURRYe38! What distance would you recommend between the RBR and NH, and how far apart should the wifi channels be?
AT least 20 feet appart.
Orbi set for channel 11 and NH set for 1 on 2.4Ghz. 5Ghz set orbi to 36 up to 48. The NH route an use higher channels so try something 149-165. Be aware that Orbi uses it's wireless backhaul channel up here as well. So you may have to use something lower, if you use 36 on Orbi, then use 48 on NH.
tcfp7 wrote:Thanks for the quick assist, FURRYe38! What distance would you recommend between the RBR and NH, and how far apart should the wifi channels be?
tcfp7 wrote:
I currently have a Nighthawk AC1900 as my home router. I'm planning to install an Orbi RBR50v2 with two satellites. Home and garage is around 5000 sq ft. I'd like to use the Orbi mesh for my home network and security cameras. Can I still run the Nighthawk for guests and friends to use when they're visiting?My question is "why?" Orbi supports a Guest WiFi that can be entirely separate from the primary WiFi network. It covers the same space as the primary WiFi (no "dead spots"). A single Nighthawk cannot possibly provide the same coverage.
tcfp7 wrote:
I currently have a Nighthawk AC1900 as my home router. I'm planning to install an Orbi RBR50v2 with two satellites. Home and garage is around 5000 sq ft. I'd like to use the Orbi mesh for my home network and security cameras. Can I still run the Nighthawk for guests and friends to use when they're visiting?There is an argument about having double NAT systems running. However the argument is textbook repeating, and in most cases not real world use.
With that said, recent customer setups that prefer to separate networks, are as follows. I'll use Spectrum Wireless as an example since it was the ISP that we did the most recent setup like this on.
Leave the ISP router in router modem. Spectrum uses 192.168.0.1 for its DHCP server. Leave WIFI on and give it a specific name or leave it as the default.
Plug your Orbi RBR50 into a LAN port of the Spectrum modem. Run the setup through the app, allowing the app to configure your orbi in router mode. Your Orbi DHCP server will operate on 192.168.1.1. The app normally checks channels, etc and configures the router to the best results.
Once the RBR50 router is setup and functioning correctly, setup the satellites. You can tweak from there.
The end result is you will have a wired and wireless network from your Spectrum router and another wired and wireless network from your Orbi RBR50 router. This way you can use both the main and guest networks as you desire.
Some users have posted this causes problems with gaming and other network services. There are ways to make it work with these services, but I won't go there. I will tell you this works perfectly for what you are requesting. One thing I do notice is the Orbi will have better coverage and faster speeds on its WIFI network over Spectrum, for obvious reasons.
