Netgear ORBI RBR50 Guest network

Well, fudge. 

Cannot find Gosund smart plug on Amazon.

Which model of Avatar?

Which model of Etekcity?

Which model of Merkury?

Do these products all use the same smartphone app, or different apps?

That is odd as Gosund is the most recent purchase from Amazon, bought two 4 packs to standardize most of my plugs and be able to use ONE app most of the time.

1. Gosund Wp5 and uses the Gosund app

2. EtekCity ESW01 and uses the VeSync app

3. Avatar AWP02l-N and uses the Smart Life app

4. Merkury light bulbs use the geeni app

All four devices were on the main Orbi wi-fi without a problem. Have reset all devices multiple times and none will connect to the GUEST.  I used to have a Comcast Router (turned it in last week to save $5 a month on my bill), and all devices connected to the GUEST on this Router. 

I now have a Netgear Dual Band wi-fi Range Extender (RE) that is connected to the GUEST on the Orbi.  All devices connect to GUEST-2G from the RE without a problem.  For S&G, after connecting to the RE I reset several of the devices an upteenth time and they still would not connect to GUEST but connect on 1st try back to Guest-2g

(again) my attention went to the wrong part of the problem.  I am so used to people wanting to disable the 5G WiFi that I missed the point entirely.  (Totally My Bad)

Could you please humor me with two questions:

• The smartphone was connected to the Guest WiFi during these connection attempts, correct?
• Which option was selected on the Guest WiF?
  a) Allow Guests to see each other and access the local network, or
  b) NOT allow Guests to see each other and access the local network?

1. Have used my Phone and Tablet, both were connected to GUEST when trying to setup directly to Orbi, GUEST-2G when they connected to the Range Extender

2. The Orbi Router has the block UNchecked under > allow Guests to see each other and access the local network

I believe this option doesnt matter, becasue all the devices work when connected to the Guest-2G under the Range Extender that is connected to GUEST, so the same rules would apply.

I don't know whether to be happy.... or what.

My Guest WiFi requires a password and has the option checked to allow devices to see each other and the primary network.

Pulled out a YI home camera and connected it to Guest WiFi, "no problem."  However, cameras are not a fair test because they get set up using a QR code. (Smartphone never connects directly to camera.)

Feeling cocky, got out a TP-Link KASA Smart Plug. "no Problem"  Can switch plug on/off when phone is on Guest network and on Primary network.  (Note: The TP-Link refused to connect to Guest network when it did not require a password.)

Next, Wyze Smart Plug.  "No Problem".  Can switch plug on/off when phone is on Guest network and on Primary network.

Eufy Smart Plug Miini.  "No Problem".  Plug is connected to Guest WiFi. Can switch on/off when phone is connected to Guest or Primary network.

Aukey SH-PA1 Smart Plug.  ugly connection process, but then... Fine.  Plug is connect to Guest WiFi.  I'm not a big fan of this plug. But... can turn plug on/off when phone connected to Guest and primary WiFi.

So, I have successfully connected one camera and four smart plugs to the Orbi guest WiFi. Thus, "Happy"

Have no explanation for what would cause your devices not to connect to the guest WiFi.  (What?)

First, thanks again for taking time on this. 

From your post the key difference in our setup is you have > My Guest WiFi . . . has the option checked to allow devices to see each other and the primary network.  <  Mine does NOT have this option selected as I want to keep the Guest separated from the Main network. 

My first thought on this matter is there is NO WAY this can be the issue (my bad) as the Range Extender (RE) is just broadcasting the GUEST with the same rules and I can connect to the RE without a problem.

I have two spare plugs of each brand  < 1. Gosund Wp5, 2. EtekCity ESW01, and 3. Avatar > and I used these to test turniing this feature on, to allow GUEST to see each other and the primary network.  To my surprise all devices but ONE Gosund unit were able to now connect to GUEST.  The one that wouldn't still connects fine to the RE Guest-2G.  So having just one that would not connect, I would say this is partially the issue.

I took this a step further and went back to the ORBI Router and unchecked the option to see each other and the Primary network.  After a reboot I was suprised to see that all units that connected to GUEST were still working with this now off.  So for most of the devices, I could enable this feature, add all to GUEST and then disable it??

It just doesn't make sense to me how having this feature off prevents a device from connecting (still works after connecting) especially when they all connect to the RE with the same rules??

Internet of Things devices are sort of a "Black Hole" in terms of how they get set up*.

(and it is obvious that products and their smartphone apps behave differently)

My hypothesis is that

• As part of the original setup, after connecting to the WiFi network, the device attempts to connect to the smartphone app to confirm that they are on the same network.  "See, I made it!" After the confirmation, the device then opens a connection to the vendor cloud so that it can be controlled by the app no matter where the smartphone is located.
• Thus, after the setup is complete, there is no longer a requirement for the device to connect directly to the smartphone.
• This would explain why the "see each other" option being checked will facilitate the original setup process, but not be required for 'normal' operation.

The Range Extender may be "too smart".  It 'knows' which devices are connected directly to the RE and can route packets directly between the devices without passing them up to the host access point (then receiving them back again to go to the other device).  The RE has no concept of Guest WiFi being 'special' in terms of two states: allow vs. disallow.

* Capturing network traffic to analyze the setup process would be a challenge.

• The debug option to "Capture LAN/WAN traffic" will collect any packets that make it to the router, but not any packets that do not make it that far.  (Such as if a satellite recognizes the destination device is local, or the RE does that.)
• The debug option also does not capture the WiFi management frames used to make the actual device connection to WiFi.
  So, collecting both the actual WiFi connection and the network traffic requires two WiFi adapters.

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DTMaurice wrote:

I have two spare plugs of each brand  < 1. Gosund Wp5, 2. EtekCity ESW01, and 3. Avatar > and I used these to test turniing this feature on, to allow GUEST to see each other and the primary network.  To my surprise all devices but ONE Gosund unit were able to now connect to GUEST.  The one that wouldn't still connects fine to the RE Guest-2G.  So having just one that would not connect, I would say this is partially the issue.

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Did you setup the wifi for these using app, with your phone ALSO connected to your GUEST network?  If so then there may be something about the app needing to be able to "see" or interoperate with the connected switched once it gets on wifi.  When your guest network prevents connectivity with other devices then it breaks something.

This would also explain why such plugs can be connected to the guest network when you temporarily allowed guest network communication during the initial wifi setup, and those plugs continued to work later when you disabled the guest network communication.  Because interactivity with your phone was only needed during the initial wifi setup but after that, no longer and the plug can be isolated from then on.