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Forum Discussion

RocketSquirrel's avatar
May 22, 2018
Solved

Tips on converting Orbi router to access point?

I've decided that while Orbi provides great WiFi, its routing features and its GUI are not so great. So I plan to reinstall my Asus RT-AC68U (with radios off) as the router and turn the Orbi into a W...
  • st_shaw's avatar
    st_shaw
    May 24, 2018

     


    RocketSquirrel wrote:

    I'm still preparing for this conversion. The Orbi manual says

    To set up the Orbi router as an AP after you set up your Internet connection:
    1. Use an Ethernet cable to connect the Internet port of this router to a LAN port on your existing router or gateway.
    2. Launch a web browser from a computer or WiFi device that is connected to the network.
    3. Enter orbilogin.com. A login window opens.
    4. Enter the router admin user name and password
    5. Select ADVANCED > Advanced Setup > Router/AP Mode.
    The Router/AP Mode page displays.
    6. Select the AP Mode radio button. The page adjusts.
    7. Select the IP address setting:
    •Get dynamically from existing router. The other router on the network assigns an IP address to this router while this router is in AP mode.
    •Enable fixed IP settings on this device (not recommended). Use this setting if you want to manually assign a specific IP address to this router while it is in AP mode.

    Won't step 1 immediately crash the network as 2 devices claim 192.168.1.1? Do I need to change Orbi's LAN address prior to performing step 1?


    No.  You must connect the Orbi router's yellow Internet/WAN port to one of your existing router's LAN port to use Orbi in AP mode. In router mode the Orbi has a WAN IP on the Yellow WAN port and a LAN IP on the three LAN ports. If you've been using Orbi as a router, the WAN IP will not be 192.168.1.1, so there's no chance for a conflict.

     

    You may be overthinking this. Just follow the instructions and it should work fine.

     

    I recommend using the DHCP option when setting the Orbi's address in AP mode.  That way your existing router will handle all the IP address assignments and you shouldn't have conflicts.

     

     

     

    I think you are overthinking this.