Netgear Orbi discussion thread

[thiggins]

Yes I know and the only way to fix it is to remove Orbi. So back to Best Buy it goes.

So you know that means you can't use any of the new distributed Wi-Fi systems because they all use single SSID..

 

[Chairman007]

A question came up in r/orbi ... does a weaker wifi signal (i.e. Further from router or some obstruction) impact only throughout or also stability/reliability?

 

[sm00thpapa]

So you know that means you can't use any of the new distributed Wi-Fi systems because they all use single SSID..

I got to figure something out. Maybe an AP in bridge mode with the xbox hard wired.

 

[thiggins]

A question came up in r/orbi ... does a weaker wifi signal (i.e. Further from router or some obstruction) impact only throughout or also stability/reliability?

Orbi is no different than any other WiFi device. As signal level drops, so does throughput. Depending on the signal level and client behavior, connections can get iffy, with many retries and increase in latency.

 

[djc6]

I agree, and the telnet opening page says that if you set your password using the "passwd" command, that then you can use ssh, and telnet will be disabled. I've tried that, and after I set my password I couldn't log in with ssh or telnet. So they're really not very helpful in that direction, although they seem to think that they are *smile*.

I was just bitten by this debating factory reset.

 

[RogerSC]

I was just bitten by this debating factory reset.

Personally, I just waited until I had flashed new firmware, then telnet was available again. Factory reset would work for this, as well, of course.

 

[a7medo778]

guys 2 questions:
1- does wired backhaul works out of the box (thick cement walls, and i can do the wiring) ?
and since all 3 units will be wired, what will happen to the dedicated wireless backhaul ? if its going to waist i better just get a non mesh system eh ?

2- where can we find it the cheapest , i heard Costco has a very good deal but i can't order it from abroad

 

[Hydro]

guys 2 questions:
1- does wired backhaul works out of the box (thick cement walls, and i can do the wiring) ?
and since all 3 units will be wired, what will happen to the dedicated wireless backhaul ? if its going to waist i better just get a non mesh system eh ?

2- where can we find it the cheapest , i heard Costco has a very good deal but i can't order it from abroad

Orbi sat(s) and router cannot be wired at this this time - unknown if that capability will be added down the road, but for now, wireless backhaul via star topology is only option.

 

[RogerSC]

guys 2 questions:
1- does wired backhaul works out of the box (thick cement walls, and i can do the wiring) ?
and since all 3 units will be wired, what will happen to the dedicated wireless backhaul ? if its going to waist i better just get a non mesh system eh ?

2- where can we find it the cheapest , i heard Costco has a very good deal but i can't order it from abroad

I would look into a good "main" router (like a Netgear R7800), or just stay with what you have now for a router, and add wired Access Points (AP's). The Orbi is meant for situations where people aren't or can't add wiring, so everything is wireless. Including the backhaul, as you've noticed. A good router with a wired AP or two would provide faster and more reliable wireless for you, since you're going to be adding wiring anyways. Especially with thick walls...this will limit wireless communication between an Orbi router and satellites, or mesh units.

 

[Vandergraff]

Tried using my Asus AC68 (running Asuswrt merlin) as my router and the Orbi in access point mode.

Performance wasn't as snappy (and running with AiProtection on really slows IPv6 speeds).

So switched back to using Orbi as the router. When I look at the IP address of the attached devices all wireless devices and some wired devices have IP starting 10: with some other wired devices getting IP address stating 192. Previously everything was starting starting 192?

Why are some 10: and some 192: ? Are 10: devices really on same local network as 192: devices (can they talk to each other).

Tried a reboot but still the same.

Edit - reverted back to Asus AC68 as router and Orbi as access point. Turned off AiProtection and global DNS filtering and everything seems snappier and better. Not sure if the Orbi firewall was working correctly once switched back to router mode - IPv6 port scans came back as 'echo'. Doesn't make me feel very good about using Orbi as the router / firewall. Will stick with Asus AC68 for that for now. Shame AiProtection seems to slow everything down though.....would like to leave that enabled.

 

[pete y testing]

because the orbi is in router mode it would have detected the asus ip address and changed its self to the 10. address range to avoid ip conflicts , so no they wont be able to talk to each other

 

[Vandergraff]

When I put the Orbi back into router mode I had removed the Asus AC68 - that's why I didn't understand why I was getting 10. and 192. addresses?

 

[pete y testing]

restart the clients and see if the get a new address

 

[njweb]

I have not had any major issues with my Asus RT-AC5300. Recently, probably a firmware issue, I have had some issues with my TiVo Minis (connecting to main TiVo Roamio via MoCA network) disconnecting, but that might be due to a router firmware issue?
I might go back two versions to ASUS RT-AC5300 Firmware version 3.0.0.4.380.3341 which seemed more stable, albeit at the expense of not having the latest security updates...

Anyway, reading the rave review here of the Orbi as well as great reviews elsewhere on the net, I thought with my new Netgear CM1000 router (exceeding my ISP plan's download speeds by 20% +), I thought of trying the Orbi (on sale soon so I will get a PM within 2 weeks at Costco).

However, I stumbled onto this at PC Magazine, but would like to get opinions here from Tim and the other people who own Orbi:
http://www.pcmag.com/review/348941/netgear-orbi-high-performance-ac3000-tri-band-wi-fi-system

Quote from PC magazine:
At a distance of 30 feet, the Orbi router scored 223Mbps, and the satellite scored 220Mbps. The Ubiquiti Amplifi HD router also showed a throughput of 223Mbps, but its satellite maxed out at 168Mbps. The Luma router gained 76.1Mbps, and its satellite scored 77.2Mbps, while the Eero scored 71.2Mbps. By way of comparison, our Editors' Choice midrange router, the Linksys EA7500 Max-Stream AC1900 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router$199.99 at Dell, had a throughput of 495Mbps (close proximity) and 298Mbps (30 feet), and our top pick for high-end routers, the D-Link DIR-895L/R, scored 515Mbps and 324Mbps, respectively.
(end of PC Magazine quote).

With my RT-AC5300 I get 120 Mbps on my mobile phone on the same floor as the router (other side of house), but "only" 100 Mbps upstairs (with a signal of approximately -55).
In short, would the Orbi (3 pack system Costco offers) give me the full 120 MBps upstairs too?

I am thinking ahead if and when my speed tier increase again in a year or so...

Right now I can still get a decent amount here or on eBay for my Asus RT-AC5300, so if the Orbi is the way to go (for the longer term), I would be happy to 'upgrade'.
PC Magazine leads me to believe Orbi is more for people who had issue with range to begin with and won't help people with class-leading (in terms of range) single router systems, but everyone is raving about Orbi.
And on the Netgear forums the Orbi outperformed the X8 for a couple of users in terms of long distance range.
My house while quite large (over 3,000 sq feet + very large basement) is very open (large entry area with a very tall ceiling) and perhaps this is why I get such great wifi performance with a single router (without an extender or wireless bridge).

Any feedback would be appreciated. I guess it can't hurt to try Orbi.
I did read about iOS and Android wifi disconnects on the Orbi at the Netgear forums.

 

[pete y testing]

Any feedback would be appreciated. I guess it can't hurt to try Orbi.

hi , i recently did some testing and posted it on my local whirlpool forum and this is an extract from it , the results agree with tim and the snb review and 30 feet isnt really any judge of distance coverage my tests where at 25 meters or about 80feet , i have 100/40M fiber plan here and every inch of my place i can now get 100/40M on any device which i simply havnt had before even with the big honking routers from one location

btw note my reesults are in MB/s

-------------

i thought i would post some test results and a shoot out of the BHR Big Honking Routers in the 2156M class + comparing them with netgear orbi

test procedure and equipment used

test pc with asus pce-ac88 wireless adapter

test NAS box – synology ds 415+

tests done with Lan Speed Test app transferring 500mb file to and from the NAS

-------------------------------------

25 meter tests

floor plan

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=7D5CB240BE1A0742&id=7D5CB240BE1A0742!812&parId=7D5CB240BE1A0742!144&o=OneUp

test from location A in study to location E in bedroom 1

-------------------------------------------

will do a bar graph chart of this lot when i get time to make it easier to understand

compared is the

netgear r8500

asus rt-ac5300

asus rt-ac88u

tp link archer c3150

i have also included the netgear orbi system to compare against

surprisingly the tp link c3150 best write wise with the asus rt-ac88u being best read wise

compared to the orbi with 2 sats using ethernet that gave the best overall performance when compared to these BHR's

---------------------------

25 meter shootout test

------------------------------

netgear r8500

5 gig high

write 21.7 MB/s read 25.3 MB/s sync 390 rssi -68 ch153

5 gig low

write 17.2 Mb/s read 19.8 MB/s sync 292.5 rssi -67 ch 44

2.4 gig

write 10.4 MB/s read 12.4 MB/s sync 115.5 rssi -59 ch 11

----------------------------

asus rt-ac5300

5 gig high

write 29.9 MB/s read 32.2 MB/s sync 780 rssi -69 ch 153

5 gig low

write 26.8 MB/s read 26.3 Mb/s sync 585 rssi -69 ch 44

2.4 gig

write 16.9 MB/s read 19.1 MB/s sync 270 rssi -59 ch 11

-----------------------

asus rt-ac88u

5 gig

write 32.1 MB/s read 33.6 MB/s sync 520 rssi -66 ch 153

2.4 gig

write 10.6 MB/s read 14.1 MB/s sync 195.0 rssi -63 ch 11

----------------------------

tp link archer c3150

5 gig

write 34.2 MB/s read 31.9 MB/s sync 780 rssi -65 ch 153

2.4 gig

write 10.6 MB/s read 18.6 MB/s sync 243.0 rssi -58 ch 11

----------------------------

----------------------------

netgear orbi via wifi router and 1 x sat , note the orbi is 867M max

5 gig

write 28.3 MB/s read 27.6 MB/s sync 866.5 rssi -36 ch 11

2.4 gig

write 21.4 MB/s read 17.3 sync 400 rssi -36 ch 11

netgear orbi via ethernet ( eg test comp – sat ethernet ( locatioon A ) – router ( location C ) – sat ethernet – synology 415+ ( location E ) )

write 30.6 MB/s read 40.2 MB/s

--------------------------------

not sure if the r8500 is working as well as it should but in comparison to the others in the same class its not performing as well at distance , will check with netgear and retest if needed and report back

you can also compare results from the wave 1 1900ac comparison testing i did in the link below

/forum-replies.cfm?t=2384995

tested under the same conditions but with the asus pce-ac68 wireless adapter

pete

 

[RogerSC]

I have not had any major issues with my Asus RT-AC5300. Recently, probably a firmware issue, I have had some issues with my TiVo Minis (connecting to main TiVo Roamio via MoCA network) disconnecting, but that might be due to a router firmware issue?
I might go back two versions to ASUS RT-AC5300 Firmware version 3.0.0.4.380.3341 which seemed more stable, albeit at the expense of not having the latest security updates...

Anyway, reading the rave review here of the Orbi as well as great reviews elsewhere on the net, I thought with my new Netgear CM1000 router (exceeding my ISP plan's download speeds by 20% +), I thought of trying the Orbi (on sale soon so I will get a PM within 2 weeks at Costco).

However, I stumbled onto this at PC Magazine, but would like to get opinions here from Tim and the other people who own Orbi:
http://www.pcmag.com/review/348941/netgear-orbi-high-performance-ac3000-tri-band-wi-fi-system

Quote from PC magazine:
At a distance of 30 feet, the Orbi router scored 223Mbps, and the satellite scored 220Mbps. The Ubiquiti Amplifi HD router also showed a throughput of 223Mbps, but its satellite maxed out at 168Mbps. The Luma router gained 76.1Mbps, and its satellite scored 77.2Mbps, while the Eero scored 71.2Mbps. By way of comparison, our Editors' Choice midrange router, the Linksys EA7500 Max-Stream AC1900 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router$199.99 at Dell, had a throughput of 495Mbps (close proximity) and 298Mbps (30 feet), and our top pick for high-end routers, the D-Link DIR-895L/R, scored 515Mbps and 324Mbps, respectively.
(end of PC Magazine quote).

With my RT-AC5300 I get 120 Mbps on my mobile phone on the same floor as the router (other side of house), but "only" 100 Mbps upstairs (with a signal of approximately -55).
In short, would the Orbi (3 pack system Costco offers) give me the full 120 MBps upstairs too?

I am thinking ahead if and when my speed tier increase again in a year or so...

Right now I can still get a decent amount here or on eBay for my Asus RT-AC5300, so if the Orbi is the way to go (for the longer term), I would be happy to 'upgrade'.
PC Magazine leads me to believe Orbi is more for people who had issue with range to begin with and won't help people with class-leading (in terms of range) single router systems, but everyone is raving about Orbi.
And on the Netgear forums the Orbi outperformed the X8 for a couple of users in terms of long distance range.
My house while quite large (over 3,000 sq feet + very large basement) is very open (large entry area with a very tall ceiling) and perhaps this is why I get such great wifi performance with a single router (without an extender or wireless bridge).

Any feedback would be appreciated. I guess it can't hurt to try Orbi.
I did read about iOS and Android wifi disconnects on the Orbi at the Netgear forums.

I agree with your trying it, with the idea in mind that you will return it if you don't like the results. No one can tell what's going to happen with the Orbi or any other router at your house, there are just too many variables. I will say that with the Orbi, the wireless coverage that I get all over my house has improved to the point where I don't think about it much anymore. I've had no (zero) disconnects with our iPhones and iPads or my Nexus 6P or Pixel phones at my house. I haven't gone to the Netgear forum to see what's going on there, since I've found them fairly unreadable since the format change some time ago, but no problems with client or Orbi disconnects here.

I do get my full speed ISP download in my living room on 5GHz., which is the other side of my house from where my router is. Very happy with the Orbi. Stable and performs well. I'm not a fan of the Netgear admin web interface, but given how little I need to use it, not a problem at the moment. Telnet is available, as is an "Advanced Attached Devices" screen, that gives complete information about how clients are connected, which unit and which band. That's helpful and reassuring *smile*.

 

[njweb]

Thanks guys! Appreciate the testing results Pete.

I bought the Orbi 3 pack at Costco today for onyl $499 (will return to the store with my receipt once the $50 off kicks in on Jan 22 to get the extra $50 credited back to my CC; for $449.xx all in + tax vs $599 elsewhere).

I am now debating returning my new Netgear CM1000 DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem and waiting till the Arris SB8200 3.1 cable modem is released (revised ETA is 2 weeks from today).
My cable modem downstream power levels went up when I removed a splitter in my home office (it did, as expected, help improve my upstream power levels, worst of which is now 47.3 dB) but the reduction in downstream power quality (high + numbers was unexpected side effect). My worst downstream power level, out of 16 bonded channels, is now 5.3 dB (was about 2.3 dB before removing the splitter),

Anyway, back to the Orbi, one of my main goals would be to improve Roku 3 wifi speeds (speedtest app on Roku 3 shows me getting a fraction (edit- found a faster server, getting 48 Mbps) of what I get with my laptops or mobile phones in the SAME rooms, 119 Mbps).
I may tap into my MoCA adapter's ethernet port for 2 of the Rokus which would solve that problem (other than the 100 Mbps LAN port limitation on the Roku and MoCA adapter, but 100 Mbps is still far better than the Roku 3s are currently getting over wifi despite my far higher wifi speeds on mobile phones and laptops and great signal levels on the Rokus, unless the speedtest app on the Roku is inaccurate).

The Asus AC5300, in my house (very open layout especially in center of house - tall and large entry foyer, does so well in every aspect (other than Rokus which is more an issue with the Roku 3 wifi adapter than the Asus signal quality and strength, as evidenced by mobile phones consistently getting much higher bandwidth, that I am debating whether I really need the Orbi (I love new toys but wondering if I have finally gone too far too soon).
Perhaps I should wait till I really need the extra bandwidth and see what is available at that point.

Part of the issue (and a reason why I was considering Orbi), was some annoyingTiVo disconnects recently (using MoCA), but perhaps that is the current RT-AC5300 firmware (tried to revert to the June 2016 firmware but it did not stick; guess I have to use that rescue mode trick to DOWNgrade the firmware again.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/commun...ini-loses-connection-repeatedly.544680/page-2
Then again multiple TiVO users had the same thing start to happen in December after never having issues and not changing anything on their systems (unless they overlooked / forgot about a router firmware upgrade), so maybe a TiVo update has something to do with it.
Too many variables, as always, to isolate the issue easily without extensive controlled testing which most of us don't have the time nor inclination for.
I have a feeling TiVO fixed one bug in the latest update (tuners not being releases apparently) and introduced another (V87 disconnects).
That is the annoying thing about forced updates... Luckily it happens intermittently and mostly resolves itself within second or so (although it requires manual intervention - clicking on the remote - to reconnect).

 

[massaquah]

Hi everyone,
I am planning on buying the Orbi sometime in the near future after the Netgear EX7000 repeater just failed my expectations.

With the Orbi, will I be able to choose channels above 48 on the 5 ghz band for the client connections (Europe)?
Or can I even set the channel for the 5 ghz band manually on the configuration page?

 

[thiggins]

Hi everyone,
I am planning on buying the Orbi sometime in the near future after the Netgear EX7000 repeater just failed my expectations.

With the Orbi, will I be able to choose channels above 48 on the 5 ghz band for the client connections (Europe)?
Or can I even set the channel for the 5 ghz band manually on the configuration page?

Review says:

The wireless setup screen is the same in Basic or Advanced mode. It lets you set the channels for the 2x2 class client / device connect radio. The 2.4 GHz setting offers Auto and Ch 1-11, while the 5 GHz allows only low-band channels (36 - 48).

You can't set the channel for the separate 4x4 5 GHz backhaul radio.

 

[pete y testing]

Or can I even set the channel for the 5 ghz band manually on the configuration page?

you can manually set the 5 gig channel from ch 36 to 48