From years of setting up routers, I know I shouldn't have two routers on the same network. One should do the routing, the other should be in Bridge/AP Mode. But I come here with a question.
I just got off the phone with my 78 year old father who lives 3,000 miles away. Normally I'd do all his tech support on my visits but thanks to the virus I haven't visited in over a year. He needed a WiFi upgrade and I bought him the Costco RBK-753 pack. I just spent the time with him on his landline getting it set up.
He, however, has a Comcast gateway for his internet modem, router, and landline. In my mind after set-up I was going to have him go into orbilogin.net and set up the Orbi to AP mode (I can't set up his Comcast box to bridge mode because it requires a laptop and ethernet cable of which my father has neither...he has an iPad and an iPhone...that's it). For obvious reasons I didn't love the idea of getting my father into the Advanced menus nor the fact that while in AP mode he couldn't use the Orbi app to troubleshoot in the future.
I got the system up and running and it's working fine...without being in AP mode. I'm fully intending on putting the Comcast box into bridge mode on my next visit but that can be months. So my question is...in the ensuing months with both the Comcast and Orbi boxes performing routing duties should I expect there to be issues? Or is it going to work just fine (similar to how it's working fine right now at the end of our set-up call)?
A bit more detail: Xfinity box is broadcasting it's own WiFi network (I also can't shut off remotely) which as a different SSID than the Orbi. Orbi router connected to the Xfinity gateway via ethernet.
So my question is...in the ensuing months with both the Comcast and Orbi boxes performing routing duties should I expect there to be issues? Or is it going to work just fine (similar to how it's working fine right now at the end of our set-up call)?
It will probably work fine. The only functional issues with Double NAT are usually things like games or special port forward needs, which your dad is probably not doing. If he hasn't yet encountered something broken then it will continue working.
I'm running with Double NAT now myself, and have been for months. My Comcast router is connected to my Orbi RBR850 as well as my Orbi RBR50 (which I run for guest network and compatibility with some devices that don't work with the Orbi AX like my Nest thermostat and August lock).
Thank you both. Yes, my parents have a grand total of 5 devices on their network (2 iPads, 2 iPhones, and an AppleTV) so it sounds like they'll avoid double NAT just fine until I can make it out there. Thanks!
