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Forum Discussion
Devices not connecting to Orbi RBK13 Satellite
Hi, I recently purchased a NETGEAR Orbi Whole Home Mesh WiFi System (RBK13) 1 Router & 2 Satellites. Installed the Orbi app and followed all the steps for setup of this new system. I put one of s...
BabaOrbi wrote:
I saw the Netgear community and they do not recommend to put the Router-Modem in modem only mode.
There may be some confusion on this topic.
Netgear's installation instructions for the RBK12-13-14 product are silent on this topic.
https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBK13/RBK13_QSG_EN.pdf
Netgear's User Manual for the product is also silent on this topic. (See page 11):
https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBK12/RBK12_13_14_UM_EN.pdf
The community consists of a bunch of individuals who participate in discussions about Netgear products. Each individual may have an opinion about lots of topics, and the individuals do not always agree.
My opinion is that:
- Thousands of customers connect their new WiFi system to the ISP modem/router and it "just works".
- Many of them do no configuration at all. They use the WiFi SSID and password on the product label. (When I scan the WiFi systems in my neighborhood, there are a LOT of them named things like ATTxxxxx, Spectrum_Setupxxxxx, TP-Linkxxxxx, NETGEARxxx.)
- There are specific applications which do not function when a 'router' is connected to another 'router'. Internet search for "Double NAT" will provide numerous examples. Netgear has a KnowledgeBase (KB) article about Double-NAT:
https://kb.netgear.com/30186/What-is-Double-NAT - The applications that most often encounter problems with a Double NAT are
Some (but not all) Internet Games
Forwarding ports so that home resources can be reached from the internet
Creating a VPN so that the local LAN can be reached from the internet
(I happen to think that Netgear's article is not clearly written. Obviously, there is no problem connecting to sebsites that use SSL. If there were, then 99% of today's web sites would fail. And VPN refers to using VPN to get into the local network from the internet, not using VPN to connect to places on the internet.) - In those specific cases, something must be done about the Double NAT. Netgear has a KB article about that:
https://kb.netgear.com/30187/My-NETGEAR-or-Orbi-router-is-connected-to-an-ISP-gateway-or-another-router-and-it-s-causing-double-NAT-problems-How-do-I-fix-them - A third method (that Netgear does not mention in that article) is to put the Orbi router in the "DMZ" of the ISP router.
So, my opinion is "If there's a problem, fix it. If it ain't broke....."
Thank you guys.
So I did the below exercise.
1) Of the two satellites i placed one of them in the basement bedroom
2) Took off the satellite that was placed in between my main floor and the basement(stair way)
3) After reaching the basement bedroom, i switched On and Off the Orbi wifi network and Cellular data for few minutes.
4) Placed my mobile device very close to the satellite and reconnected to my Orbi Wifi network. Refreshed the Network Map in the Orbi app and now I see that the satellites shows me my mobile device in the connected list.
5) Another exercise was to go back and forth from my main level to basement level and check if the device is getting connected to the satellite, though the Network map does not refresh the list automagically, we need to refresh it show the device list.
Another question is after i setup my Orbi Wifi, I am able to still connect to my old wifi network. Do I need to do something about it?
If thats coming from the modem/router, then I would disable this on the modem/router.
Been there, struggled with it. But here is what I discovered:
-There is no need to change transmission strength levels on the router.
-There is a big difference in the information available from the app and browser page access utility.
-When I accessed the settings on the brower utility under the advanced tab and looked at attached devices, the satellites come up as an attached device. Mine were showing "out of sync" even though the app said all was good. This after doing firmware updates to attempt to resolve the poor performance and noticing all devices on the router (further away!).
-This is going to sound so simple! I used the sync button on the back of the satellite and router, still didn't work once complete and it took a bit. So I unplugged the satellite, waited about 10-15 secs, and plugged it back it. I know, I know....computer less than 101! But once it booted and attached, my browser utility changed from "out of sync" to "good". And guess what....my devices started shifting to the satellite! I did same with my other satellite and "whalla"!
Anyways, key was to watch the status of the satellite in the browser utility. Hope this helps.
