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Re: Orbi as Primary with a second router as VPN?

philsan1
Aspirant

Orbi as Primary with a second router as VPN?

Need the Orbi for area coverage. However I run a second DDWRT router as a seperate VPN using an open port on the main router to connect to the VPN Router Internet port, thereby creating a separate and unique wireless network.

Simply just an Ethernet cable from any open LAN/numbered port on the existing router to the VPN Router WAN/Internet port.

I understand Orbi has some limitations, so is this possibel?

Model: Orbi High-Performance AC3000 Tri-Band WiFi System (RBK50)
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AccidentalTech
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Re: Orbi as Primary with a second router as VPN?

Hi. My apologies in advance because I really am an accidental techie. This is not my forte, but no one else in this house wants to do it, so I've done some recent upgrades to our system - I'm really just a housefrau who likes to figure out a good puzzle.

 

We needed an Orbi for coverage as well. We also hate Comc*** with a passion and didn't want them selling our info and I wanted a VPN router once I read about them. So, I bought a new modem, Orbi router with one satellite, and a FlashRouter with DDWRT, and sat surrounded by a bunch of electronics one afternoon trying to figure out a plan. FlashRouters support was able to help. We hooked up the new Motorola cable modem to the Orbi and used the Orbi as our main Wifi Router. This is because when we use things like Netflix and Hulu on Apple TV, it is easier to connect to our Comcrap "spying on us" wifi; otherwise, with a VPN server it ends up being a PITA and I have to switch servers to one in the US if we're on a UK one, etc. We connected our VPN FlashRouter to a port on the Orbi Router.  They called this a double router set-up and it seems to work okay for us. (Honestly, I think the only problem for us is our Orbi satellite. It seems to have issues and I don't think anything is working off of it at all.) 

 

This way we have three networks showing up right now, our standard Comc*** one, then two VPN networks, one 2.4 and one 5.0 to choose from. We tend to keep the iPads connected to the VPN networks. The only pain is that we have two desktop iMacs in an office next to a laser printer. We had to choose a network for the printer. Whatever we print FROM has to be on the same network as said printer or nothing happens - took me a while to figure out what was going on there. Slightly annoying when you are moving from network to network sometimes, but I guess nothing is perfect.

 

Hope this helps. I could not find ANYTHING when I was looking this stuff up two months ago. Not many people with VPN routers yet...

Message 2 of 3
philsan1
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Re: Orbi as Primary with a second router as VPN?

Hey thanks.  Yes, that is similar to my setup.  I didn't want to spend the $ For a flashrouter so i did a DDWRT conversion, configured the Vpn sevice files and then painfully figured out the correct parameters. Had to bridge a Fios Actiontec which was hell. So now I'm ditching that and going to plug in direct to the Fios Ont instead of bridging and using an AP. With summer coming I wanted to have a better Internet signal outside on the deck so the Orbi looked good.  Did more research and I'm finding the Orbi 50 is overkill and the 40 a weaker signal. Also numerous posts

about dropped signals especially with IOS. For that $$ I'm not going with it. Going to get  Netgear r7800 x4.

Orbi reviews state fantastic signal and coverage except there are intermitent signal issues and device conflicts. Agree on the VPN, it is not a "wall"

but at least the INT providers are not recording every time you look at an ad and I get way less junk adverts and pop ups now.

 

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