RBR850 Changing Guest LAN IP subnet / Guest Wireless subnet- The IP address conflicts with the Guest

[Z42985]

When I attempt to change my LAN subnet to 192.168.2.0 I get this error message. "The IP address conflicts with the Guest LAN IP subnet. Please enter a different IP address."

So how do I change the "Guest LAN IP subnet"?

On a related note while googling this issue I came across the previous Orbi Guest wireless isolation issue and was just shocked that Netgear would release a product with such terrible security features AND not actually fix it after years. I don't care a whole lot about the feature but being part of openwireless.org is important to me, and it makes providing wifi to guests easier/more secure but I had committed to returning it if this was not fixed.  https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/CAUTION-Orbi-s-Wifi-Guest-Network-does-not-really-isolate-gues...

It does appear this is fixed now BUT it appears Netgear has hardcoded the guest subnet?! It would not be terrible to reip my network but I've been using this subnet for 15+ years. I'm already having to reconenct every to a single SSID instead of having a 2.4 and a 5 Ghz SSID, forcing me to reip is pretty absurd.

[ekhalil · Accepted solution]

If you like you can go for changing the guest network reserved address range using telnet commands as follows:

• nvram set lan1_ipaddr=192.168.3.1
• nvram set lan1_gateway=192.168.3.1
• nvram set lan_ipaddr2=192.168.3.1
• nvram set dhcp_start2=192.168.3.2
• nvram set dhcp_end2=192.168.3.254
• nvram commit
• reboot the router
• Set the LAN IP address to 192.168.2.1 in the Orbi web GUI under >> ADVANCED >> Setup >> LAN Setup

[schumaku]

Lack of a RBR850 I can't check this. Enable the guest network and establish a connection to the Guest network. On earlier Orbi and Orbi Pro systems, the clients used to receive IP addresses from the very same subnet as in place om the LAN. The 192.168.2.0/24 subnet is (certainly on the Nighthawk and the like routers) hardcoded to the OpenVPN TUN interface - only the transport protocol (UDP, TCP) and the port can be configured - the OpenVPN TUN subnet can't be changed. So for a test, you could enable the OpenVPN server (along woth some DDNS) on the RBR850, and establish an OpenVPN connection in TUN mode (iOS/iTabOS or Android OpenVPN clients can only handle TUN - that's part of the config for mobile devices) and check the IP address assigned. I would guess that it's on the  192.168.2.0/24 subnet (as it is implemented on Nighthawk and earlier Orbi) ... so the message might be wrong.

In case you have shell/console access to your Orbi router, run

# ifconfig tun0
...

# netstat -an
...

Both will unveil the sunet information for the tun0 interface. 

@Dustin_V your customers need the ability to adjust such internal IP subnets in the UI. Further on, such internal IP subnets must be documented! 

[ekhalil]

In Orbi 850, the following is valid:

OpenVPN_TUN is using 192.168.254.0/24

The Guest network is using 192.168.2.0/24

These addresses are not configurable, but I think could be easily changed with telnet commands

OpenVPN:

openvpn_tun_ipaddr=192.168.254.1

openvpn_tun_netmask=255.255.255.0

Guest Network: 

lan1_ipaddr=192.168.2.1

lan1_gateway=192.168.2.1

lan_ipaddr2=192.168.2.1

dhcp_start2=192.168.2.2

dhcp_end2=192.168.2.254

[Z42985]

Looks like the config command doesn't exist/isn't in the path anymore? 

For now my work around to two issues caused by Orbi's lack of what I thought was basic flexibility (can't have two LAN SSIDs (For example 2.4 and 5Ghz SSIDs)) and can't use the 192.168.2.0 on the LAN subnet is to leave my old wireless router in place but with it's WAN and LAN ports connected to my LAN with DHCP disabled and one SSID disabled. Then anythings that connects to the old SSID or has a static 192.168.2.0 address can still operate and overtime I can go through reiping and reconnecting things. Kinda silly but I didn't think I was doing anything special on my network.

[ekhalil]

But this will end you up with 2 networks, devices on one network will not be able to communicate with devices on the other network.

[Z42985]

Yeah, I also added a second IP to my desktop so it's on both which then allows me to connect to them to change their IPs.

[ekhalil · Accepted solution]

If you like you can go for changing the guest network reserved address range using telnet commands as follows:

• nvram set lan1_ipaddr=192.168.3.1
• nvram set lan1_gateway=192.168.3.1
• nvram set lan_ipaddr2=192.168.3.1
• nvram set dhcp_start2=192.168.3.2
• nvram set dhcp_end2=192.168.3.254
• nvram commit
• reboot the router
• Set the LAN IP address to 192.168.2.1 in the Orbi web GUI under >> ADVANCED >> Setup >> LAN Setup

[Z42985]

That seems to have worked perfectly. Thanks!

[ekhalil]

Glad that this helped. 🙂

[DoctorA]

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@ekhalil wrote:

Glad that this helped. 🙂

In another post you wrote:

"Also the RBS50 will give you the widest radio coverage, after that will come RBS20 and RBS40 and then RBW30 with the least coverage."

I need to add another wired satellite to my RBK850 and was wondering if I should wait to find a  RBS850 or get a  RBS50 now. How much wider is the WiFi 6 Orbi system coverage? 

I didn't expect this 2 node system to almost cover my whole 7000sq ft home. Amazingly 0ne floor down the signal is still very strong.  Both my 850R and S are on the 3rd floor because the "central" room, where ONT and RGW are, is located the farthest possible from where coverage is most needed. There are some dangerously low zones on the first floor that make me think I need an additional satellite.

Thank you

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[FURRYe38]

Can you get your current RBS down on the main floor instead of both being on the top floor. This would help with coverage down in the basement area. I have a similar lay out however my RBR is on top floor and RBS is down in the basement. Wirelessly connected too. Works. I'm waiting on NG to fix a bug in the wired RBS connection though behide LAN switches. 

[DoctorA]

The ability to connect the RBS behide LAN switches will add more flexibility. Once I  connected the RBS to RBR through an unmanaged Netgear switch GS105NA and to my surprise it worked. The switch also  was connected to my desktop downstairs PC through another Linksys unmanaged switch which  in turn was connected to few other devices. Later I removed the GS105NA switch and plugged the Ethernet wire going to downstairs PC directly to the back of of the RBS 850.

I firmly believe that wired is still better for my situation regarding the RBS to RBR backhaul because of the many walls and curved hallway inbetween the rooms. I tested the WiFi speed with my phone and with wired backhaul it was 600-650 Mbps but with wireless the speed was only 350-400 Mbps. I will wait to get another  RBS 850 to connect wired when available. If I can't survive that long then I will get an RBS50.

[FURRYe38]

If you can get a Ethernet cable down to the lower level in the home, then you could place the one RBS down there. 

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@DoctorA wrote:

The ability to connect the RBS behide LAN switches will add more flexibility. Once I  connected the RBS to RBR through an unmanaged Netgear switch GS105NA and to my surprise it worked. The switch also  was connected to my desktop downstairs PC through another Linksys unmanaged switch which  in turn was connected to few other devices. Later I removed the GS105NA switch and plugged the Ethernet wire going to downstairs PC directly to the back of of the RBS 850.

I firmly believe that wired is still better for my situation regarding the RBS to RBR backhaul because of the many walls and curved hallway inbetween the rooms. I tested the WiFi speed with my phone and with wired backhaul it was 600-650 Mbps but with wireless the speed was only 350-400 Mbps. I will wait to get another  RBS 850 to connect wired when available. If I can't survive that long then I will get an RBS50.

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[DoctorA]

Should I sync the new RBS 50 with my RBR 850 first wirelessly or wired syncing? Or just connecting to Ethernet will work?
Thank yy

[ekhalil]

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@DoctorA wrote:
Should I sync the new RBS 50 with my RBR 850 first wirelessly or wired syncing? Or just connecting to Ethernet will work?
Thank yy

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You just need to connect the cable. If you have never synced the satellite with the router then press the sync buttons both on the satellite and the router after connecting the cable, otherwise syncing will happen automatically.