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Forum Discussion
Recent experience Orbi 970 with At&t gateway
Hi
With my AT&T gateway, the Orbi router will have to be set up in AP mode - which seems like it is basically functioning as a satellite. If I’m covering a 3 story home -about 10,000 sq ft, total, will there be a substantial difference in coverage and speed with the Orbi 3 pack vs using the AT&T gateway with 4 extenders? Thanks for any advice or feedback with your experience.
With my AT&T gateway, the Orbi router will have to be set up in AP mode - which seems like it is basically functioning as a satellite. If I’m covering a 3 story home -about 10,000 sq ft, total, will there be a substantial difference in coverage and speed with the Orbi 3 pack vs using the AT&T gateway with 4 extenders? Thanks for any advice or feedback with your experience.
6 Replies
MESH is more designed to be a extender system and has the ability for backhaul support while still giving front haul, user connectable wifi signals and also provide MLO support for your devices that support MLO/WiFi7 and integrates with in itself or user visibility to see what is connected to each AP and check on status.
30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR 📡 and RBS 🛰️ to begin with depending upon building materials when wired or wirelessly connected.
https://kb.netgear.com/31029/Where-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite 🛰- Thank you for your reply. Unless I’m mistaken, It sounds like I’d be spending substantially more but possibly not gaining enough benefit to justify the expenditure - especially given my primary workspace is next to the router/gateway. True?
I'd probably go with a current Orbi AX or AXE system.
C702 wrote:
Thank you for your reply. Unless I’m mistaken, It sounds like I’d be spending substantially more but possibly not gaining enough benefit to justify the expenditure - especially given my primary workspace is next to the router/gateway. True?
- I have ATT 5Gb fiber service via a BGW320 Gateway. I’m in “Router” mode with my NG RBE971 behind the ATT Gateway
ATT Gateway’s do not offer “BRIDGING” capability (which does NOT imply only AP mode will work) which is the easiest method to place a router behind the ATT Gateway. I’m old and don’t remember everything I did, but I used IP “pass through” as “Bridging” wasn’t available through the ATT Gateway (I think that’s what it’s called) and I consistently receive 4500-5100 Mb up and down as measured through the ATT Gateway Speedtest (Gateway fiber speed to internet) and the Orbi App internal speedtest (NG Router speed through the ATT Gateway to the internet). Using my iPhone 15 Pro max (which offers WiFi 6E, not WiFi 7) and the IOS version of the Ookla speed App (tests the speed from my iPhone 15 Pro Max to the test server I select 4-miles from my location) shows I have consistent 1100-1300 Mb up and down via WiFi 6E connection to the NG RBE971/970 mesh system.
Google something like “how to configure Router behind ATT fiber gateway”. I think you can also search this NG Community and see the parameters that should be set in the NG Router, and the parameters that should be changed in the ATT BGW 320 (set parameters for IP Pass through, and turn off ATT Gateway 2.4/5Ghz WiFi bands so they don’t interfere with NG WiFi). See more below about how WiFi 7 technology greatly amplifies the opportunity for WiFi interference. Just one of the many transmission tricks of WiFi 7, the NG router has 12 internal antennas, that use beam forming (or something super magical) so having too many nodes doesn’t increase transmission speeds, but quickly degrades it!
I highly suggest you 1) strictly follow NG recommendations on properly sizing how many nodes you need for your home size (WiFi 7 is unlike any previous versions, so if you’re old school like me “if 2 nodes are better, I’ll buy the 3-pack”, wrong, I did, but ultimately with help from this forum (after struggling for 7-months!) disconnected one node because of all the interference issues causing unstable WiFi, flips from WiFi to 5G cellular, etc).
And 2), make sure you manually check for firmware upgrade as soon as you get Router installed and connected to internet. Follow RBE971 instructions to upgrade (e.g, upgrade Satellites first, then Router). Once you get the router configured, save the configuration in case you need to re-install.
With the ATT Gateway router, my ATT provided extenders were only capable of up to 1Gb speeds. With a NG router Mesh system, my wired (and wireless as well I think) backhaul from the other mesh node(s) is capable of speeds up to 10Gb (if the end device is WiFi 7 capable e.g. iPhone 16 pro max).
Good luck and enjoy the speed!- Ok… given you have the same gateway I do, and the fact I’m not getting the speeds you are out of the AT&T equipment, I am more confident that Orbi is the right choice. Thank you .
I know... Reading online conversations and talking to AT&T is what really put me over the edge. It is not a straightforward install. Thank you for your response.
