Replacing Airport Extremes with Orbi and 2 Satellites

[wahuwa]

Several questions:

1) Can I change the Orbi assigned Network name with my old Airport Extreme WiFi name (after Orbi installation)?

2) My current Apple wifi connects to my Comcast Gateway with Gateway Router in bridge mode. Does this not change?

3) Once Orbi and satellites are configured and enabled, will I have to re-initialize all my network devices (e.g., printers, ios devices, desktop, MacBook, Sonos, Directv) to the new network? If I rename the Orbi network to the same name and password as my old Apple system, can I avoid all this?

4) Can I still use the time capsule feature on my old Apple Extreme/Time Machine  to make backups?

Many thanks for any advice. I am no network genius!

[murchman]

You can name your wifi network/s the same as your old system, this will make it pretty transparent to all your devices as long as you keep the password the same too.

[mokolabs]

1) Correct! Just rename the Orbi SSID to the same name as your Airport Extreme SSID.

2) I'm not a Comcast customer, so I'm not 100% sure about this. I guess try leaving it as is, for now.

3) No, all of your devices should just start working on the new network once you rename the Orbi SSID. We have about 30 devices and almost all of them automatically switched over without any issues.

4) I think so, but I haven't gotten mine to work right just yet. Stay tuned!

Otherwise, I think you'll be really happy. The Orbi is super fast and reliable. (One caveat: I've had to reboot more often with the latest .18 firmware, so I'd stick with something older, if possible).

[wahuwa]

Thx Murchman. Can I I change the name right at setup?

[murchman]

Yes i think so but don't remember 100%