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Orbi or Nighthawk with access points?
Hello, I'm really seeking some good solid advice here folks regarding upgrading my existing Apple AirPorts to a mesh or router with access point system. I'm not a big pro here, I do know some as you'll see below. But, I am definately drawn to the convenience of the mesh system all working together in one app with easy setup etc. After much effort, my Airport setup still dissapoints with frequent slow loading video, poor range overall etc. It's time to upgrade. Here's my situation: Currently: 1. I have 1 Airport Extreme and 2 Airport Expresses. Airport Extreme connects via thernet to both Expresses, cable I've run one way or another when using them as repeaters wirelessly failed miserably. It's a pretty big house I'm covering here. 2. Whats so important is that I have MANY many devices connected well beyond phones and tablets. I need a router system that can handle that. Also, I need a system that can handle playing music via AirPlay through iTunes flawlessly. Currently, my wired speakers handle it great and my 4 wireless speakers work 90% of the time, which is acceptable, barely. I've read that Orbi has had some issues with reliability when it comes to airplay, so that's a concern. Scenario 1: Orbi 1. Replace the 3 Airports with a 2 unit Orbi system. I could still keep my Airport expresses connected in bridge mode and use them for airplay speakers, connected via ethernet branched off the main router. The wifi would need to feed the rest of the wireless speakers in the house however. 2. I currently have 3 WIRED locations, and with Orbi I cannot connect them via ethernet for the backhaul, it MUST be done via wireless tri band. So, this begs the question, is Orbi SOOOO good and reliable that even running wirelessley it's better/as good as a router with wired access points? Will the backhaul required when using airplay suffer since the rest of the system is forced to use the wireless backhaul and not ethernet? Or is it all just so amazingly perfect and range extending that it will all beat the 3 Airports I have spread through my 3,000 sqft home? Scenario 2: Nighthawk plus access points 1. I could easily just swap out my existing 3 units for 1 Nighthawk AC3200 router and 2 AC1900 access points. Is there a system that is already bundled or MADE to work flawlessly together in this configuration? Netgear recommended a powerful Nighthawk but the only "access point" type device I could find was the AC1900, which is dual band while the router I would get would be 3 band. 2. this begs the question, what is the TriBand used for in a wired system? Is it used to manage traffic better or is it relatively pointless as it's there to run the backhaul for wireless devices, and since I'm wiring all 3 of them together, this Tri Band dream I'm holding onto is irrelevant? Should I just get a strong dual band with dual band extenders and call it a day? 3. Again, I'd really like this to be somewhat future proof, I don't want to bother with the wifi again for a long long time. I want it to be able to grow and handle it. I'll throw a decent amount of money at it to get that too. Please, any other model configuration or brand suggestions are VERY welcome. Lastly, I know the Eero system supports the ethernet backhaul (and maybe even the Velop). Is there a benefit to a wired mesh system OVER a wired routher/access point system? Many thanks for any advice, thanks for your time, I know it's not a short post:-) Rob I'Which firmware version are you running?
I am seeing a lot of threads of some dissatisfied ORBI users and me personally am running the latest v2.1.2.18 on the RBK53 system. I have been fine with all firmware revisions and I am currently running about 40+ devices. These devices consist of MAC’s, PC’s, Printer, PoE Cameras, and WiFi Cameras, Samsung TV’s, a slew of iPad’s, iPhone 7-8, XBOX’s, PlayStations, etc. I have a very healthy list along with older kids doing some heavy gaming and streaming of NetFlix. On average I use about 1TB of bandwidth a month from my ISP. In all, things have been good and I am a geek. I have every Cisco cert there is along with Security and I have been monitoring everything. If someone goes down, I hear it within seconds and I have not heard anything from anyone.....and we are power users. My question for this thread is, What version of firmware are you running? I am tempted to move to the new current version of v2.0.1.4. Since v2.1.x.x and above has been formally placed in ‘No Forced Upgrade’ mode. (See Here for Post) I assume Netgear's confidence in that later version is limited due to all the bugs. But, I am not having any issues - Just being honest. I will also state that I am religious on keeping systems drivers up to date and watching the forums for other devices that are prone to not play well with other WiFi systems. Examples: Killer WiFi cards are junk and I had to upgrade to Intel and now no issues. But – I thought it was ORBI Chromecast EERO devices not playing well, etc. etc. I admit, you have to pay attention and one device on your network could be causing a lot of pain and it may look like it’s the ORBI. Epson Printers not playing well with certain WiFi frequencies Carrier Smart Thermostat not playing well with newer frequency bands causing me to have to plug in a legacy 802.11 access point just for that. It wasn’t ORBI, it was the thermostat and nothing I can do about it. Hikvision WiFi IP Cameras got horrible firmware pushed to them which caused constant drops. I couldn't downgrade so I had to RMA all the cameras for new ones - Again, It wasn't ORBI I am not here to defend either. I have had ASUS w/ Merlin firmware which now has the AIMesh firmware, I have also had the 1st Gen Eero’s which were SLooooow, and now ORBI. They all have their limitations but I consistently I always found a device on my network as the culprit. Yes, if your ORBI reboots every 5-minutes then you definitely have an issue. RMA that thing. And yes, I am sure that the v2.1.x.x is unstable but to what extend and what are the enviroments causing this. (Buffer overflow, bad coding, devices not playing well, User error, etc. etc) But, let us know what firmware you are using.Converting from Circle box to Circle on Orbi
I’ve been using a Circle Disney box connected to my Orbi router before it became avalaible as part of a recent software upgrade. My question is how do I switch my Circle box over to the Orbi directly? Is it as simple as disconnecting the Circle box and enabling the Circle feature on Orbi? The Circle box has battery backup so I’m concerned about having two instances of Circle running. Will the Circle app automatically recognize the new switch over to the Orbi setup?