The RB850 seems to default to 192.168.1.1 for the main wireless and 192.168.2.1 for the guest wireless...
I want to use the guest wireless to connect non WIFI6 compatible devices to my network while allowing WIFI6 devices on the ) 'main' wireless. How can I change the guest wireless subnet to match the main wireless subnet? (and I assume I'd have to set the main DCHP addresses to say .1 -> .100, and the guest network to .101 -.254 etc?)
No possible since the GN is tied to the WAN side of the router and is supposed to be isolated from the LAN side of the router. This is expected design.
I want to use the guest wireless to connect non WIFI6 compatible devices to my network while allowing WIFI6 devices on the ) 'main' wireless. How can I change the guest wireless subnet to match the main wireless subnet? (and I assume I'd have to set the main DCHP addresses to say .1 -> .100, and the guest network to .101 -.254 etc?
I understand the frustration. On the original Orbi, primary and guest devices shared one IP subnet and there was an option to "Allow Guests to see each other and the primary network." Lord knows how the engineers made that work (and She's not telling).
I was totally surprised when the AX products solved the "how do I keep them separate?" problem by creating two separate subnets. This makes keeping guests away from the primary network much easier, but also removes the possibility of letting them "see" the primary network. Regardless, it is what it is, and cannot be changed.
Do not despair, however, because I fear that the reason for the question reflects a misunderstanding of how the WiFi system functions. WiFi5 and WiFi6 (also called 'ax') both use the same 5G WiFi channel (or the same 2.4G WiFi channel). One radio and one set of antennas connects both the primary WiFi and the guest WiFi networks. The only difference between them is the authentication. (primary and guest have different SSID/passwords). Both primary and guest share the capacity of one WiFi channel. With WiFi, when any device on a specific channel broadcasts, all other devices must wait for their turn. If a guest or primary WiFi device sends or receives a data packet, no other device (primary or guest) on the same channel can do anything.
The reason to offer a 'guest' WiFi network is so customers do not have to share their primary WiFi password with transient users (i.e. guests). At any time, the guest WiFi password can be changed and it has no effect on all the WiFi devices connected to the primary network. Whereas, if there were only one WiFi password, changing it would require re-configuring all WiFi devices in the house. (In my case, over 50. What a pain!)
Thanks for all that info! I thought the backhaul connection between mesh nodes might operate at higher throughput and other things like beam forming, etc... but if it's just the authentication protocol I'll just keep it at WiFi 5 and have all my devices able to talk to each other. Thanks!
The wireless backhaul operates at higher speeds and connection rates. Why there max connection rate is 2400Mpbs. The front haul on the higher model Orbis are the same. Lower end the front haul is slightly slower.
Guest Network will never be or should never be on the same subnet as the main wifi, would defeat it's purpose that was explained.
Thanks for all that info! I thought the backhaul connection between mesh nodes might operate at higher throughput and other things like beam forming, etc... but if it's just the authentication protocol I'll just keep it at WiFi 5 and have all my devices able to talk to each other. Thanks!
The backhaul connection between router and satellites is set for a separate 5G WiFi band (different in North America and the rest of the world) and has 802.11ax enabled. There are a bunch of parameters for the backhaul link that are set and the customer has no control over, such as always using ax.
The only reason I know of to disable ax on the user facing WiFi channels is when there are devices that are so old that they simply will not work unless ax is turned off.
Security on current router systems is WPA2 and AES, There is a separate WPA3 mode as well. Orbi also supports older security modes TPIK as well. IT's up to the connecting devices to support these security modes. You'll need to contact the mfrs of these devices for help and information regarding there products and there security mode support.
