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Forum Discussion
Netgear Orbi RBK752 and Nighthawk R9000
Hi there,
I hope I get an answer to this one.
Due to some “dead spots” in our current house, I ended up over the years with 3 WIFI routers to ensure proper coverage and signal strengths. That installation is now several years old; it solved the problem somehow but created three networks requiring that you connect to the strongest one manually. I possibly could have done it differently and bridged those routers somehow, but I am not a network guru.
It worked/works alright, but soon we are moving into a new house, a perfect time to change to a proper mesh system.
I recently bought the Netgear Orbi RBK752 with two satellites, assuming it should provide a strong signal in a double-story house we are moving to (2x 100 m2).
One of the routers I currently use at the old house is the NETGEAR Nighthawk R9000.
Since the R9000 wasn’t exactly cheap and works still alright, I wonder if I can make use of it, using it somehow and in a useful way together with the new Mesh system (ideally, making it somehow a mesh component rather than being now a second/additional router if possible).
However, it supports, to my knowledge, only WIFI 5 (802.11ad), probably already negating the possibility of becoming a member of the mesh system?!
I should also mention that we don’t get super high internet speeds here like in the US or Europe; it appears at the location where I will be, I am stuck with 92Mbps/4Mbps.
What are your thoughts here?
- Is it even worthwhile considering including the R9000?
- Could the R9000 become a mesh member (even when not supporting WIFI 6)?
- Does the R9000 have maybe functionalities the RBK752 mesh system doesn’t offer (functionalities I likely never used), making it worthwhile to keep it in the system?
- If it can’t be a “mesh member”, what could be the best option to use it still in the network (i.e. being located close to the back of the house, providing a WIFI signal in the garden)?
- We received from the current provider a router/modem with a 4G SIM card, providing a backup when NBN (national broadband network; fibre optic to the curb/street – last run copper) has technical issues.
I would like to use that modem/router in the new place (mainly because of the 4G backup solution); I assume the best way would be to disable the WIFI and connect the router of the mesh system to it. Or should/could it be the Nighthawk router (assuming/hoping it provides any advantage in my new network)?
I envision the installation like this:
NBN connection device (a specially-installed NBN connection box, known as a Network Termination Device) -> 4G modem (WIFI disabled) -> (Nighthawk R9000?!?) -> RBK752 Router -> RBK752 Satellite -> RBK752 Satellite.
Your opinion/advice is highly appreciated.
Regards, Chris
6 Replies
The R9000 cannot "integrate" into the Orbi mesh system. Put it in a closet.
What I've done in those instances is use the primary router as router and then connected the mesh system to it in access point mode. You'd have the primary (r9000) on a different ssid and different wireless channels (prevents interference).
Then you have the devices that are close to the R9000 and non-mobile connect to it. Or even your IoT devices.
This lets you offload a little of the bandwidth/usage from the Orbi so it can just focus on the devices further away or roaming.
Unless you have quite a few devices, it might not help at all. but it does let you keep using the r9000 and potentially its plex server as well. 🙂
Or do as CrimpOn says, and stick it in the closet as a backup.
In response to Pleman's reply:
Probably a good idea. I could reserve the Orbi mainly for wireless items like phones, tablets and laptops and run my Homey with all the home automation things through the R9000.
Little bit OT: Is it still worthwhile to use PLEX? All the photos are typically in the cloud these days, movies are coming via Netflex etc.
Are there any other nifty functions the R9000 has, that the Orbi doesn't?
Regards, Chris
Not really. The main thing the R9000 has is plex, the spf port, and the wireless AD (that doesn't have any supporting devices)
And you really don't need to do that at all if you don't have a bunch of devices. the orbi is pretty rock solid and it might not be worth going the route of using both. But its always an option if you want to find some utility for it.
Could use the R9000 as the host router, wifi enabled or disabled. Then using a SFP to ethernet adapter in the SFP port on the R9000, connect the Orbi system either in router or AP mode to this SFP adapter.
If you use the Orbi in router mode, put the IP address the Orbi gets from the R9000 into the R9000s DMZ.
One could use the R9000 with a 10Gb SFP to ethernet adapter if there ISP modem was multigig supporting and use the R9000 to get higher WAN speeds using the SFP port.
cwoernThat is a bit beyond my expertise. Would I gain any advantage by using an SFP and hooking up the Orbi to that? If I connect the Orbi in AP mode, do I lose some functionality I would have if the Orbi ran in router mode?
. Regards, Chris
