Is there any difference between Orbi RBK53 sold in the US and in Europe? Any differences in supported bands, interference etc.? Or are they interchangable? Planning on buying in US and using in Norway.

Right, it's also documented in Orbi user manual. Power adapter: • North America: 120V, 60 Hz, input • UK, Australia: 240V, 50 Hz, input • Europe: 230V, 50 Hz, input • All regions (output): 12V, 3.5A DC output

Just talked to Netgear support, and according to them, the device is identical in all markets, except for the power plug, which is no problem to fix with an adapter. So then it seems like it would work. As you say, worst case, I can flash the firmware, but there seems to be only a single global firmware for download. So, it seems like like I can safely buy this device in US (and get almost half price off). Thank you for your help.

SW_ wrote: When you boot/setup Obri router in EU or any other regions, it will figure out the correct region automatically. If not, it can still be changed, but you might be running afoul with local channels. No. That may apply to hardware bought in the EU, or anywhere outside the USA, but it is not the case for hardware supplied directly from the USA. The drop down that shows the region is not available on my Orbi devices. It is there on the R7800 router. I suspect that there are ways to Telnet into the router to change the settings, but I haven't found them.

If it helps, here is a screen shot before where it's disabled. The reason I enable it on my Orbi was only to help OP and let him know it's okay to purchase from Costco bring it back home to save some money. (Embedded pictures needs approval, attached files go straight through.) Something seems to have got lost in translation. To sum things up: If you buy an Orbi system in the USA, then when you take it home to Europe, for example, there is a good chance that you will not be able use that dropdown to change the wifi region. (And, contrary to what someone said earlier, the hardware does not recognise where you are and change the wireless region accordingly.) It simply does not work for the devices that I listed earlier. The region shows as North America. The drop down is "greyed out". No can change. If you want to see the dropdown then, as you said earlier, you have to jump through some hoops to get it to work. I followed the guidance from ekhalil. Also, if you are curious, my Orbi set was purchased from Costo in the US and I live within a driving distance of Netgear HQ. :-) I wasn't going to mention this, but my Orbi devices came from the Netgear HQ.

Ya we know. Those are the only 4 channels on 5Ghz NG allows. The higher channels 149 thru 161 are reserved for the wireless backhaul only. Not user configurable. MarcusVR wrote:Thanks FURRYe38, but the upper channels aren't available neither there. I can choose only between 36, 40, 44 and 48!

Orbi RKB53 global differences | NETGEAR Communities

35 Replies

ND40oz
Aspirant
Apr 07, 2019
Under Advanced Wireless Settings they have a drop down for Region Selection, but as far as I can tell there's no way to change it from North America so you only have the option of those bands. You can still pick any time zone, so at least your time zone will be correct.
CrimpOn
Guru - Experienced User
Apr 07, 2019
steinmr wrote:

Is there any difference between Orbi RBK53 sold in the US and in Europe? Any differences in supported bands, interference etc.? Or are they interchangable? Planning on buying in US and using in Norway.

There definitely are differences in radio frequency use between the US and other countries. The US does not allow use of the 2.4G bands 12,13, 14 for example. And, there are different restrictions on 5G frequencies.

There are a whole bunch of parameters that have the word "region" in them. Telnet into the Orbi and type "nvram show | grep region" (no quotes)

I have absolutely no idea if they can be changed safely, or what to change them to.
- steinmr
  Tutor
  Apr 10, 2019
  Thank you so much for the help from both of you.
  
  It would seem then, that at the very best the hardware itself is identical, but the european/us settings might be locked in software. I guess Netgear are the only ones that can answer if that is actually the case. I worry that this kind of change might not be officially supported anyways.
  
  Is there any chance that Netgear employees answer questions here?
  - SW_
    Prodigy
    Apr 10, 2019
    Unless it's region locked and it's hard-coded in HW chip, installing a new firmware version for EU region will allow Orbi to pick/set the right region. It's just a profile of which channels to enable or disable for a given region.
FURRYe38
Guru - Experienced User
Apr 10, 2019
Should be set then.
- michaelkenward
  Guru - Experienced User
  Apr 11, 2019
  Even if you have a US adapter that says 100-120 volts, there is a good chance that the label is not correct. It may be a legal thing, but some of those adapters are really dual-standard and can handle 240 volts.
  
  By coincidence, just before I saw this message, I plugged the 100-120 volts US adapter for my RBS50Y into 240 volts. No fizz bang. Just power. Working fine.
  
  I have done the same thing with other US adapters from Netgear. They all happily work on 240 volts.
  
  Why bother to have two product lines when you can simply stick on a label to be legal?

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Orbi RKB53 global differences