RBR10 Region change

[phkhong]

I purchased a RBR10 online last November and only just realised that the wireless region is set to North America and it is greyed out and unable to change in the webadmin - I am in Australia.

What is the best option to change the region setting? I suspect it is interferring with my other 5GHz AP

[CrimpOn]

There is a great discription of how to change Orbi Region codes in this post:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-RKB53-global-differences/m-p/1736104#M59059 

[phkhong]

Thanks. Followed the instructions and changed region to AU and the region selection is enabled. 

5GHz channel is still "stuck" at 157. Was expecting this to be Auto like 2.4GHz channel

[CrimpOn]

There are two 5G channels.  The "front" (or user facing) 5G channel can be selected from 36-48.  48 essentially "combines" channels 36-48 creating the biggest possible bandwidth for devices that can take advantage of it.  The "backhaul" 5G channel for communication between Orbi devices is limited because of radio frequency restrictions.  In many countries, channel 157 is about the only "fully open" channel.  Where no higher frequencies are "fully open", the Orbi complies with restrictions to avoid weather & military radar in the area.

There is a long discussion about this issue in this post:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/5Ghz-channels/td-p/1538610 

[phkhong]

Re 157, that's what I figured when I used Wifi Analyzer to scan my Wifi.

I was expecting to see my user SSID to be on a different channel to 157 but Wifi Analyzer is showing it on the same channel 157. 

I cannot see option to select or auto for 5Hz channel in web admin, in basic or Advanced menu.

Am I missing something?

[michaelkenward]

What are you really trying to achieve?

Early on you said "I suspect it is interfering with my other 5GHz AP".

Might be worth trying to confirm this. Turn off the other one temporarily to see if that really is the issue. Does it have an control over channels?

[phkhong]

What are you really trying to achieve?

I am trying to extract the best our of my wifi network (I upgraded my WAN from 50Mbps to 100Mbps recently) and doing comparison speedtest. Previously with Sagemcom F@st 3864V3 AC + Orbi RBR100, I was getting 43Mbps mostly when I run Speedtest. When it is lower, it is usually when there is another streaming occurring.

I also change modem with my WAN upgrade, to Netcomm NF18ACV + Orbi RBR100. Speedtest varied quite a bit from 32Mbps to 94Mbps, which prompted to looking into possible interference.

Early on you said "I suspect it is interfering with my other 5GHz AP".

Yes, I am only suspecting and looking for clues if this is the issue.

Might be worth trying to confirm this. Turn off the other one temporarily to see if that really is the issue. Does it have an control over channels?

With Wifi Analyzer I can see 3 Netgear networks on channel 157 which belongs to me, 2 with the SSID I created and one hidden which I understand is for backhaul. NF18ACV is on auto channel 36 which puzzles me why I am getting a varying speeds.

With Netcomm NF18ACV, I change change channel (see attached NF18ACV-RBR10-settings.png. I was expecting Orbi RBR10 to have similar settings but for 5GHz it is greyed out and is showing channel 157

[michaelkenward]

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@phkhong wrote:

I was expecting Orbi RBR10 to have similar settings but for 5GHz it is greyed out and is showing channel 157

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See the latest post from @CrimpOn 

The screen shot is beyond my comfort level. I don't see how it lets you play with 5 GHz.

[CrimpOn]

The Orbi "10" is relatively new and I sense few forum participants have any experience with one. 

• I'm assuming that the other WiFi system has a different SSID than the Orbi, correct?
• What happens if the other WiFi is turned off?  The Orbi may have decided that another 5G WiFi on the lower channels makes it better for the Orbi to move to 157.
• If this is a relatively new purchase, Netgear provides 90 days of "complimentary support" when the product is registered.  On the  Netgear product registration web site, there is a link to contact support.  I hear that trying to reach them on the telephone is frustrating.  I would start with an email or chat session. (I have never contacted Netgear support since my Orbi was well past 90 days old before I had a question to ask.)

[CrimpOn]

This is a new one for me:

The RBR10 User Manual http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBK12/RBK12_13_14_UM_EN.pdf 

On page 75. "Note:The 5 GHz WiFi channel is fixed and you cannot change it"

[phkhong]

Thank you very much for your responses. It is much appreciated.

Re support, I only started looking into this this week when I had upgraded my WAN. I purchased my Orbi 10 Dec 2019 so by the time I decided to reach out to support, my 90 days had already lapsed hence decided try Netgwar community.

Re the user manual (guess I should have RTFM 😜), that confirms what I am seeing. Curious why 5GHz is fixed at channel 157.

For now, I will resort to changing my Netcomm NF18ACV 5GHz channels if I run into speed issues again.

Note: if I used web admin to run speedtest, I am getting consistent high download rates, which lead me down investigating wifi interference path.

You have been excellent source of information. Thank you again

[CrimpOn]

All I can figure is that Australia regulates 5G differently than the US.  In the US, channels 32-48 can be used without restriction.  In Australia, channels 32-48 can only be used "Indoors".  Maybe Netgear does not trust users to confine their 5G WiFi signals "indoors".  (This is, of course, a practical impossibility.  I do not know what "indoors" actually means (radio antenna must be indoors? or, radio signal must remain indoors?)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels#5.0_GHz_(802.11j)_WLAN 

Does not make me more enthusiastic for the RBR10, which (it seems to me) is clearly designed to compete on price against Google Mesh, Deco, etc.

• Dual band instead of tri band
• No ethernet backhaul even possible
• No ethernet jacks to attach much of anything
• 5G WiFi channel "fixed"
• Won't interoperate with any Orbi other than the "10" satellite

[phkhong]

Thanks for your insights. I agree it doesn't make sense for Netgear to lock 5GHz channels. 

Today has been a good day and been getting fairly consistent Speedtest this evening 90+ Mbps. 

Your comments of RBR10 features are spot on.

I purchased RBR10 to replace my (crappy) Dlink Ethernet over Powerline where I cannot get a reliable Internet. Since installing RBR10, my Internet connection via RBR10/RBS10 is solid, apart from the recent intermittent Speedtest results. Overall I am pretty happy with RBR10 plus I don't want a large device, so the form factor suits me perfectly.