R8500 with Orbi

[rinku2012]

Hello,

i am staying in 3 floored townhome. Currently i have Netgear R8500 AC5300 router. I have placed the router in 2nd floor. I am getting good internet speeds with 5ghz connection in my 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor.

Currently i have around 30 plus devices ( ipad , iphones, 2 laptops and few of security cameras) connected to the router. except my laptop and iphone all other devices connect to 2.4 ghz network. I see that sometimes network is getting slow. I wont get good speeds in my garage and few areas on 3rd floor.

I am planning to buy latest orbi (RBK 53) and connect it to my router.

I would like to keep orbi as AP and R8500 in router mode so that i can use all the router features. do you guys think this is correct setup or should i keep R8500 in AP and keep orbi in router mode ?

i spent almost $350 on R8500 and will buy Orbi for $400.

please suggest me good setup

Thanks

[RogerSC]

Hi. I would keep the R8500 in router mode as you say, and turn off the wireless radios on the R8500. Then connect the R8500 to the Orbi and put the Orbi in AP mode:

https://kb.netgear.com/31218/How-do-I-configure-my-Orbi-router-to-act-as-an-access-point

I have my R7800 and Orbi configured this way and it works well for me.

Good luck!

[rinku2012]

Hello,

Thanks for the reply. can you let me know on how can i turn off the wireless radios on R8500 ?

[RogerSC]

I don't have an R8500, but if it uses roughly the same admin web interface as the R7800, you would go into the admin web interface. If you don't know how to do that, you can either use the owner's guide for the router (downloadable from Netgear), or use "192.168.1.1" in your browser's address bar (where "192.168.1.1" represents the IP address of your router, that one's just the factory default address, and most people use that IP address). If you haven't changed the admin web interface password, the credentials are "admin" / "password". Then, click on the "ADVANCED" tab and "Advanced Setup" on the menu on the left. Then click on "Wireless Settings", and uncheck the "Enable Radio" checkboxes for 2.4GHz. and 5GHz. bands. Then when you go back to the main "ADVANCED" tab, you should see that the wireless radios are turned off.

I may not have the details entirely correct for your router, but what I have above should be close enough to get you there. If the above isn't good enough, you can download the user's manual from Netgear, and that should also tell you how to disable the wireless radios.

[rinku2012]

Hello,

I saw the documentation and validate don how to turn of the radios on the R8500.

Presently i have 2 SSIDS ( 1 for 2.4 ghz and other 2 combined for 5 ghz). once i disable wifi radios and enable AP on orbi should i use the same ssids which i use on R8500 so that there wont be any disconnect of internet on my home devices (I have more then 45 devices connected in my home).

after i do this setup my R8500 serves as main router and can i manage the settings like Mac id clone, port forwarding, QOS etc on my router ?

Once i keep orbi in AP mode, should i need to change any more settings in there ?

Once again thanks for your response

[RogerSC]

Oh my god, lost another full reply somehow, what horrible forum software!

Personally, I use the single SSID that the Orbi provides. Since I want all my clients on 5GHz., it's pretty easy for me, that's what the Orbi does here, puts all my clients on 5GHz band. But if you try the single SSID, and you can't live with the way that the Orbi sorts out your clients between 2.4GHz. and 5GHz. bands, you can search the forum here for how to have a 2.4GHz. SSID and a 5GHz. SSID. Not hard to do, but you have to follow instructions carefully, and you'll need use telnet to get it done. I would strongly suggest using the single SSID first, though, and see if that works for you...it will simplify your life considerably *smile*.

Yes, you'll set up all your routing configuration in the R8500. There are few settings in the Orbi in AP mode, but I'd recommend going through them so that you know what's there. There's some useful stuff there, like wireless settings and the usual "Attached Devices" listing that can be informative. Yes, QoS and so on are managed on the R8500.

One thing to keep in mind is that there are two ways to get to the Orbi router unit web admin interface once it's in AP mode:

1. Use "orbilogin.com" or "orbilogin.net" from a client that's connected to the Orbi wireless or directly plugged into a LAN port on the Orbi router or satellite.

2. Use the IP address of the Orbi router unit (available in "Attached Devices" in the R8500). You can get to the Orbi satellite unit the same way, using it's IP address that you get from the R8500 "Attached Devices" list.

This really is pretty easy once you have it all set up. And it works really well.

[rinku2012]

Thanks Buddy. i have ordered the orbi and will recieve coming monday. i will setup the product as mentioned by you with my R8500 Router. will update you if i see any issue

Once again thanks for all your help

[RogerSC]

Okay, I'm sure that everything will work well.

Enjoy your new world of wireless.