RAX120 in Bridge Mode on Orbi AX System

[winstonrh]

I have a RAX120 but it doesn't quite cover my house/patio as well as I'd like.  Not crazy about extenders - especially after my experience with that garbage EAX80 - and hardwiring is not pratical/easily accomplished. So that leads me to consider a mesh system.

I almost resent giving Netgear any more of my $, but seems the Orbi system still get the best reviews most everywhere I check.

So that brings me to my question.

In my current set-up I use the RAX120 as my main router - and then have a R7800 in bridge mode in my office on the second floor to handle some office equipment that doesn't have wireless function of their own, but can accept a wired ethernet connection.

Will the Orbi system accept the R7800 in the same way?  Or even better yet - allow me to use the RAX120 instead and increase my speed?

[FURRYe38]

I haven't tried my R7800 with my Orbi AX. Just had enough with the RBS and the RBR to cover my needs. It's possible that either would should connect. I now that Orbi AC model RBS don't connect wirelessly. They do wired though. I think its is just a compatibility issue between Orbi AC RBS and Orbi AX currently. I don't think that effects the R7800. The R7800 is just a dual bad router and when in AP mode, it should connect to 5Ghz fine. Thought you may need to set the CTS values on Orbi AX from 64 to 2347. Orbi AX defaults to 64 and seems to cause some problems thought with most current v32 FW for Orbi AX, this seems stable, at least for me, using defaul 64 value. 

Unsure about the RAX120. Does that router model support wireless brige mode? I had a RAX80 which didn't.

[FURRYe38]

Ok got me curious. I dragged out my R7800 and it does connect to my RBR850 in AP mode:

The 88.78 address is the static IP address I configured on the R7800. 

This is non stock R7800 FW (Voxel's) which has this additional information which is not seen on stock FW:

Wireless speeds are low however I don't expect alot from the R7800. Also the router that the RBR850 in AP mode is connected to doesn't support 1Gb WAN services which at this time I tested with.

So the R7800 may see a bit more speed on 5Ghz however not sure. Lots of factors in speed testing wifi. I may come back to this when I go to put my RBR850 online as my main host router to check wireless speed performances. 

So at least we know the R7800 does wirelessly bridge connect to the RBR850. 

[winstonrh]

Thank for the reply.  I was thinking the RBK752 system, but would bite the bullet on the RBK852 if I knew for sure it would work and was reliable.  It's a shame Netgear drops the ball on support and even technical sales questions like this and leaves it up to the community to come to the rescue.

[FURRYe38]

The base code and wifi are the same between the 7 and 8 series so I would expect the R7800 to work as well on the 7 series Orbi.

I wouldn't call NG dropping the ball on this. There are many wifi configurations and devices out there and at the very least, the Orbi AX is meant to be a stand alone system that most wifi devices should connect to with out issues. The use of the R7800 or any wifi wireless bridge is kind of a corner case use and not commonly used or main stream used. So possible that support is more focused on up to date and current products. Also the R7800 is getting up a age. Thats mostly used in a router platform aswell. Other than this, NG seems to be keeping things compatible for the most part. However some are waiting for the RBS50s to become wirelessly compatible with the Orbi AX. Not sure if or when this will happen. 

[winstonrh]

Sorry - I more meant my question of whether I could bridge the RAX120 in w/ AX speed to replace the R7800 altoghether. I was trying to use today technology to replace old technology - but when I asked sales - they couldn't give me a clear answer.

[FURRYe38]

Ah, ok. Well I presume it's possible with the RAX120 if it has the wireless bridge mode feature. I know the RAX80 I had for a short while didn't. Kind of surprised. Does the RAX120 have this feature? 

[winstonrh]

Yes, the RAX120 lists Bridge Mode as a set-up option.  I was just hoping there had been someone here that had tried it. 

I realize I could spend more and just buy the Obri 3 pack instead of the 2 and put the 3rd node in my office to in essence act as the bridge also, but I was hoping to to not have to spend more excessive $ than I need to.   

[FURRYe38]

Ok, good to know then. Well I presume the RAX would work in bridge mode. Would be something to try out and see if you don't get any other feedback herein the forums. I presume it will as it would be connecting to a single 5Ghz radio on the Orbi AX, like the R7800 did. Should work.