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Forum Discussion
Orbi RBK13 Ports
I just bought the Orbi RBK13 Mesh system thinking it was an upgrade. However, I work from home and need to connect my VoIP phone and printer/scanner to my router. This doesn't have ports for that. Is there something I can add to the router to connect these or will this system not work for me?? I'm not very tech savvy so I hope I worded this correctly.
15 Replies
Yes you can add a external 1Gb LAN switch to the back of the RBR for expanding LAN ports.
NG GS105 or 108 would work.
https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/datasheet/en/GS105v3-GS108v3.pdf
Thank you SO much!!
jhughes wrote:I just bought the Orbi RBK13 Mesh system thinking it was an upgrade. However, I work from home and need to connect my VoIP phone and printer/scanner to my router. This doesn't have ports for that. Is there something I can add to the router to connect these or will this system not work for me?? I'm not very tech savvy so I hope I worded this correctly.
FURRYe38is correct. Rather than "ports", the RBK10 has one gigabit port. Connect a dumb gigabit switch to this port and suddenly you have 5, 8, or... (whatever size switch) ports.
Everybody sells them. Best Buy has models by Linksys, Netgear, etc. starting at $23US.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchpage.jsp?st=gigabit+switch+8-port&_dyncharset=UTF-8&_dynSessConf=&id=pcat17071&type=page&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=&sp=&qp=&list=n&af=true&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960&keys=keys as do Staples, OfficeDepot, and (of course) Amazon.
A five port switch costs the least, but leaves you with only two open ports (1 for Orbi, 1 for VoiP phone, 1 for Printer). The 8 port switches seem to be the "sweet spot" in terms of cost/value.
