Orbi RBK753 has chucked my Airplay speakers off the network after firmware update

The speakers connected to the AVM once it was changed to the same SSID and password as the Orbi, and then would not connect to the Orbi. Nice try 🙂

So I printed off every single setting and did a full factory reset of the Orbi network. I then reconfigured it just as I had done before, and found myself saying "A-HA!"

Now I don't know exactly when I changed Orbi to WPA3?  Was it a day before or after the firmware update? Not more than that surely. Seemed harmless, or the right thing to do in fact, but could this be the culprit rather than the firmware update?

So I got everything back exactly as before but with WPA2, crossed my fingers, and before I went to check the speakers I heard their little chime indicated wi-fi connection was established! 🎉

I went to check KEF.com and found they do not recommend open networks or WEP (no surprise there!) And they add: "The WPA2 security protocol is recommended." Note, KEF does not say: "The speakers are not compatible with more recent security protocols such as the three years old WPA3."

But if the effect is indeed related to the cause here, it would seem that KEF should indeed include that sentence in its documentation, or even better, get their kit compatible with WPA3. I will point them to this thread.

Thanks Mikey94025 and thank you FURRYe38, and thank you [at]netgear on Twitter.