Orbi WiFi System

If you have home phone service with FIOS then you have to use their router.  However, you can connect the Orbi system as your wireless system.  Instructions for doing this are here: http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/31100/~/how-do-i-set-up-my-orbi-system-to-work-with-fios%3F

If you DO NOT have home phone service with FIOS (or don't use it like me), then you can use the Orbi as your stand alone router and wifi.

Setting up this router was pretty easy.  I'm going to ignore all the issues I had in the beginning and focus on idealized installation with FIOS.

The first thing you'll need to do is login to your current router and find its MAC address.  It's usually pretty top level information.  In just about any netgear router, you can find it by logging into your router and going to Basic -> Internet.  At the bottom it will show Router MAC address.  This is what you need to write down.  Disconnect this router from the ethernet cable.  You can leave it on for now in case you need to reconnect to it to get any additional information.

Find your Orbi router and connect your ethernet cable to the yellow internet port.  The router and the satellite look basically identical, but you can distinguish them because only the router has the yellow internet port.

Step 2, connect your computer to one of the other ethernet ports on the Orbi (1 - 4) or connect to the Orbi wifi with the given password (found on the bottom of the Orbi router).  You may get a notification that you don't have internet at this point, which is fine because it means you need to change the router's MAC address to the one you have provisioned with Verizon FIOS.  Personally, I never had a provisioned MAC address until I moved to a new place and switched my service.  YMMV.

Step 3, open your browser.  If it doesn't start the Orbi setup wizard, go to 192.168.1.1.  At this point you should get a notification for the wizard.  Go through those steps to set up your Orbi.  If you want you can set up your satellite now or later.  (Satellite set up was trivial.  For me I merely had to plug it in and it was ready after a few seconds).

Step 4, after you complete Orbi setup, name your wifi, etc, you might still not be connected to the internet.  This is where you fix the MAC address.  Log into 192.168.1.1 (standard username/password is admin/password).  Go to Basic, then click on the Internet menu item.  At the bottom of that screen you'll see Router MAC Address.  Click on the button for "Use this address" and enter the address from your previous router.  I don't know if rebooting is required at this point, but I would just for safety.  Unplug the power from your Orbi router for one minute and then plug it back in.

You should be connected to the internet at this point.  If not, make sure all your connections are properly connected and you copied the mac address correctly.  You should turn off your old router to avoid wifi interference.  If you copied the name and password of your old router to the Orbi system, all of your devices will connect automatically.  If not, you'll need to reconnect all of them manually.