I recently purchased a RBK752 and found a deal on the Orbi voice Rbs40v so I thought I would give it a try. Today I was told that the new Wi-Fi 6 routers do not work with Orbi voice. Does anyone know if the support is coming? If yes I would consider keeping it. If was coming soon
It's not compatible at this time there has no information on if or when Orbi AC RBS will be made compatible. If it has a LAN port, then you could connect it to the 7 series Orbi that way. IF not, then it's up to you to keep it or not.
Thanks I connected it via Ethernet cable and it’s working but any devices connected to the Orbi voice show up as wired the light on the top is always red. Also you are not able to update the firmware unless you do a manual upgrade. I’m still on the fence as I was looking for a wireless system.
In today’s products they always support backward compatibility of older WiFi standards and this should not be any different.
Well with the radios supporting different AX modes and such, there maybe some incompatbilities. There is some differences between AX and AC Orbi. IF a RBS is wired, then any wireless device connected to the RBS will appear as a wired device since the main backhaul is wired, not wirelss, so the status for any device on that line will appear as wired.
AX is still new and may have some incompatbilities. You may want to either return the RBS40v or return the Orbi AX system for a Orbi AC system which is more compatible with RBS AC.
I've asked netgear about this and they said it by default its in orbi mode and you need to have it in extender mode, let me know if this solves the issue as I haven't yet upgraded to this router yet.
Here is reply from netgear via Facebook messenger
Hi Jonathan - Thank you for reaching out. The Orbi Voice Satellite works with Orbi AX in Extender Mode. Here's a reference of how to set it up: https://kb.netgear.com/000061427/
Thanks for this post. I have the same setup, migrating from an older AC to an AX system I picked up from Costco. However, I had recently added an RBS40V to increase coverage to my former AC mesh network. I want to be able to use the RBS40V in some capacity with the new AX system. I understand that it cannot connect in Orbi mode so changed it to Extender Mode.
All of this worked as documented but then came the confusion. In order to configure the Alexa features of the RBS40V, you need to use the mobile Nighthawk app. Using a desktop web browser allows the network setup of the RBS40 in Extender Mode, but you cannot access the Voice Controls. Even then, you may need to quit and reopen the Nighthawk app to get the Amazon Alexa login.
Model: RBS40V|Orbi Voice Add-on WiFi Satellite and Smart Speaker
Thanks for this post. I have the same setup, migrating from an older AC to an AX system I picked up from Costco. However, I had recently added an RBS40V to increase coverage to my former AC mesh network. I want to be able to use the RBS40V in some capacity with the new AX system. I understand that it cannot connect in Orbi mode so changed it to Extender Mode.
All of this worked as documented but then came the confusion. In order to configure the Alexa features of the RBS40V, you need to use the mobile Nighthawk app. Using a desktop web browser allows the network setup of the RBS40 in Extender Mode, but you cannot access the Voice Controls. Even then, you may need to quit and reopen the Nighthawk app to get the Amazon Alexa login.
