Dedicate a Wifi Band (e.g. 5Ghz high) as backhaul between two WAX630 (standalone mode)

[alxkkbrg]

Hi everyone---

Does anyone of you know how to dedicate a wifi band (eg. 5Ghz high) to a WDS or SSID as backhaul in standalone mode?

I bacically would like to achieve what Instant mesh function in Netgear Insight does but in standalone mode.

My goal is to prevent other devices to connect to this band to secure a higher throughput between the two APs. I have set up an WDS connection on 5Ghz high band between my the two APs but noticed that most devices on the network also connect to the same 5Ghz high band.

It would be great if you could point me into a direction of how to do it.

Thanks

Alex

[schumaku]

From the higher design view, the WDS is just one SSID out of multiple.

The more logical request would be to be able configuring the "work" SSIDs (note there are some special ones in the play, too) to work just on [ ] 2.4 GHz, [ ] 5 GHz low, [ ] 5 GHz high instead just the global selection for [ ] 2.4 GHz and [ ] 5 GHz.

[module12]

Yeah I would like to know this as well. I have 2 WAC540's and the 5GHz High band is used for the bridge, but zero clients are using the 5GHz Low band - all 5GHz clients are on the High band.

I thought once you dedicated a band to WDS, that band is no longer available for other use. At least that's how it was in older kit.

As an aside, the bridge SSID is visible to clients, and I can't find how to hide it!

[alxkkbrg]

Unfortunately due to lack of support I switched from Netgear to Ubiquiti. I sold all my brand new Netgear equipment, cut my money in half but will no net no grey hair over Netgear anymore.

Hiding importaint networking features behind subscription based models (netgear insight) does not work for me. Bad support and bad documentation does not work for me either, I am happy that I made the step. Netgear Insight is so buggy, slow and I am not paying mid to premium price for a product so far back in developement.

Configuration wise it took me 4 hours what I could not get to work with Netgear in 1 week. This includes the whole setup with multiple switches and AP. What a relief!

I was a huge Netgear customer, not anymore. Not under these circumstances.

[module12]

A really simple quick fix in the Firmware would be able to set the max clients to zero. In fact this may be the permanent solution as well to make zero = no clients.

[module12]

Are you saying this config. is possible with the Cloud Managed Subscription? If so that's totally out of order! Like you I have local config. only as it's only 2 APs. I totally get Cloud/Central Management for enterprises with 10s and even 100s of AP.

I use Ubiquiti Unifi in my own house since I don't need bridging, but this deployment needed true bridging which Unifi doesn't provide.

[module12]

Actually in all the docs, it says: "...2.4GHz, 5GHz high and low, dedicated backhaul for continuous performance"

[alxkkbrg]

I really put time and effort into it to getting it to work. I tried every trick in the book. Called support, chatted with support and read tons of support bloggs on the internet. I tried to dedicate an SSID, WDS etc.

->>>> In the end the option to dedicate a wifi band (high or low) is reserved to Netgear insight subscribers which is appt. 10€/$ per device per year.

-To be able to use mesh with a dedicated backhaul you have to pay 20€/$ per year.

-A Router two swiches and two APs would add up to 50€/$ per year.

I can only advice prosumers like me to get a Dream Machine Pro + the switches and APs you need from Ubiquiti and set up the whole network across all its devices within a couple of hours (detailed setup). I was blown away. Unifi has a very simple and consumer friendly GUI. In my oppinion Netgear is trying to get in to that area but they are to far away to get that usability and oversight over your network.

E.g.. Try to configure Networks with different Vlans and different SSIDs on different bandwidths in an Netgear Insight environment. I was on the verge to get cranky! GUI was super slow, made mistakes. It was just awful. I owned the BR200 Router which supposted to be insight managed. It could not even show which divice was connected to which VLAN. It only showed their MAC adresses. How does Netgear think people will work in such and environment. I called support, chatted with support several times. The devices are just not capable of doing that right now.

And be careful there are still some Netgear devices which have to be configured in Stand Alone Mode (like my BR200 for instance) and just display some data in insight.But the core management/ setup has to take place in Stand Alone Mode. It is really fun to work with 4 Vlans over 4 SSIDs and still have the need to manually insert all important values into the BR200 by hand to get propper routing. This just calls for errors. There seem to be a couple of devices out there which require both management types. 

I was so convinced by the hardware quality of switches and routers for years. I bought a small 8 port back in the days and grew quite a network. But the urge for companies to get customers into subscriptions is just not my way. Not like that. Not with subscribtion based GUI that allows me to to basic suff in a buggy way for much much money.

[alxkkbrg]

---

@module12 wrote:

Actually in all the docs, it says: "...2.4GHz, 5GHz high and low, dedicated backhaul for continuous performance"

---

That was the reason for me to purchase two WAX630. I wanted fast reliable futureprove APs. But it turned out only to be possible in Netgear Insight subscription based GUI. In stand alone there are a view options missing...

[module12]

Does this forum have NETGEAR staff on it? If so can somebody confirm what @alxkkbrg is saying about feature lockout, specifically this function, in stand-alone mode is by design or is a bug in the firmware?

Nowhere in the documentation does is state this.

My return window is getting smaller so if this is a legitimate and intented action on NETGEARs part then like @alxkkbrg I will be returning it.

[module12]

PS: I have emailed NETGEAR - submitted a ticket 3 days ago, got the confirmation page saying I'll be getting an email and not even had the auto acknowledgement email (it's not in spam either)