I just got an Orbi RBK53 "kit" (includes one RBR50 router and two RBS50 satellites) and wanted to relate some of my experience to the community. My home configuration is Xfinity cable > Netgear CM1150V modem > Netgear R7800 modem (with radios turned off) > Linksys SE3008 unmanaged switch (non-Green) > Orbi Router (RBR50) (via the Internet port of the Orbi).
I had no difficulty intially configuring the Orbi Mesh system. I did create reserved IP addresses in the R7800 so I could always access them via a browser with a predefined IP. The R7800 is 192.168.1.1; the Orbi router is 192.168.1.5 and the satellites are 192.168.1.6 and 192.168.1.7. When I initially configured the Orbi system, I had all three devices in front of me on the first floor and I connected the satellites to router with Cat6 cables and connected the Orbi router to a nearby Ethernet wall jack (which ultimately connects in the basement to the Linksys switch). I made certain to upgrade all of the firmware to the current version (2.3.5.30).
After getting everything working properly, I was able to go to the Orbi web interface via it's IP address (or orbitlogin.com), and could monitor the status of all connections. Ultimately, I wanted to move the satellites to the 2nd floor and basement, respectively, leaving the Orbi router on the first floor. I was hoping to capitalize on the wired Ethernet we have throughout the house by connecting the Orbi satellites to it. However, despite everything working when the satellites were connected directly to the LAN ports of the Orbi router, I could not get it to work properly when connecting the satellites to the Linksys switch (to which the Internet port of the Orbi router is also connected). I reset the router, satellites, and R7800 router several times, and just could not get consistent behavior.
Checking the Orbi router web config page did demonstrate that the satellites were connected, but unlike my initial setup, it indicated that the satellites were connected via a 2.4GHz backhaul (which I doubt is even accurate, since only 5GHz is used for backhaul), rather than via a wired backhaul. I then disconnected each satellite's wired connection, and in a few minutes, the system was working fine, with the expected 5GHz backhaul. Wireless devices were connected to the closest Orbi device, and all seemed well. I tried to plug the satellites back into the wired network, and all was wonky again. And I did try with the Daisy Chain setting both turned off and on, with no improvement either way (as an aside, I believe this setting might actually be reversed based on some other testing I did, which is not really relevant to this post).
So, next, just to test a theory, I ran long Ethernet cables from each satellite (one on 2nd floor, one in basment) to the LAN ports on the Orbi router (on 1st floor), and wouldn't you know it, the wired backhaul was working as expected.
I am therefore tempted to conclude that the wired backhaul only works properly when the satellites are connected to the LAN ports of the Orbi router, and not to a switch to which the Orbit Internet port is connected. I would be interested to know what other people's experiences have been.
Unfortunately, the location on the first floor where I wish to place the Orbi router only has a single Ethernet jack (which goes to the basement where the Linksys switch and R7800 router are located, and via which the Orbi router is ultimately connected to the network), making it impractical for me to wire the satellites to the LAN port of the router via existing wiring. And I don't really feel like wiring additional Ethernet jacks, just to accomplish the wired backhaul topography. And I don't really want to place the router in the basement and the satellites on the 1st and 2nd floors, since I prefer to keep the router central in the house (where the greatest number of wireless devices are likely to connect) and use "star" rather than "daisy chain" topography for the connected satellites.
So, unless anyone has any suggestions, while I really wanted to use a wired backhaul configuration, I guess I will just stick with the wireless one for now, which seems to work fairly well.
By the way, it is interesting to note that the Orbi app has a nice interface allowing one to visualize the topography as well as the devices connected to each Orbi device, in a slightly better manner than the Orbi web interface. I have some pics I took to show the configurations and the status of each, but for whatever reason, I do not see a way to insert the images into this actual post (maybe because I am new to this forum?).
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
