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Forum Discussion
Upgrading from RBR50 to RBR850
I have a 12th Gen Intel Core, i7-12700, 2.10 GHz, 32 GB Ram running Windows home 11, version 23H2.
Have had a RBR50 and satellite for multiple years. It's been great (except one problem I'll describe below). I haven't opened the box of the new RBR850 because I have questions.about setting up the new Orbi.
I'm not extremely literate in talking about routers. But, I want to make sure that I do this correctly, hoping to overcome a problem I've had through 3 different desktop computers and have described on this forum previously but never cured.
The problem- every digital device we own runs at a consistent high speed. But, my desktop, which I use in my home business and need consistent speed, frequently does not. I can be sitting at my computer that is lagging down to 50 MBPS and have my phone in my hand running 200 MBPS. It isn't the computer. As I have mentioned, this is the 3rd high performance desktop I've owned and this has happened consistently.
Looking at the Netgear Router admin information on my desktop, I see that (occasionally) my desktop will connect at 2.4G rather than 5G. It was suggested by an engineer friend that might be the problem. I never found a way to make my desktop consistently connect to the 5G.
Questions- When setting up the new router and satellite is there a process to delete the old router/satellite? Or, does the new setup just take care of all of that?
Is there a way for me to make this new Router consistently connect at 5G with my desktop?
1 Reply
When replacing WiFi systems, my practice is to assign the new system WiFi credentials (SSID/password) which exactly match the system that is being replace. This way, every WiFi device in the house automatically connects to the new system without having to be configured. And, should I device to "go back" to the previous system, every WiFi device will connect to it as well. i.e. A seamless transition.
Of course, if I had spent time reserving IP addresses to specific devices by their MAC address, it is a good idea to duplicate those assignments on the new system before making the switch. What I usually do is leave setting the SSID/password until the last step.
The desktop computer will connect to what it considers the best WiFi signal. As long as the antennas have a clear path from the computer to the nearest Orbi unit, this is almost always the 5G signal. Desktop computers often have WiFi antennas "hidden" behind their massive metal chassis, which is not friendly to WiFi signals.
In addition, the WiFi network settings will have the ability to tell the WiFi adapter to use only the 5G WiFi connection.
(Control Panel, Network, change device settings.)
