I've been having a relative nightmare with my Orbi over last week or so and today may be the topper.
My (current) setup includes an RBR50 (v2) and RBS50 with wireless backhaul connection type. Both devices are on V2.5.1.16. I have a NetGear CM1200 cable modem connected to the RBR50 WAN port and a number of other NetGear switches on my LAN (a GS108v3, GS316, GS108v4, GS108PEv3, and a couple of GS605v4's). I don't think the switches and network topology are critical to this topic, but I figured it would be asked. The RBS50 is on a different floor from the RBR50 and I think is about 50' distant.
Earlier today devices wirelessly connected to the RBS50 lost internet access, but devices wirelessly connected to the RBR50 stayed on internet. When I opened my admin console I noticed there were an extra 10 or so devices attached to my network, so needless to say I navigated directly to the Attached Devices screen. So in addition to my own devices, there were a number of other devices I didn't recognize, including another RBR50 and RBS50 -- all "connected" (wired) to my RBR50. Some of the devices even had IP addresses on different subnets. Unfortunately, I freaked out a bit and powered down the RBR50 and then the RBS50. By the time I came to my senses and power cycled the devices back up, there was only a single "additional" device that I didn't recognize but still on the list so I took a screen shot with it (just to prove I wasn't insane). In fact, this device shared the same IP address with a recognized device on my network (different MAC IDs, of course). It's gone now...
Most telling was I THINK my RBR50 "took control" of the other RBS50 and started configuring it -- my backhaul connection type changed to "wired" even though my device wasn't connected to ethernet at all and had been working just fine wirelessly and the status changed from "good" to "config sync". Unfortunately, I didn't check the MAC ID as at that point I was too busy freaking out and shutting things down.
I figure there are only two possibilities that could explain this behavior but would love to hear other views: 1) One of my neighbors was just setting up an Orbi and somehow stumbled into my wireless backhaul channel (which I guess I only assumed is relatively unique???); or 2) Some other customer of my ISP plugged their cable modem into one of the LAN ports on their Orbi instead of the WAN port and somehow my Orbi started paying attention to that traffic over its WAN port (???).
If either of these possibilities I raised is true, this will certainly be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back between me and NetGear as at a minimum there's NO WAY I can ever trust this router again. I mean, ever. Not even future releases. Either of the above scenarios would represent a fundamental security flaw that I can't abide. And I don't care if this is just some issue with the new firmware as then my problem is this SHOULD have been part of NetGear's release testing process.
I'm hoping my reasoning is just faulty here and someone can come up with a more reasonable explanation as I'm literally staring at my admin console/Attached Devices screen looking for this happening again and obviously I can't watch my router 24/7.
