Netgear Orbi discussion thread

[0111000001100100]

How many satellites + main Orbi system? Not that it should matter though.

An original RT-AC68U can comfortably handle 30 clients at once, an Orbi (main + 1 satellite) should be able to do 50 or more 'easily'.

Thanks for the reply! I was hoping main +1 would do the trick

 

[thiggins]

Hi There,
Any idea on how many clients an Orbi system could comfortable support? Would it be able to handle 30 devices for example? Perhaps not all actively transmitting but in various states of being connected/transmitting.

Today's routers should be able to handle much more than 30 idle connected clients. Usable capacity will depend on application mix and where clients are connected.

 

[0111000001100100]

Today's routers should be able to handle much more than 30 idle connected clients. Usable capacity will depend on application mix and where clients are connected.

I figured useable capacity would be anyone's guess, so I didn't want to ask such an open ended question! I'm thinking 10-12 devices would be actively in use at a peak time, mostly tablets or mobile devices, web browsing/social media, video sharing websites, and mobile gaming. Located pretty much within 30ft of a base station.

The more I think about it, the more Q0S by device would really be useful so an adult with a laptop doing work gets priority vs the 10 kiddies with kindle fires not doing anything productive. I guess I could hold my breath waiting for Netgear to release such a feature in an Orbi firmware update, or get the right product now in a "BHR".

 

[JEIII]

Hey, all. Forgive the new guy with a dumb question if you would. I hate to jump in and ask something in the middle of a conversation so if I'm in the wrong place please point me to where I should be. We have Google Fiber at the house, but the wifi upstairs in the bedrooms isn't getting it done. I have recently begun looking at things like this and am about to spring for the Orbi, but I have no idea how to set it up. For example, I don't know what this AP mode is I keep reading about... Do I just plug the base unit into the Google network box and disable the Google's wifi? This is all way above my head and I need easy.

 

[L&LD]

Hey, all. Forgive the new guy with a dumb question if you would. I hate to jump in and ask something in the middle of a conversation so if I'm in the wrong place please point me to where I should be. We have Google Fiber at the house, but the wifi upstairs in the bedrooms isn't getting it done. I have recently begun looking at things like this and am about to spring for the Orbi, but I have no idea how to set it up. For example, I don't know what this AP mode is I keep reading about... Do I just plug the base unit into the Google network box and disable the Google's wifi? This is all way above my head and I need easy.

Sounds like you're the perfect candidate for the Orbi.

Buy it and follow the 1, 2, 3, instructions. Very hard to make it not work.

 

[DanH]

Hey, all. Forgive the new guy with a dumb question if you would. I hate to jump in and ask something in the middle of a conversation so if I'm in the wrong place please point me to where I should be. We have Google Fiber at the house, but the wifi upstairs in the bedrooms isn't getting it done. I have recently begun looking at things like this and am about to spring for the Orbi, but I have no idea how to set it up. For example, I don't know what this AP mode is I keep reading about... Do I just plug the base unit into the Google network box and disable the Google's wifi? This is all way above my head and I need easy.

Basically yeah, but at one point in the process you will have to go into the Orbi settings web page and change a check box from router to AP.
It's really very simple it would be hard to mess up, and on the offchance you can't figure it out just pop on here and ask for help.

 

[DanH]

I figured useable capacity would be anyone's guess, so I didn't want to ask such an open ended question! I'm thinking 10-12 devices would be actively in use at a peak time, mostly tablets or mobile devices, web browsing/social media, video sharing websites, and mobile gaming. Located pretty much within 30ft of a base station.

The more I think about it, the more Q0S by device would really be useful so an adult with a laptop doing work gets priority vs the 10 kiddies with kindle fires not doing anything productive. I guess I could hold my breath waiting for Netgear to release such a feature in an Orbi firmware update, or get the right product now in a "BHR".

If your internet isn't too fast 100 Mbps or less you could just buy a Edgerouter for $50-100 and let it do the QoS for ya in conjunction with the Orbis in AP mode.

 

[sfx2000]

Take a walk on the wild side... it's a feature race perhaps at the moment with these mesh and mesh-like systems..

https://www.macobserver.com/tips/deep-dive/wi-fi-mesh-compared-eero-orbi-amplifi/

I'm still a bit old-school with a dedicated router and two AP's backhauled over ethernet...

 

[sfx2000]

Today's routers should be able to handle much more than 30 idle connected clients. Usable capacity will depend on application mix and where clients are connected.

Indeed...

The WRT's, flaws and all with their SmartWIFI, can take on 60 plus WiFi clients - seen this first hand with a WRT1900acV1...

Any AC1900 class should be able to handle at least 50 clients...

 

[pete y testing]

looks like netgear have just pushed a new firmware update v 1.4.0.16 available only by auto update at this time ( no release on the web site atm )

which includes


[New Features] Support Guest WiFi network.
[New Features] Support WiFi signal broadcast scheduling.
[Enhancements] Add-on Orbi satellite installation flow in GUI.
[Enhancements] Wireless region support for Japan.
[Enhancements] Internet speed test via Ookla SpeedTest.
[Enhancements] Improves band steering.
[Bug Fixed] Fixes connectivity issue with Xbox and iOS devices.
[Bug Fixed] Fixes some security issues.
[Bug Fixed] Fixes Orbi online firmware upgrade issue.
[Bug Fixed] Fixes Orbi satellite's manual firmware update issue.
[Bug Fixed] Fixes GUI display issues in Attached Devices and Access Control pages.

guest wifi being the main add in

 

[sfx2000]

My next door neighbor just picked up an orbi set...

I'll have to put on some angry eyes as it's basically taking up the entire 2.4GHz band (20/40 mode), and most of the useful 5GHz band with all the radios...

Grrr...

 

[pete y testing]

taking up the entire 2.4GHz band (20/40 mode),

just get him to select any channel other than auto and it drops back to 20mhz

and most of the useful 5GHz band with all the radios...

as it would if he had any other tri band router , but it cant be that bad esp with 5 gig

 

[sfx2000]

just get him to select any channel other than auto and it drops back to 20mhz



as it would if he had any other tri band router , but it cant be that bad esp with 5 gig

I have a couple four radio three stream Marvell based Access Points that could take care of that problem at the end of the day that I can position quite nicely... and I have the technical knowledge to make that stick...

And no, the Orbi is not dropping back channels from Wide in 20/40MHz in 2.4, and the satellites are doing auto as a default... so they take up the entire band, and that's the larger problem...

 

[sfx2000]

just get him to select any channel other than auto and it drops back to 20mhz

What happened is all of a sudden a decent WLAN that support good streams no longer does... and now I'm chasing clear channels..

Maybe not just Orbi, but the power levels there are pretty damn high, and this isn't an apartment complex, this is a suburban area with detached homes...

 

[sfx2000]

as it would if he had any other tri band router , but it cant be that bad esp with 5 gig

And yes, it is, the Orbi's are 10dB lower than my own AP's in 5GHz...

Damn...

 

[pete y testing]

but the power levels there are pretty damn high,

if he got the 3 pack its pretty much overkill for a standard house on a block

 

[sfx2000]

if he got the 3 pack its pretty much overkill for a standard house on a block

he does...

 

[pete y testing]

do both of you a favor and go over there and do a site survey and show him how much overkill he has as im using 2 here in my place which is about 4,000 sq feet and its plenty , the second sat actually causes issues with roaming as there is just too much signal

 

[sfx2000]

do both of you a favor and go over there and do a site survey and show him how much overkill he has as im using 2 here in my place which is about 4,000 sq feet and its plenty , the second sat actually causes issues with roaming as there is just too much signal

Oh trust me...

And he's "that guy" who lives next door... he don't give a flying (whatever)...

 

[ablatt]

What happened is all of a sudden a decent WLAN that support good streams no longer does... and now I'm chasing clear channels..

Maybe not just Orbi, but the power levels there are pretty damn high, and this isn't an apartment complex, this is a suburban area with detached homes...

I suspect this is where the Portal and R7800, which now support DFS 5GHz channels, will come in very handy.