Orbi RBR750

[Peculiar]

Can I use my RBk 50 satellite units with the new RBR750

[CrimpOn]

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@Peculiar wrote:
Can I use my RBk 50 satellite units with the new RBR750

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No... and Sortof.

The AX Orbi uses a different WiFi chip for the 5G backhaul connection, so the original satellites cannot sync with the new router over WiFi. They can be connected to the router over ethernet and act as satellites. Not having 802.11ax radios in them, any device that has connected to the AX system with 802.11ax will drop back to 802.11ac if it roams from the new system to the old satellites.

Being able to place WiFi units (and move them) without needing ethenet  cabling is one of the main advantages of the new 'mesh' WiFi systems.  For most users, placing ethernet cables is a serious investment.

[FURRYe38]

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

Thank you.

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@Peculiar wrote:
Can I use my RBk 50 satellite units with the new RBR750

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[raven_au]

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@CrimpOn wrote:

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@Peculiar wrote:
Can I use my RBk 50 satellite units with the new RBR750

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No... and Sortof.

The AX Orbi uses a different WiFi chip for the 5G backhaul connection, so the original satellites cannot sync with the new router over WiFi. They can be connected to the router over ethernet and act as satellites. Not having 802.11ax radios in them, any device that has connected to the AX system with 802.11ax will drop back to 802.11ac if it roams from the new system to the old satellites.

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This is a little misleading.

It's not necessariy the WiFi chip that prevents this.

It could be the vendor drivers but I doubt it.

It's more likely a decision on the part of Netgear to not allow mixed WiFi 5 and WiFi 6 backhaul. Other systems do allow this, the Linksys mesh units apparently do and have done so since release, and the various ASUS router models allow this for their AiMesh.

[CrimpOn]

Thanks for the correction. The WiFi chip is almost certainly capable of using multiple 802.11 modes for communication.  It obviously does for the user facing SSID.   i.e. it supports 802.11ac at the same time as supporting 802.11ax.

Anyway, the end result is the same. Orbi AX systems will not sync with the original Orbi satellites over WiFi. It may be that Netgear could have programmed the AX series devices differently, but they did not.