NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
popechild2
Aug 11, 2024Guide
Possible to use a single satellite in an Orbi network as an AP with a different SSID?
I have an RBR850 and 4 RBS850s in my home network. One of the four satellites is in a separate building on the property that serves as my office and is hard-wired to the router. It is probably about 200' from the nearest of the other 3 satellites in the main house and as a result I will occasionally get situations where my devices seem to want to stay connected to the other satellites that are farther away and get very slow speed and not switch to the one that's in the office.
I know the entire Orbi system can be switched over to AP mode, but is there a way to only use this one satellite as an AP, or some other way to give it a different SSID? Or to only enable the guest network on the one satellite? That would enable me to force my devices to switch to that closest satellite if necessary by manually choosing the different SSID.
My other option I assume is to get a separate router and set it as an AP, but it seems like keeping all the administration of the network through the Orbi system would be preferable if there's a way it can work.
Thanks!
5 Replies
Can you give examples of the sort of devices which do this?
Do they change access points when moving around within the main building?
My sense is that neither the requested solution nor installing a separate WiFi access point addresses the issue of a device remaining connected to a WiFi unit that is 200 ft. away. If you must manually connect to the other AP, might as well just turn WiFi off and back oh again.
Might check the macbook forums to see if there's any settings for changing roaming aggressiveness. I don't have a mac but windows has one built in.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7262077?sortBy=rank
Thanks, I'll look into that.
So far no specific replies to the question about setting up one satellite as an AP, or providing it with a different SSID. I'm guessing that means it's not something that's possible with the Orib?