Question regarding the physical connection between Xfinity XB8 Gateway to AX5400 Mesh Router (RBR 760)
My home is hardwired to every room with Cat5 ports.
Currently:
XB8 -> RBR 760 -> NetGear Switch -> Patch Panel -> 2 RBS 760 (for the wireless, but the speeds from the Sat was not as fast as I could connect them directly from the Router to each Satellite)
To optimize performance, can I:
XB8 -> RBR 760 (by connecting two of the Gigabit ethernet ports directly to) -> Patch Panel -> 2 RBS 760 as a wired backhaul, without causing any issues with the rest of the hardwired network connections?For some reason, when I did this, all hardwired connections would no longer work
Re: RBK763 - PHYSICAL NETWORK CONNECTION FOR AX5400
Yes. This should work. i.e. bypassing the Ethernet switch for the two cables which connect the router to two satellites and use a third cable from the router to the switch to provide a connection for other devices.
Without more information about the internet connection, it is not clear that there will be any observable difference in performance.
Re: RBK763 - PHYSICAL NETWORK CONNECTION FOR AX5400
Thank you Guru,
I have an Xfinity XB8 GW in Bridge Mode
And understand that the DHCP server is with the Orbi RBK763 mesh router. Is that correct?
For some reason, when I connect two separate cables to the patch panel, the wired connection throughout my network stops. I believe there is a conflict of some kind. I have checked the cables and have replaced them without success. I am thinking that there is some type of conflict that is causing this, but am not sure how to determine this.
One addtitional question. I have the previous NetGear NightHawk Router, AC1750. I was hoping to extend coverage into the garage by connecting this to the Xfinity XB8 in bridge mode, through the patch panel to the garage port and using the NightHawk as an AP. Am I asking for trouble?
I hope that I am not imposing upon you too much, but thank you for your help.
Re: RBK763 - PHYSICAL NETWORK CONNECTION FOR AX5400
What is the brand and model# of this switch?
If your ethernet connecting the RBS to the RBR, be sure your connecting the RBS using only one LAN cable from the RBR to the switch, Then from the switch to the patch panel, you would have two cables coming from the RBS, one each, thru the patch panel in to the switch.
XB8 -> RBR 760 (by connecting two of the Gigabit ethernet ports directly to) -> Patch Panel -> 2 RBS 760 as a wired backhaul, without causing any issues with the rest of the hardwired network connections?" Yes and this would entail using two cables from the RBS, one each thru the patch panel, then both LAN cables connecting to the back of the RBR, if the LAN switch is removed from the mix.
For some reason, when I connect two separate cables to the patch panel, the wired connection throughout my network stops. I believe there is a conflict of some kind. I have checked the cables and have replaced them without success. I am thinking that there is some type of conflict that is causing this, but am not sure how to determine this..
I am concerned that the verbal description of the network connections does not communicate the actual wiring (at least to me). Would it be possible to make a simple drawing of the wiring?
Are the Xfinity gateway, the Orbi router, and the switch located with the patch panel that terminates Ethernet cables running to different locations in the house?
One addtitional question. I have the previous NetGear NightHawk Router, AC1750. I was hoping to extend coverage into the garage by connecting this to the Xfinity XB8 in bridge mode, through the patch panel to the garage port and using the NightHawk as an AP. Am I asking for trouble?
Yes, this simply will not work.
When the XB8 is in bridge mode, it should be connected to only one router (no matter what 'mode' the device is configured in). The NightHawk device should be connected to the RBR760 just as the RBS760 satellites are.
Even if the NightHawk WiFi is configured with the same credentials as the primary Orbi system (SSID/password), it will create a separate WiFi network. Devices will not roam seamlessly between the Orbi and NightHawk WiFi networks. (Devices that are not mobile cannot roam, so they will be unaffected.) What is likely to happen when a mobile devices roams is that it will continue to remain connected to whichever network it is using until the signal gets so terrible that it it "gives up" and begins looking for a WiFi network. This is similar to what happens when a person leaves home. At first, a smartphone will switch from 5G WiFi to 2.4G WiFi. Then, a smartphone will eventually drop WiFi and switch to LTE. It will constantly scan for a suitable WiFi connection until one shows up that it knows the password to.
"Honey, the WiFi is SO SLOW." "Did you go out into the garage? Did you remember to turn WiFi off and back on again?"
This is why mesh networks were created in the late 2010's. People found using WiFi Extenders frustrating.
Re: RBK763 - PHYSICAL NETWORK CONNECTION FOR AX5400
Hi Guru,
Thank you for all your help and suggestions. As I was going through and taking some pictures to trace exactly how I was connecting to the patch panel vs the switch, I discovered that I was confusing which cable was going to the switch vs the patch panel. Additionally, I discovered that two of the cables may have had issues and replaced them. The satellites are now connected.
I do notice that every once in a while, the connection drops. I am not sure how or why this is happening and will continue to monitor. I am also curious if you have any knowledge on how to shut off the call the router apparently makes back to NetGear every minute. It is something that I noticed, but have not found a way to keep this from happening.
Would you have any thoughts please? Again, thank you for your help.
how to shut off the call the router apparently makes back to NetGear every minute. It is something that I noticed, but have not found a way to keep this from happening.
The only method to prevent the Orbi router from connecting with Netgear is to place some device between the router and the internet which examines every data packet and selectively drops some. This is not a trivial undertaking. Frankly, I am not certain how a person would go about doing that.
It is also not clear what the benefit would be.
If it is something simple, such as an ICMP ('ping') to verify that the internet connection is functioning, the amount of data consumed is so small as to be almost zero. It also might be some sort of "Keep Alive" heatbeat to ensure that the Orbi 'app' is able to make a connection through the Netgear "cloud".
There was a semi-legitimate reason to block connections when Netgear was forcing firmware updates on users. Now that the Firmware Update module has an explicit option which allows the user to prevent firmware updates, I no longer see much interest in blocking those connections. (When I investigated those, it was two times every 24 hours. not every minute.)
