RBR50 with AT&T Arris BGW210-700 - setup

Guru - Experienced User

Feb 27, 2020

Laineybirdy wrote:
I would be forever grateful if someone would please give me explicit instructions for setting up my Orbi (RBR50) with my new AT&T fiber router (Arris BGW-210-700)

Yes, this situation is more confusing than one would hope it should be. Can you please answer a few questions:

Is the AT&T service being used only for internet, or does it also provide telephone service?
Is the Arris BGW-210-700 connected to a fiber ONT (the red ethernet jack on the back)?
Do you already have any devices connected to the Arris BGW-210-700 (computers, TV's, etc.)?

To start with, the Orbi can be used simply by connecting the Orbi yellow (WAN) jack to one of the yellow jacks on the back and turning on the power to the Orbi. It should wake up and "just work." There are a few things about doing this that are sometimes a problem:

This will leave you with two WiFi networks in the house. If all you want is to access the internet, it doesn't matter which a device connects to. But, it is certainly confusing and most people would rather disable the Arris WiFi. As the Arris User Manual points out on page 12 (Arris BGW-210-700 ) you can use a web browser and navigate to http://192.168.1.254 and enter the code printed on the Arris label. This will bring up a configuration web site which will have an option on it to disable the WiFi.
Having two WiFi access points physically close to each other may cause interference. Getting rid of the Arris WiFi will take care of that (see above).
Having the two routers creates what is called a "Double-NAT" which in specific situations causes real problems. That is why people are prompted to change one of the two devices from a router to "something else." i.e. turn the Arris into "simply a modem" or turn the Orbi into "simply an Access Point."
Connecting devices to both the Arris and the Orbi can also cause weird issues, like not being able to "find" a printer or a network storage device. (That's another reason people try to get rid of "Double-NAT")

Now, if the answers to the questions at the top are:

Only internet. No phone. No TV.
Connected to the Fiber ONT.
Nothing is already connected to the Arris

Unplug the cable from the Arris (red) ONT jack, plug it into the Orbi, and power on the Orbi. It may just come up and work great. If not, call AT&T service and say, "I have removed the Arris and plugged in my own router."

LLZEL
Tutor
Apr 02, 2020
Received my ATT Arris modem/router, placed it in IP pass through mode, deactivated 2.4 and 5Ghz wifi, plugged my Orbi WAN jack to LAN port on Arris and all works good. Didn't have to change anything on my connected or wifi attached devices. I did try to plug the Orbi directly to the Fiber box, bypassing the Arris modem and got nothing.
- FURRYe38
  Guru - Experienced User
  Apr 02, 2020
  Your ISP may require the use of there modem/router with there Fiber box. Something to ask them to see if it can be removed and the Orbi RBR put in it's place.
  LLZEL wrote:
  Received my ATT Arris modem/router, placed it in IP pass through mode, deactivated 2.4 and 5Ghz wifi, plugged my Orbi WAN jack to LAN port on Arris and all works good. Didn't have to change anything on my connected or wifi attached devices. I did try to plug the Orbi directly to the Fiber box, bypassing the Arris modem and got nothing.
  - radarrab
    Aspirant
    Jun 11, 2020
    I also have had a similar setup for a while, but was trying something and need some help. I haven't yet changed either device according to the Options 2 and 3 given to the OP.
    I have the same models, fiber, with voice but it's through Sonic (using ATT's fiber). The voice has a separate box connected to 1 of the 4 Arris ethernet ports and not the Voice port.
    
    I don't remember whether I had changed anything when I first set this up, but had to reset the Arris when my internet was out. So both wifi's were on, and both were DHCP servers at least after that. The Arris gave the Orbi a 192.x.x.x IP address for its gateway, as well as for other network devices. The Orbi uses 10.x.x.x also for other network devices.
    
    There are two reasons I got the Orbi+1 satellite, and neither of them have been solved. I have a small older one-story house (old electrical, but that's another issue). Besides laptops, phone/tablet, wireless printer, and another old networked printer that I had set up to be able to use over wifi (but is out of toner so may give that up), there are the below:
    
    1--I have two wifi Roku devices, one Express (which only can do 2.4GHz), and a Streaming Stick (can do either, but there's no way to designate which to use on the Roku).
    Supposedly having the fiber should have solved buffering issues, but at least one channel sometimes says its buffering because it's too slow, even if my cloud backup isn't actively backing up.
    2--I thought I'd be able to connect USB hard drives to the USB ports on the Orbi, to replace a TP-Link W8980 which can enable me to use those drives wirelessly (and the interface allows me to see them and disconnect them in the software). It's an old ADSL modem/router, and I was only using the router part, but it's older and I can't use my newer 4Tb drive on it (it can only go to 2Tb). That doesn't work, and also doesn't work on the Arris. I thought I'd try connecting the TP-Link via ethernet to the Orbi just to see if that would work with the smaller hard drive, but I couldn't see it anywhere (in Orbi or as the following). With the old network setup, I could access the shares by entering \\192.x.x.x, the IP address of the TP-Link in Windows Explorer, and both volumes would show up.
    
    So, I have three things.
    1) Not sure which router should be the DHCP server, and which set of numbers to use where (192.x.x.x or 10.x.x.x or both). I was getting confused by the Arris giving the Orbi the 192.x.x.x for gateway then when I tried to use the same 192.x.x.x on the Orbi for DHCP and not use the Arris, it said I couldn't because of the gateway.
    At the moment I can't get to the Orbi unless I connect directly with a cable (I tried some ways to have its IP different from 10.x.x.x but it didn't seem to work).
    
    2) Is it possible to force the Roku streaming stick to use the 5GHz band?
    3) If I had the rest set up properly, would my idea of connecting the TP-Link (or some newer similar device that can handle 4Tb, why I was testing) work via ethernet to the Orbi?
    
    Thanks.

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RBR50 with AT&T Arris BGW210-700 - setup