For Wi-Fi 6, since you have wiring, pick one of these, or these 6E options, Edward. Good luck!

The Orbi’s sole main SSID includes only the 2.4GHz and 5GHz-1 bands, Matt. Keep that in mind.

I talked with Netgear long and hard on the issue. It seems this might change with Wi-Fi 7, but that’s TBD. Until then, in all existing orbi, the 5Ghz-2 is not avaible for clients, likely because it uses a proprietary configuration incompatible with standard clients.

In most cases this particular set works fine — 1/2 of 5GHz spectrum and 80MHz are enough for most cases. It’s just a matter of preference. As long as you’re aware of the facts and still happy with it, then it’s good. But for the cost and especially the “up to 10Gbps” hype, it’s definitely slow, very slow. For a a bit more, you can get much better Wi-Fi 7 Deco. Or the ZenWiFi XT12 is much cheaper.

I did run an experiment later and unplugged the backhaul and waited for the wireless backhaul to sync up. The result was that all devices moved off of 5Ghz-2 to either to 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz. I later plugged the wired backhaul in and devices slowly moved back into 5Ghz-2.

I do understand the perspective on Orbi with wired backhaul that it might be a waste of money. I also run dual WAN and I probably don’t need that either. I just feel the Orbi is generally consistently stable/reliable. It is just my preference.

That means those devices are connected to the satellite (RBS) and not directly to the router (RBR). From the router’s perspective, that’s how they are.

Turn the satellite(s) off and you’ll see, there’d be no device connected to the 5GHz-2.

That also means chances are your wired backhauling is not working properly, either. But even if it is, there’s still a wireless connection between the two broadcasters if they are placed close enough.

If you use wired backhauling, it’s a waste of money to get any Orbi.

I am looking at the devices online screen and it splits them into 4 sections. 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz, 5Ghz-2 and wired. I see connected devices on all of them. Laptops, Cameras etc… The 5Ghz-2 has around 8 devices that I recognize on my network in that section. All of the devices use the same SSID. Maybe the mobile app is showing things incorrectly but there are definitely devices listed under 5Ghz-2.

In the router UI it shows 5Ghz-2 as using channels 149 + 153 + 157(P) + 161. The Orbis are in AP mode.

How do you know, Matt? There’s only one SSID. Also, to the RBR, the RBS is a client.

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