Orbi satellite thinks there is a wired backhaul but there's not

[wfujkramer]

Hi, I successfully set up my Orbi + Satellite system (AX6000 / RBK852) where the main router is hard wired to the cable modem and the satellite backhaul was via wiress.  Worked great. 

Later decided that I in fact wanted to hard wire a few devices to the Orbi satellite router to get even better speeds. So I plugged one directly into the satellite via ethernet, and ran a second ethernet cord to another side of the house where it connects to a Netgear unmanaged switch and four devices plug into that.  Now all devices that connect to the satellite router (wired or wireless) get an extremely low upload/download speed. It used to be 500mb/s (and over 1000 at the main router), and now it's 4.  I couldn't imagine what was wrong so I logged in to the router via th web interface and found that the Satellite is reporting that it has a "wired" connection.  I wonder if it thinks it has a wired backhaul to the router, when in reality one of the connecting devices (maybe a sonos speaker) might be giving it a drop of courtsy internet access instead. 

How can I tell the satellite "You don't have any wired backhaul, switch back to wireless".  or alternatively is there another problem that might be present?

Thanks!

[FURRYe38]

Please visit and post about this over in the Orbi AX forum:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/bd-p/en-home-orbi-ax

Thank you.

[wfujkramer]

Thanks, apologies for posting this in the wrong place. You seem to be the person who answers wired backhaul problems in both forums so I wonder if you have any advice (on the new thread!) 

[CrimpOn]

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@wfujkramer wrote:

Later decided that I in fact wanted to hard wire a few devices to the Orbi satellite router to get even better speeds. So I plugged one directly into the satellite via ethernet, and ran a second ethernet cord to another side of the house where it connects to a Netgear unmanaged switch and four devices plug into that. 

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Does the attached diagram show the new  configuration?

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@wfujkramer wrote:

How can I tell the satellite "You don't have any wired backhaul, switch back to wireless".  or alternatively is there another problem that might be present?

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There is no mechanism to tell Orbi satellites which backhaul link to use.  If they detect a wired backhaul, they are supposed to switch over to it.

What are Sonos speakers attached to? (and how?)

[wfujkramer]

Yes, the wired diagram shows the setup, thank you for taking the time to make it!  Update: I have tried unplugging the sonos speakers and confirmed that once they are unplugged the Orbi satellite switches back to 5ghz backhaul and the satellite's wifi and ethernet connection speeds return to normal. I have 3 sonos devices connected, two normal speakers and one "bridge" (whose sole purpose is to boost the sonos wifi connections to other speakers), and I have confirmed that if even one of these devices returns to the satellite's ethernet, the Orbi will go back to "wired" backhaul and connection speeds drop to 4mbps. This is really unfortunate - I feel like a support ticket to netgear is in order because this feels like a bug: the satellite thinks there is a wired backhaul but there isn't one. Any other ideas?

Thank you!

[CrimpOn]

Alas, I have only one Sonos speaker, which is connected with WiFi.

I think your analysis is correct. The router sees an ethernet connection. The satellite sees an ethernet connection.  If either of them pings the other, the link works.  Voila! ethernet backhaul.

I think you can have only one Sonos "wired" to the Orbi network.

My guess is that Netgear will show little interest in "fixing" something that (to them) is not broken.

Maybe there is an option inside Sonos to restrict the link only to Sonos equipment?

(I was about to suggest installing an actual ethernet cable linking router and satellite, but my guess is that would lead the Orbi to think there are two ethernet links, which would not be good.)