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I have my Orbi 2.4GHz Channel set to 11. Using either inSSIDer Home or WiFi Commander, I see the signals form the Orbi router and each of my Satellites on channel 11. At about the same signal strength as the Orbi router signal, I also see a signal on channel 11+7 with a hidden SSID. Its MAC Address is identical to the MAC Address for the Orbi router signal except for the second character. I don't have the equipment or expertise to dig much deeper.
Nothing from the Netgear engineers yet, so I assume they haven't figured out what is going on with my Orbi. Looking at some of the debug logs, the SSID of the hidden 2.4GHz signal is identical to the SSID of the backhaul on 5GHz. Returned my Orbi to Costco.
Hm. I see it as a hidden network on both of my Windows PC's. It disappears when I turn my Orbi router off, and reappears when I turn the router back on. Since it is usiing channels 11 and 7, it overlaps over my neighbors WiFi on channel 6. If no one else is seeing this, them my router has a problem.
Did a factory reset. The hidden network is back, same MAC addrress, and is the strongest signal on 2.4GHz. The MAC address starts with a6 on the hidden network, and a2 on the visible network that I connect to. The rest of the two addresses are identical.
I actually did see those once I got on my laptop with 802.11ac support. I'd agree that based on the MAC address, it seems related, but not sure what it is used for.
The below is a good depiction of how this is supposed to work, but not a lot of other details available that I can find:
Had a look at the "logical" network view and there is an unidentied network running on channel 157/155 AC with a bandwidth of 1733. It's got a similar MAC address and I suspect that is the backhaul.
Most likely. Mine is on channels 157+161 and goes away when the router is turned off. Neighbor has a network on 149+153. I was watching this for a while yesterday and my backhaul vanished for a while. The hidden network on channels 11+7 vanished at the same time. Thought there might be a connection.
There should be two hidden backhaul signals - one at 2.4GHz and one a 5GHz.
If you are using something in InSSIDer or another analyzer on a machine that does not have 5GHz adapter, you may not see the 5GHz channel signals - hidden or otherwise I believe. At least that is the case with Acrylic.
Unfortunately I don't have my Orbi up now. I could have sworn I saw a hidden network for both the 2.4 and 5.0 GHz bands when I was testing it. Of course, I could be mistaken - my memory fails me some days thanks to work.
If Petey is around and monitoring, I am sure he will correct me/chime in.
I may have to pull the Orbi back out this weekend and see for myself.
1-1/2 hours on the phone with tech support today. They called me to follow up on my case. Collected a bunch of info off my Orbi router and reflashed the firmware. No changes yet. They will get back to me when they figure out what is going on with my router.
Nothing from the Netgear engineers yet, so I assume they haven't figured out what is going on with my Orbi. Looking at some of the debug logs, the SSID of the hidden 2.4GHz signal is identical to the SSID of the backhaul on 5GHz. Returned my Orbi to Costco.
I have a 1250w microwave oven in the kitchen which is located between the Orbi router and satellite. Everytime we run the microwave oven the devices connected to the satellite disconnect and reconnect several times. I only use 5ghz wifi radio on the Orbi. The 2.4ghz wifi radio is turned off.
This behavior makes me think 2.4ghz is also used in the backhaul communication between the Orbi router and satellite.
Poking around in the config files for the APs it seems that there are provisions to use both 2.4 and 5 for backhaul although I'm not sure if 2.4 is actually used.
I have a 1250w microwave oven in the kitchen which is located between the Orbi router and satellite. Everytime we run the microwave oven the devices connected to the satellite disconnect and reconnect several times. I only use 5ghz wifi radio on the Orbi. The 2.4ghz wifi radio is turned off.
This behavior makes me think 2.4ghz is also used in the backhaul communication between the Orbi router and satellite.
this makes me think you better get a new microwave as its leaking a lot to effect the orbi if more than a few feet away
I've just got my Orbi and realized that it only connects with 2.4ghz for backhaul. This can also be seen in the status and, after enabling, advanced connected devices.
When I get home I can provide screens of this.
So in general you will need to place router and satellite in typical 5Ghz distance to each other 😕
I was wondering that the pictures showed the placement on several floors of the house and it connects with 5Ghz because each time they say that the router and satellite communicate by a separate 5Ghz connection.
In addition to this I am facing issues with my Galaxy S7 Edge trying to roam between both and seems to switch between both forth and back, followed by a connection drop and reconnect. And my FireTV with buffering issues when streaming 720p series.
