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I am planning to upgrade my old Netgear Orbi Voice Mesh RBR50V router and Satellite to something that can handle more devices as I'm nearing 80 WiFi devices. My existing RBR50V does not seem to do well with 40+
I am looking to possibly purchase the Netgear Orbi RBKE962 which should be not only backwards compatible with all my existing WiFi devices (2.4 & 5 ghz), but also set me up for the next few years to come (new 6E,, etc. devices). The issue is that I have quite a bit of settings (IP Reservations, Port Forwarding, etc., etc.) that I would hate to have to redo from scratch on the new.
My question is this. If I create a backup of my current configurations, can that backup be used on the new RBKE962, is it compatible? And if so, will it include the existing device profiles, parental control profiles, IP reservations, Port Forwarding and other settings?
Just trying to make the transition as seamless as possible without creating issues.
Though that is a nice idea and has been talked about before, unfortunately you'll need to set up the new system from scratch.
Take screen capture of the 50 series settings.
You can use same SSID name and PW from older system on new system.
Something I recommend and do a lot, setup the new system off line from the ISP. Get the new system set up for basic configuration and setup the same SSID name, PW and channels, Once the new system is setup, turn OFF the new RBS and new RBR. Now turn OFF the out going RBS. Take the new RBR to same place as where the old RBR is. Power it ON. Reboot the ISP modem/ONT from a existing wired PC connection. Or can power cycle that off for 30 seconds then back ON. When the modem or ONT begins to reboot, disconnect the old RBR from the Modem/ONT and connect the modem/ONT to the new RBR router. You can leave both RBRs ON. Once the modem/ONT reboots and comes to ready, look at the new RBR front LED and should have gone from blinking WHITE to maybe a PINK or RED color then after the modem or ONT comes to ready, the front LED on the RBR should turn OFF. When you see this, turn OFF the old RBR and remove it.
Your wireless devices should automatically migrate and connect to the new RBR.
Check the new RBR for internet access and such. If good here, turn ON the new RBS at there remote locations.
Though that is a nice idea and has been talked about before, unfortunately you'll need to set up the new system from scratch.
Take screen capture of the 50 series settings.
You can use same SSID name and PW from older system on new system.
Something I recommend and do a lot, setup the new system off line from the ISP. Get the new system set up for basic configuration and setup the same SSID name, PW and channels, Once the new system is setup, turn OFF the new RBS and new RBR. Now turn OFF the out going RBS. Take the new RBR to same place as where the old RBR is. Power it ON. Reboot the ISP modem/ONT from a existing wired PC connection. Or can power cycle that off for 30 seconds then back ON. When the modem or ONT begins to reboot, disconnect the old RBR from the Modem/ONT and connect the modem/ONT to the new RBR router. You can leave both RBRs ON. Once the modem/ONT reboots and comes to ready, look at the new RBR front LED and should have gone from blinking WHITE to maybe a PINK or RED color then after the modem or ONT comes to ready, the front LED on the RBR should turn OFF. When you see this, turn OFF the old RBR and remove it.
Your wireless devices should automatically migrate and connect to the new RBR.
Check the new RBR for internet access and such. If good here, turn ON the new RBS at there remote locations.
My question is this. If I create a backup of my current configurations, can that backup be used on the new RBKE962, is it compatible?
The consensus on the forum is that the configuration files are not compatible. Netgear has done nothing to smooth the upgrade process.* There is a program on the internet which will decode the configuration file into human readable form, which can then be sorted and used as a "cheat sheet" when creating the configuration on a replacement system.
The recommended practice is to power up the new router while not connected to the internet and go through the configuration process, but not change the WiFi credentials until the very end. This will avoid interference with the existing system. Then, when ready to make the swap, disconnect the old router. Connect the new router and change the WiFi credentials. It will reboot and "voila", all devices will connect as before!
*To be fair, I have no idea if other vendors have a method to copy configuration info from an older generation of WiFi router to a newer model.
