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I bought a new Orbi system today. Immediately ran into problems as it would NOT connect to the internet. My older X6 R8000 is right next to it and connects immediately. If I plug the Orbi in through the LAN port on the X6, then it works fine. I used this method to update the time, firmware on both the router and the satellite, and finalize the settings. I tried to go back to just the Orbi and it will not connect. I've tried multiple ethernet cords, I've restarted every piece of equipment in the chain, and I've reset the Orbi from scratch. Nothing fixes it.
I have a Verizon FIOS ONT that was just recently installed and is apparently working flawlessly. The R8000 (which Netgear has apparently abandoned early) still works fine and connects to the internet without hesitation.
There is a Netgear article that says you have to set it up in AP mode connected to the fios router, but I'm not using a fios router at all, so I can't use AP mode without losing router functionality. The FIOS ONT is just a fiber converter, not a router.
I'm not familiar with FiOS but I had a similar issue. The fact that there is no link light makes troubleshooting difficult and I got a message stating that the connection to my routers wasn’t' up, which was completely incorrect. In my case, my provider had to provision access for the MAC address of the Orbi so there was no issue with the link. From your FiOS router, can you see if you have a connection to the Orbi router?
I'm not familiar with FiOS but I had a similar issue. The fact that there is no link light makes troubleshooting difficult and I got a message stating that the connection to my routers wasn’t' up, which was completely incorrect. In my case, my provider had to provision access for the MAC address of the Orbi so there was no issue with the link. From your FiOS router, can you see if you have a connection to the Orbi router?
Awesome, you totally figured it out. I had no idea that they only provisioned a certain MAC address. And all this time I could just called them to figure this out.
Well, let's hope the Orbi is all it's cracked up to be now!
Hello diamondscar, this looks very promissing, since I have FIOS in the bedroom and that is pretty much it. The wifi signal is really not good. Can you pls post a step by step set up with FIOS? Did you have to call them?
If you DO NOT have home phone service with FIOS (or don't use it like me), then you can use the Orbi as your stand alone router and wifi.
Setting up this router was pretty easy. I'm going to ignore all the issues I had in the beginning and focus on idealized installation with FIOS.
The first thing you'll need to do is login to your current router and find its MAC address. It's usually pretty top level information. In just about any netgear router, you can find it by logging into your router and going to Basic -> Internet. At the bottom it will show Router MAC address. This is what you need to write down. Disconnect this router from the ethernet cable. You can leave it on for now in case you need to reconnect to it to get any additional information.
Find your Orbi router and connect your ethernet cable to the yellow internet port. The router and the satellite look basically identical, but you can distinguish them because only the router has the yellow internet port.
Step 2, connect your computer to one of the other ethernet ports on the Orbi (1 - 4) or connect to the Orbi wifi with the given password (found on the bottom of the Orbi router). You may get a notification that you don't have internet at this point, which is fine because it means you need to change the router's MAC address to the one you have provisioned with Verizon FIOS. Personally, I never had a provisioned MAC address until I moved to a new place and switched my service. YMMV.
Step 3, open your browser. If it doesn't start the Orbi setup wizard, go to 192.168.1.1. At this point you should get a notification for the wizard. Go through those steps to set up your Orbi. If you want you can set up your satellite now or later. (Satellite set up was trivial. For me I merely had to plug it in and it was ready after a few seconds).
Step 4, after you complete Orbi setup, name your wifi, etc, you might still not be connected to the internet. This is where you fix the MAC address. Log into 192.168.1.1 (standard username/password is admin/password). Go to Basic, then click on the Internet menu item. At the bottom of that screen you'll see Router MAC Address. Click on the button for "Use this address" and enter the address from your previous router. I don't know if rebooting is required at this point, but I would just for safety. Unplug the power from your Orbi router for one minute and then plug it back in.
You should be connected to the internet at this point. If not, make sure all your connections are properly connected and you copied the mac address correctly. You should turn off your old router to avoid wifi interference. If you copied the name and password of your old router to the Orbi system, all of your devices will connect automatically. If not, you'll need to reconnect all of them manually.
Thank you so much for the detailed answer. I am sure others will benefit from it as well. But since I do have a phone line with my FIOs (no TV), it looks like that I will keep my Verizon Router, and just follow the steps at http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/31100/~/how-do-i-set-up-my-orbi-system-to-work-with-fi... My Orbi arrives on Friday. I can't wait to be able to use wifi outside the bedroom! 🙂 The Verizon router is pretty much the worst router out there...and to have an extender that is an easy setup, sold by them, you need to connect the extender via wire. That is really not the way to do it.
and to have an extender that is an easy setup, sold by them, you need to connect the extender via wire. That is really not the way to do it.
hi
to be honest with you its by far the best way to do it , but obviously not the most convienient or practical solution in some cases
just remember with the orbi its all about placement , to close and you will have issues with roaming , to far away and the backhaul wont work well , in my testing the orbi works well when the router and sat and about 40 feet apart through a plaster wall or so
I got it installed. My experience has been posted in the forum. The experience, I must say, after one day has been great. Satellite is in the basement and that gave me 100% coverage.
I have fios network and phone. No TV. My TV service is direct tv and that gave the opportunity to get unlimited data for my iPhone's family plan.
You detailed the steps very well for those that don't know how to do this and to avoide having to call FiOs, I just want to make one thing clear it's not just FiOs phone service that you need to keep the FIOs router installed it;s also if your using there TV service. As I have FiOs TV service I just hang my 3rd party router off a DMZ from the FiOs router and create a new subnet, I prefer doing things this way becouse it helps keep prying eyes of FiOs off my personal network. FiOs has 24 hour access to there router and I am simply not comfertable keeping everything on there subnet. Just fyi....
I wasn't aware of the TV service, issue. Thank you for correcting that. I use a cable card with my Tivo, so I don't use their boxes/VOD services. I can see why Netgear has the instructions for using it as an access point. I'll correct my original post.
Your welcome and you bring up a good point also that I did not think about. I guess removing there router is OK then based on what your saying if you don't use there STB's and On Demand. Thanks for making me aware if this.
