Trying to get satellites for RBR20 (Wifi 5) in the UK

[RockyRoche]

I have an Orbi Wifi 5 mesh with the RBR20 router and with one RBS50 satellite.  I stupidly left the plastic QR code collar on one of the satellites and managed to drop one down the stairs, so it has deceased.  I would have thought the latest wifi 6 satellites would be backward compatible, which I now know is not the case !!! It is really difficult to find RBR20 compatible units in the UK.  Any ideas,  can you use an RBR20 as a satellite, if i was to buy a two or three unit one.   

[KevinLiT]

Hello RockyRoche,

Welcome to NETGEAR Community!

Your Orbi router RBR20 is compatible with the following Orbi AC Satellites -  RBS10, RBS20, RBW30, RBS40, RBS40V, RBS50, and RBS50Y. 

Best,

Kevin

Community Team

[CrimpOn]

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@RockyRoche wrote:

Any ideas,  can you use an RBR20 as a satellite, if i was to buy a two or three unit one.   

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Netgear's product design has frustrated customers since the beginning.  Even though the physical hardware may be identical for a router and a satellite, they are not interchangeable as with some other brands.  There is a 'hack' on the internet that people have used to turn an RBR50 router into an RBS50 satellite by writing over a specific value in the firmware.  Someone may have done the same hack on the RBE20 router and published it.  Aside from voiding the warranty and possibly bricking the unit, "what do you have to lose?"

If you can find a package with one router and one or more satellites, another strategy is to keep the router as a spare.  Orbi hardware warranty is one year.  If the router actually 'dies', then you will have a spare.  When my RBR50 got over a year old, I went on eBay and bought a used one to use as a spare.