ORBI RBK50/RBS50 Tips, Tricks, Hidden Secrets, etc.,

[Mstrbig]

Question:

When applying the renaming for separation of 2.4 and 5Ghz channels telnet mod, does anything new show up in the GUI or app?

I'm thinking about trying it, as I have a few stubborn hand devices that keep wanting to connect 2.4Ghz. I had the same problem on Velop systems. Renaming the 5Ghz WIFI differently solved the problem, as I was able to forget the networks on the stubborn devices and force them to automatically connect 5Ghz.

[SW_]

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@Mstrbig wrote:

Question:

When applying the renaming for separation of 2.4 and 5Ghz channels telnet mod, does anything new show up in the GUI or app?

The new SSID that's changed via telnet will show up on Orbi web admin UI or Orbi App.  All WiFi clients will see either/both 2.4Ghz/5Ghz SSIDs as expected.

[SW_]

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@Wowzors wrote:
After the latest config default, commit and reboot it has been up for 9hrs so hopefully something is fixed, although it keeps taking a specific IP address even though I reserved a different up address for it via it's MAC.

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If it's taking the IP address of 192.168.1.250 while it's coming online, then it's expected.  Once its config is fully sync'ed with the main Orbi, it will pick up its reserved IP address, assuming its MAC address matches.

[Wowzors]

I ended up removing reserved address for everything and just letting the orbi do it's thing. 2.5.1.16 was a night mare for me so I manually updated both satellites to 2.5.2.4 and then the router to 2.5.2.4 and they have been running/playing nice so far. Hoping this fixes things, have kept an eye on both satellites and see that their CPU loads fluctuate between 8% to 60% even with 0 devices connected.

[SW_]

IP conflicts is one the causes for Satellite rebooting.  If your setup is currently stable, don't change a thing. 

[gobananasnet]

It's crazy how much you have to go though to TRY, and usually fail, to select which satellite specific devices are connected to. This should be such a simple software feature. This has wasted so much of my time, which I simpy don't have to spare. I'm seriously thinkning about returning the Orbi system over this serious short comming. Very frustrating. UGH!

Anyone know of a mesh system (by any good vendor) that makes that process easy?

Thanks!

[Mstrbig]

Other products have the ability to separate the 2.4 and 5Ghz. However be sure to check all the specs, as the competitors models cover less area and miss some important features.

[CrimpOn]

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@Mstrbig wrote:
Other products have the ability to separate the 2.4 and 5Ghz. However be sure to check all the specs, as the competitors models cover less area and miss some important features.

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A good point.  The question, however, was not splitting SSID's but controlling which WiFi devices connect to which access points.

People desperately want to be able to force a device to connect to a specific WiFi node.  I believe there are some WiFi devices which allow the user to specify which BSSID (MAC address) to use, but I have never encountered one. (Certainly not a $10 smart plug!)  Having the capability on the WiFi router to force specific connections, well I cannot even imagine how that could be engineered.

[Wowzors]

I'm not a huge fan of how or I does most things but I feel like specifying what satellite you connect to would kind of destroy the point of the mesh network. It's job is to connect you to the best satellite for your location.

[Mstrbig]

In that case no system allows that. Why would you want a mesh system? The whole purpose is seemless WIFI.

[CrimpOn]

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@Wowzors wrote:
I'm not a huge fan of how or I does most things but I feel like specifying what satellite you connect to would kind of destroy the point of the mesh network. It's job is to connect you to the best satellite for your location.

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I agree 100%.  But it is really annoying when a device insists on connecting to the farthest Orbi node and streaming TV stutters or games lag.  I have lost count of how many posts there have been on this topic.

[gobananasnet]

This ORBI mesh system is connecting many of our cameras and other devices to the most illogical and often distant satellites. This results in major delays and dropped connecitons. This has become a nightmare for us.

[FURRYe38]

Orbi is NOT making your devices connect to RBS, it's up to any wifi device to pick and choose which signal source to connect to, based in strength, noise, placement, distance and range. Orib only provides the platform for wifi devices to connect to only. 

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@gobananasnet wrote:

This ORBI mesh system is connecting many of our cameras and other devices to the most illogical and often distant satellites. This results in major delays and dropped connecitons. This has become a nightmare for us.

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[tomschmidt]

I experience this same issue with IoT devices (IP Cameras, smart garage door openers, smart plugs, etc). Whenever the router reboots, its WiFi is turned on before the Satellites WiFi. This race condition will cause devices to connect to the first signal they see rather than waiting to see if a stronger signal is available from a closer satellite. The only workaround so far is to power-cycle the IoT device to get it to search for a new WiFi signal. Unfortunately it is not at all convenient, especially when I need a ladder to unplug a security camera or smart garage door opener. IoT devices do not keep searching for the best WiFi signal like smart phones and tablets do (devices expected to roam).

Suggestions to reduce power on the 2.4GHz frequency really doesn't work unless I could reduce the power on the router but not on the satellites. Adjusting the power level affects the router and all satellites.  You could try reducing the 2.4GHz signal power to see if it helps in your situation.

Implicit Beamforming nor Fast Roaming affect the race condition of IoT devices binding to the router before any satellites (provided the routers signal is strong enough). This race condition is due to the radio being turned on for the router before the satellites, thus clients bind to the first strong-enough radio signal they see rather than to a closer satellite.

I can understand that the 5GHz backhaul has to be enabled first. Once the backhaul is established, then the 2.4GHz and 5GHz client radios should be enabled simultaneously on the router and all satellites. I suspect NG is instead enabling the backhaul and all client radios on the router simultaneously, long before the satellites backhaul and client radio is working, thus causing this race condition.

Due to this frustration (and lack of proper DNS functionality on the Orbi), I have given up on it.  I am now using the Asus ZenWiFi system (AC model CT8) with two units (base router and one node satellite).  Their firmware allows you to split the 2.4GHz and 5GHz signals into two separate SSIDs if desired (I left mine combined).  More importantly, its firmware continually will check signal strength of devices from each AiMesh node and move the device to the stronger signal (typically the closer node).  It also has a "Roaming Blocking List" feature in the firmware, which allows you to add devices into the roaming block list, and the devices will not be roamed between AiMesh nodes.  I have a few of my devices in this roaming block list that I added since they are closer to the router than to the node satellite.  Also this router has proper DNS functionality (Linux hostnames are also supported on the LAN).

The Orbi hardware is decent, however their firmware really lacks in functionality and stability.  

[parisv]

I'm on firmware version V3.2.16.6 and have telnet'd in and have noticed the config comand is missing.

Looking in /sbin I can see there is "nvconfig"

usage: nvconfig [get name] [set name value]

although following https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/ORBI-RBK50-RBS50-Tips-Tricks-Hidden-Secrets-etc/m-p/1878099#M8... with the same commands doesn't seem to work. I can't commit the changes. 

[FURRYe38]

Orbi AC differs from Orbi AX and does not apply on Orbi AX. 

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@parisv wrote:

I'm on firmware version V3.2.16.6 and have telnet'd in and have noticed the config comand is missing.

Looking in /sbin I can see there is "nvconfig"

usage: nvconfig [get name] [set name value]

although following https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/ORBI-RBK50-RBS50-Tips-Tricks-Hidden-Secrets-etc/m-p/1878099#M8... with the same commands doesn't seem to work. I can't commit the changes. 

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[Mafiatone]

Thanks for this it helps a lot.  It is a shame they wont surfice this in the app.  Would help place the satellites.

One more question.  When I first tried this, both satellites were showing good signals and the TX was well over 1000.  No it never goes over 800.  Is there a reason for this?

[FURRYe38]

I would post these questions over in the Orbi AX forum:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/bd-p/en-home-orbi-ax

Thank you.

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@Mafiatone wrote:

Thanks for this it helps a lot.  It is a shame they wont surfice this in the app.  Would help place the satellites.

One more question.  When I first tried this, both satellites were showing good signals and the TX was well over 1000.  No it never goes over 800.  Is there a reason for this?

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[SW_]

Recently, I installed some new Smartswitch loT devices, some of which failed to pair/connect to Orbi WiFi.  This was rather odd because the exact same loT device that's installed at a different location didn't have the same issue.  It turned out that the culprit was the disabling of "Enable 20/40 MHz Coexistence".  Once I ticked the check box to enable it, all the failed loT devices started working as expected.

If you run into similar problem, give this change a shot.  YMMV.

[SW_]

My LG TV stucks in buffering too often when streaming from Netflix, Amazon, and Youtube.  This has become really annoying with Youtube because it's constantly buffering between video clips within the playlist and somtimes Netflix movies play in slow motion.  So I took out the old retired ASUS router and reconfigured it as a WiFi Media Bridge (connecting to Orbi WiFi), disabled WiFi on LG TV, and plugged in the Ethernet cable connecting the TV and ASUS LAN port.  Problem solved!

Give this a shot if you have similar problem with your TV.  YMMV.

[WilcoSnel]

I'm using a wired backhaul between my RBR50 and my satellites. So I'd love to switch the fronthaul and backhaul antenna's so I can get the 5ghz speeds up to 1733 from 866. I started poking around the rbr50 using telnet. I got basically every configurable option by running 'config run' and just started searching for options that might help me do this. The previous posts of this thread helped a lot too. Anyway, I found the below config commands that I hoped would make it switch. But unfortunately the changes I make don't stick. They require a reboot, but after the reboot the default settings are back.

config set wl5g_BACKHAUL_AP=ath1 (default is ath2)
config set wl5g_NORMAL_AP=ath2 (default is ath1)

config commit

reboot

I'm by no means a linux or telnet expert. So hoping someone on here could help out and/or clarify why this isn't working?

[ekhalil]

ath1 and ath2 are used for at least 4 other interfaces (front- vs backhaul interfaces). I guess you need to swap them all before you can test.
E.g.
dgc_wlan_base_5g_bh_ap_if=ath2
dgc_wlan_sate_ds_5g_bh_ap_if=ath2
dgc_wlan_sate_5g_bh_sta_if=ath2
….

[CrimpOn]

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@WilcoSnel wrote:

But unfortunately the changes I make don't stick. They require a reboot, but after the reboot the default settings are back.

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This is one of the major obstacles to hacking the Orbi settings.  When the router reboots, everything is restored from read-only memory and changes such as these get wiped out.  For example, I have a version of the Attached Devices page that is sorted by IP address. Every time there is a power outage or I deliberately reboot the router, I have to go in and reload my version.

The only way to make changes permanent is to recompile the Orbi firmware with different settings, a very complicated undertaking.

[WilcoSnel]

Thanks for the info 🙂

I tried it straight away. Did a 'config set' with the below, followed by 'config commit' and 'reboot'. Found some other dgc stuff and super wifi that seemed to be related. Switched those around to.

wl5g_BACKHAUL_AP=ath1
wl5g_NORMAL_AP=ath2
dgc_wlan_sate_ds_5g_bh_ap_if=ath1
dgc_wlan_sate_5g_bh_sta_if=ath1
dgc_wlan_base_5g_bh_ap_if=ath1
dgc_wlan_base_5g_ap_if=ath2
dgc_wlan_sate_5g_ap_if=ath2

dgc_wlan_5g_phyif=wifi2
wla_super_wifi=1
dgc_wlan_5g_bh_phyif=wifi1
wla_2nd_super_wifi=0

Unfortunately no change. And after a reboot only the changed 'super_wifi' settings sticked. The rest goes back to default.

Will the settings only stick if I manage to find all related settings and change them in a commit? And is there a way to find all related settings?

[WilcoSnel]

Ok, that's a downer 😞 Do you know if there is a way to force change the settings without a reboot? Then at least I can test.

Could the Voxel firmware be an option here? Or does that use/have the same read-only memory?