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Forum Discussion
Orbi RBR350 AP mode guest network improper IP Assignments
I have my RBR acting on AP only mode with 2 orbi RBS350 as nodes. Connected to the ethernet port on my RBR give me internet access. I see on my router that some devices are being assigned correctly i...
Hello Dabsterrr ,
Welcome to the NETGEAR Community!
michaelkenward is correct.
The guest network is disabled in Access Point mode. To use the guest network features please change your RBR350 to router mode. For an optimal network configuration, you may need to change your ISP router to modem-only mode to prevent double NAT instability.
Best,
Kevin
Community Team
My experience indicates that with regard to Guest WiFi, the situation is more nuanced than one might expect.
(Spoiler Alert: Guest WiFi is NOT disabled in AP mode.)
I have an RBR750 with the WAN port connected to my RBR50 Orbi LAN.
- When the RBR750 is in router mode, it is assigned an IP address in the 192.168.1.x range and creates its own IP LAN in the 10.0.0.x (as it should). It supports both primary and guest WiFi networks.
- Devices connected to the 750 primary network get addresses in 10.0.0.x.
- Devices connected to the 750 Guest WiFi network are assigned IPs in the 192.168.2.x range.
- When the RBR750 is changed to access point (AP) mode, It is assigned an IP in the 192.168.1.x range, but the Attached Devices page now shows the same MAC address with two different IP addresses see image below):
- 192.168.1.84, and
- 192.168.2.1
- In AP mode,
- Devices connected to the 750 primary network (wired or WiFi) are assigned IPs in the upstream router 192.168.1.x network, and they appear in the Attached Devices display of the upstream router, but...
- Devices connected to the 750 Guest WiFi are assigned IPs in the 192.168.2.x range.
These devices do not appear in the upstream Attached Devices display.
My belief is:
- Guest WiFi network is not "disabled" when an AX router is placed in AP mode.
- No matter what mode an AX router is in, devices connected to the Guest WiFi are assigned IPs in the 192.168.2.x range. In router mode, they appear on the Attached Devices display. In AP mode, they do not.
In router mode, every device connected to the AX router is hidden from the upstream router by NAT. In AP mode, devices on the primary network are reported on Attached Devices, but devices connected to the Guest WiFi network are hidden behind the 192.168.2.1 NAT.
This is a fairly simple experiment to conduct. (although a bit tedious)
CrimpOn wrote:
My experience indicates that with regard to Guest WiFi, the situation is more nuanced than one might expect.
(Spoiler Alert: Guest WiFi is NOT disabled in AP mode.)
What are we to make of Netgear's KnowledgeBase article on AP mode?
Disabled Features on the Router when set to AP Mode | Answer | NETGEAR Support
It is just plain wrong.
My belief is:- Guest WiFi network is not "disabled" when an AX router is placed in AP mode.
Nor is the Guest Network disabled when you put an old warhorse router like the R7800 into AP mode.
Someone with inside connections should get Netgear to revise its advice on this front.
Yes, we've already asked them about this.
Guest WiFi in AP mode is also complicated because the original and AX products work differently:
- The original Orbi assigned IPs to Guest WiFi from the primary DHCP pool (or even 'assigned' IP list).
What AP mode disabled was the ability to segregate Guest devices from the primary LAN. i.e. Guest WiFi can be enabled, but in AP mode IPs are assigned by the upstream router and Guest devices can access the entire LAN subnet. - The AX models appear to assign IPs to Guest WiFi even in AP mode and hide them behind NAT.
- The original Orbi assigned IPs to Guest WiFi from the primary DHCP pool (or even 'assigned' IP list).
That was a drink of water in the desert - thanks for spelling all of that out. This is the only time that Ive seen that thorough an answer to the question - Ive been trying to figure out whether I can pull off pfsense upstream and broadcast more than one SSID.
I have yet to try it but my guess is that Im stuck on dot 1 and dot 2 networks and there is a possibility that I might not be able to have my way with dot 2. If DHCP is off in access point mode how in the world are devices even getting those dot 2 addresses? In your setup I think your ISP router is the one handing out addresses?
jimbrowski wrote:
I've been trying to figure out whether I can pull off pfsense upstream and broadcast more than one SSID.
My sense is that there are two goals:
- To use pfSense to control the network (assign IP addresses) and perhaps have devices connected directly to the pfSense router (not connected to the Orbi) but still in the same IP subnet as the Orbi devices.
- To have more than one WiFi SSID.
This certainly seems possible with the key being what this second SSID is used for. If it is to allow "Guest" (or other) devices internet access but not access to the primary network, then I think putting the RBR350 in Access Point mode probably does what you want.
If the psSense is already installed, this would be a fairly simple experiment:
- Assign an IP address to the RBR350 in the pfSense.
- Connect the RBR350 .
- Enable Guest WiFi on the RBR350.
- Put the RBR350 into AP mode.
- Connect two different devices to the RBR350 Guest WiFi.
- See what these devices can (and cannot) do.
If I had one, I'd do it tonight. (but, I don't. sorry)
