Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
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Re: What does the RBRE960 "Enable IoT" option do?

mophilly
Aspirant

What does the RBRE960 "Enable IoT" option do?

I have a number of small service devices, like a doorbell, outdoor lighting controllers, and so on, that are connected to my home network. I have an AXE11000 WiFi Mesh System (RBRE960) installed and set up as a gateway to the internet. I haven't found a technical explanation of the IoT network feature. 

 

- What "Enable IoT" does to the router configuration?

- What changes to the service devices are needed to use the IoT network?

- What limitations should I be aware of?

 

Advice and links to articles relevent to the AXE11000 WiFi Mesh System are welcome.

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FURRYe38
Guru

Re: What does the RBRE960 "Enable IoT" option do?

Message 7 of 10

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FURRYe38
Guru

Re: What does the RBRE960 "Enable IoT" option do?

Netgear has set up a community forum specifically for the Orbi AX (WiFi 6) products. Most of the people who watch that forum are more likely to have experience with Orbi AX and know how to work it better than those of us who follow this "general Orbi" forum. Might be more likely to find someone who has a solution if the question is posted there:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/bd-p/en-home-orbi-ax

 

Helps you setup 2.4Ghz only IoT devices to the Orbi system. 


Please use this link to the main forum product list to review and choose where to make your posts. 
https://community.netgear.com/t5/NETGEAR-Forum/ct-p/en-netgear
Thank you

 

Message 2 of 10
Blanca_O
NETGEAR Moderator

Re: What does the RBRE960 "Enable IoT" option do?

Hi @mophilly

 

Welcome to NETGEAR Community!

 

The links below may help out: 

 

What are the benefits of WiFi 6E?

What are the key features of the RBKE960 series?

What is required to use WiFi 6E?

How do I enable or disable the Internet of things (IoT) network on my Orbi WiFi 6E System?

 

Hope this clarifies your concern. Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to let us know. 

 

Regards,
Blanca
Community Team

Message 3 of 10
mophilly
Aspirant

Re: What does the RBRE960 "Enable IoT" option do?


@FURRYe38 wrote:

Netgear has set up a community forum specifically for the Orbi AX (WiFi 6) products. Most of the people who watch that forum are more likely to have experience with Orbi AX and know how to work it better than those of us who follow this "general Orbi" forum. Might be more likely to find someone who has a solution if the question is posted there:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/bd-p/en-home-orbi-ax

 

Helps you setup 2.4Ghz only IoT devices to the Orbi system. 


Please use this link to the main forum product list to review and choose where to make your posts. 
https://community.netgear.com/t5/NETGEAR-Forum/ct-p/en-netgear
Thank you

 


Thanks. I will post there in the future.

Message 4 of 10
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: What does the RBRE960 "Enable IoT" option do?

Moderators moved your post so your in the right forum. 


Good Luck. 

Message 5 of 10
mophilly
Aspirant

Re: What does the RBRE960 "Enable IoT" option do?


@Blanca_O wrote:

Hi @mophilly

 

Welcome to NETGEAR Community!

 

The links below may help out: 

 

What are the benefits of WiFi 6E?

What are the key features of the RBKE960 series?

What is required to use WiFi 6E?

How do I enable or disable the Internet of things (IoT) network on my Orbi WiFi 6E System?

 

Hope this clarifies your concern. Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to let us know. 

 

Regards,
Blanca
Community Team


Thanks. All good links, but aren't germane to my questions. The documents I have reviewed, which includes the suggestions you offer, didn't get to the technical detail I need to complete my configuration.

There was an post here for a little while that had the appropriate responses, but that post is no longer in this thread. 

Message 6 of 10
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: What does the RBRE960 "Enable IoT" option do?

Message 7 of 10
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: What does the RBRE960 "Enable IoT" option do?

Was this the post you saw before?

 

The User Manual describes the IoT option starting on page 57:

https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBKE963/RBRE960_RBSE960_UM_EN.pdf 

 

This Orbi model, like the previous models, has two radios for user devices (one 2.4G and one 5G) and one 5G radio for the 'backhaul' link between Orbi units.  (It also has a fourth radio for the 6E band should the customer have any device that supports that band.)

 

On the user radios, the Orbi broadcasts different SSID's (on the same radio channel) for device connection:

  • A primary SSID, which is the same on both 2.4G and 5G bands
  • An optional Guest SSID, which is also the same on both 2.4G and 5G bands.
  • An optional IoT SSID, which has a bunch of options which should satisfy all those customers who demand to "separate 2.4G from 5G".

Technically, the Orbi creates different MAC addresses for each SSID on each channel by slightly changing the actual hardware MAC address.  So, if a person were to look at the WiFi management frames, he would see beacon frames for the primary SSID, and (if they are enabled) also for the guest SSID and for the IoT SSID.

 

The IoT SSID will have to be different from the primary or guest SSID for devices to see it as a different network.

 

To use this new IoT capability, every IoT device that is currently connected to the primary or guest SSID would have to be reprogrammed to use the IoT SSID.

 

Would be interested to know if you find this new capability useful.

Message 8 of 10
TC_in_Montana
Virtuoso

Re: What does the RBRE960 "Enable IoT" option do?

The biggest benefit I can see from this extra "network" is the ability to set up an SSID (network) that you can turn on or turn off either the 2.4GHz band or 5GHz band when connecting IoT devices.   Unfortunately, there are some IoT bands that require your smart phone/tablet/PC to be connected to whatever band (2.4/5) the IoT device uses for connectivity.   With the Orbi broadcasting the same SSID on both bands, some IoT devices balked during setup if the devices being used to set them up were not connected to the correct one.   

 

One of the items always requested was the ability to turn off one or the other band or separate 2.4GHz/5GHz bands temporarily.  This IoT band option allows for that.   You can select (and change) whether it broadcasts on the 2.4GHz band, 5GHz band, or BOTH.   You can change it as necessary during setup of IoT devices to ease setup of those IoT devices.

 

Please note that devices on the IoT band are NOT ISOLATED from the other devices on the network.   These devices still get addresses in the same range (192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.254) as the other devices on your main network.

 

Message 9 of 10
farmrt88
Star

Re: What does the RBRE960 "Enable IoT" option do?

From my personal experience with the RBKE963, the new IOT network was the only way a legacy 2.4GHz Wifi Printer would connect.  I believe this is due to the RBKE963 regular WIFI SSID now only having a mixed WPA2/WPA3 or WPA3 only security options.

 

There doesn't seem to be anyway to avoid WPA3 security unless using the Enable IOT Option which only has WPA2 for older legacy devices.

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