Recently I purchased a SXK50, currently I am using the Router only (I do not connect any satellites to it). By design when the backhaul 5G 2 WiFi is not being used (No satellite connected or using ethernet backhaul), the 5G 2 WiFi backhaul channel (locked at channel 157) will be available as fronthaul as well.
This has caused some trouble for me. Most of my 5G clients are automatically connected to the 5G 2 network but not the primary 5G network. For some reason my clients refused to work at 2400Mbps link speed while using the 5G 2 network, resulting in lower throughput. (I'm not sure but is the 5G 2 backhaul a 160MHz 2x2 design, or it's 80MHz 4x4 like the SXK80?)
Currently there's no way to disbale the 5G 2 network, plus it's not able to assign another SSID to the 5G 2 network, it's all automatic.
I've seen similar complaints but there's currently no solution, and the old Telnet commands for the older AC Orbi products do not work anymore.
So I decided to do a bit more research, and I hope the following would help others who have similar issues.
Using the following commands will disallow using the 5G 2 backhaul WiFi (locked at Channel 157) to be used as fronthaul, this should work for all current gen Orbi Pro products:
Now all clients should connect to the primary 5G WiFi only (default channel 48).
You can use "config show" to list all parameters available. Actually there are other parameters that seemed to control the WiFi signal on/off (e.g. wireless.radio5g2.enable=1), but changing that setting do nothing for me.
Although I still can not turn of 5G 2 WiFi completely, but now all my clients are using the primary 5G WiFi with full speed.
It's not a bad design to make the 5G 2 WiFi available as fronthaul, but Netgear should provide more flexibility in SSID managment.
Re: Disable 5G 2 WiFi network as fronthaul for SXK50
Glad you found a work around for it.
I'm just happy that they freed up the backhaul at all for usage when not having satellites or when using a wired backhaul. Its a nice option for most to have.
Not sure why it wouldn't connect at the faster rate. The backhaul is a 2x2 antenna 160hz wide setup according to its spec sheet.
Re: Disable 5G 2 WiFi network as fronthaul for SXK50
When connected to backhaul WiFi the max link speed is 1200/1200 up/down. Acutal speed is around 800Mb/s at close range.
After the trick the same client connected to the primary 5G WiFi is able to run at 2400/2400 at the same spot. Acutal speed >900Mb/s (limited by the 1Gb WAN). Not a huge difference but the same applies to longer range, the primary 5G WiFi provides better performance than the backhaul WiFi.
I agree it's a nice feature to allow the backhhaul WiFi to be used as fronthaul, but Netgear should really consider providing more options, like allowing different SSID for the backhaul WiFi. After all it is the Orbi Pro line not the consumer Orbi...
Re: Disable 5G 2 WiFi network as fronthaul for SXK50
I'll be honest, its a new thing where the backhaul is freed up to be able to be used. We've been asking for it since orbi first came out almost a decade ago. So there isn't much information on what's all allowed or mechanics behind it. Just that it works.
