NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
peteytesting
Sep 26, 2016Hero
Before you buy the orbi system - what you need to know performance and feature wise
hi guys i have started this post to clear up some misconceptions about the orbi system and where its aimed and what it can do first what it can do provide overall better wifi coverage by ...
- Sep 28, 2016
oh and i forgot
no usb functionality at this stage ether
there is a long list of things that ether will be added or may be added but no real ETA on when or if they will be implemented , only time will tell
pete
peteytesting
Oct 01, 2016Hero
powrby4d wrote:I have a question that might relate to the mesh topic. When I put the Orbi router into AP mode then what is the role of the satellite? Do I get extended coverage with both the router and satellites acting as switch and access points? Or does changing the router to AP mode somehow disable the functionality of the satellite? Everything is working fine when the router is in AP mode I just don't know if it is now just using the router instead of the satellite or whether it is now using both as APs since I don't need the routing functionality on the Orbi, what I really purchased it for was wifi performance and coverage.
hi
the sat operates the same wether the orbi router is in router mode or ap mode as atm it is just connecting back to the router via its 5 gig backhaul , it would be just the same if you could have ethernet connected the sat would work the same
so yes they still both work and both work as switches , all that happens is the routing functionality in the orbi router is bypassed and what ever you have the orbi router connected to the controls everything router and dhcp wise
pete
powrby4d
Oct 01, 2016Guide
Thanks Pete for the reply. So when in AP mode does the router act as a second AP in tandem with the satellite to increase total WiFi coverage or does AP mode basically mean that it is acting as a switch for wired clients as well as a wireless bridge in the 1.7MHz band and only the satellite is providing wifi to connected devices?
Basically what I want to know is whether there is a wifi coverage advantage to running the router in AP mode or is that just a way of turning it into a switch for wired connections plus the satellites. I'll be honest I put mine in AP mode and after a while had a lot of flaky behavior so I switched it back to router mode which seems more stable but when I turned off DHCP on the Orbi to get the addresses assigned by the uplinked router for a flat address space ( important for DIRECTV) I could not get any connections to the Orbi and had to do a factory reset to get things running again temporarily with segmented subnets.
Somjust trying to sort out if AP mode has a coverage advantage for connected devices or is basically "switch" mode since sooner or later I need a flat address space by either AP mode (not lucky so far) or disabling DHCP in router mode (also not lucky so far). Thanks for the advice.