I've found that this works best on firmware version 2.1.4.16. Here is a tutorial on how to downgrade your firmware and prevent the Netgear Orbing from updating automatically: th-cam.com/video/6N1atnfZGYE/w-d-xo.html
The fact that you don't know how to telnet from MAC shows YOUR LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE. Half of what you did opened users to so many vulnerabilities. You are a fool
@@stevenwjones2800 yeah no problem. For starters, you inform your viewers to enable telnet. which is extremely vulnerable. Telnet by nature is disabled because of its KNOWN insecurities and then you justify doing this by calling it "techie" stuff that people don't need to worry about it.
Thanks, this is just what I was looking for! My Orbi router is on firmware V2.3.1.60, and this worked exactly as it was supposed to. The 5GHz variable on mine was wla_ssid, just as you described. I telneted in, renamed my 5GHz band, and rebooted. I had to enable telnet again on the router after the reboot, before telneting in and renaming it back to its original name. Nice!
Absolutely brilliant! I was at my wits' end with not only frequent internet connectivity drops but also poor speeds at the furthermost end of my flat, despite a Satellite 15 feet and one closed door away. Separating SSID's has resolved both issues....and restored my faith (and confidence) in Orbi Netgear 50RBR. Thanks.
Thanks for the video. It was incredibly helpful, because I have many "cheap devices" for home automation at home that can only connect to 2.4G bands and I was unable to use them with the Orbi and I was about to return it. Again, thanks a lot for the tip!
Wow. That's actually pretty genius. Worked for me (Feb 2019) and I'm running the latest firmware. Got my 5Ghz network onto it's own name. Hopefully that will help with a few smart plugs and my Nest Hello that don't like 5Ghz and keep getting confused.
omg you're a master! i've been struggling with getting some 2.4GHz devices to stay connected but they seem to have issues with 5 and 2.4 having the same SSID. Why wouldn't Orbi just expose these in the GUI!?!
Thanks for the guidance.I was able to successfully configure the 2.4 network, so I could connect a few key devices like Nanoleaf, a Smart bulb and a switch to the ORBI network, but the 5Ghz network is acting up a bit and dropping post the change. I then reverted the 2.4 network, naming the SSID back to 'original' and now I cant control the 3 devices that only work on 2.4. Please advise if you have an idea on next steps. I would ideally like to always have control of these 3 outlier devices via the app.
I just bought this router and didn't realise it had a single SSID... very annoying. I guess it would be a good plug and play feature for some but i wanted to be able to select the networks in my house. This video made it so easy to change that, thankyou. I don't think I would've figured that out on my own. I am running firmware V2.3.5.30 and it worked fine. Thanks
Mi Orbi seems to be overriding the instruction after a few minutes. It will take the name of the 2.4 ghz and apply it to the 5 ghz one. Is this normal?
Sweeet:) It's kind of a good idea when the Orbi automatically assigns the band but it sucks when my other device is on a different network and I can't communicate/ control it. Great and easy tutorial. Thank you very much 👍🏻
Will try this today. I dislike that fact that there isnt an option in its gui to move devices on specific bands. Thanks for this. Will keep you posted on my results. Payton, what happens to the mesh system when this is done? Is there something else that needs to be done for them to work properly?
Dear Peyton, Thank you. I got a new outdoor motion sensing camera flood light combo (similar to a Ring system but it was Feit Electric) and of course it wanted 2.4 gHz. I followed your instructions and I was able to separate the two bands on my ORBI router and the new camera system worked great. HOWEVER, I could no longer print to my two wireless printers. As soon as I reversed the procedure you recommended to combine naming both gHz channels using the same SSID the printers worked fine. But of course the camera system quit working. So let's assume my SSID was initially ORBI. I only changed the 2.4 channel and named it "ORBI 2.4" I left the 5 gHz alone so it would still have the original name "ORBI" and I would not have to go around and relog in with every device in the house. So I am perplexed. My Epson printers one is a ET3760, the other is a ET7700. Could it be that these printers only use the 2.4 gHz band and therefore when I changed the SSID to "ORBI 2.4" it could not find the band because they were both logged into "ORBI" was now the name of only the 5 gHz connection? I am wondering now if I had taken the printers and logged them into "ORBI 2.4" would that have solved the printer issue and left the camera connection intact? I was so proud of myself because I was able to follow your ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT tutorial and thought I had my camera up and running only to find out that I could not print to my two printers. I am really interested in your response. Thank you. Doc from Las Vegas
Hello. Using the analogy that you mentioned, I recommend leaving the 2.4GHz network named “ORBI” and changing the 5GHz to “ORBI 5GHz”. Your printers are likely on the 2.4GHz band as well as your camera. When you changed the SSID of your 2.4GHz band, your printers did not know what to connect to (i.e. they did not know to switch to “ORBI 2.4”). Let me know if this works better.
@@PeytonB Thank you, I appreciate you taking the time to answer me. I am a semi-technical person, so for me to be able to understand and follow your directions means your tutorial was really good. Other You Tube videos from other contributors sometimes assume their viewers know more than they really do and it is hard to follow. Good Job!
I have the same problem . Mine is the 2.4ghz shows up but when i try to connect . They ask for a password I put in the password but i still cannot connect to my Feit Floodlight camera . Any advise .
@@wyncastillo1765 Are you using the QR code and holding it in front of the camera? No way could I get that to work. Start at the beginning and up in the right hand corner it says, QR Code, but if you click on it you can change to Easy . Change it to easy it will take you to where you login, attempt to login. If it doesn't hold the reset button in for 15 seconds until it gives you a couple of tones. The lights will probably come on and the LED will be red, be patient it will turn to blinking blue. Now start again change to EASY mode and login in. It seems I had to do this about four times before I got it to take. Pay attention to the strength of your 2.4 gHz signal. I had to come down off the ladder and stand like 1/2 way between my light and my router.
Thanks so much, trying to mirror my laptop to my ROKU TV would fail any time the TV and laptop were on different bands. Now I can connect each to the same specific band. So much less frustration! Note: my firmware is v2.3.5.30 and the wla_ssid variable appears to have been renamed to wla_2nd_ssid. I didn't try since I'm leaving the 5GHz channel with the original name. For anyone wanting to see the available variables, you can type "config list | grep ssid" and look for the one having the expected wla prefix and ssid suffix.
I want to separate the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz SSID's for the guest network. Do you know if this is possible? If yes, what are the ssid variable names for the guest network to set?
Good video. On Orbi, there are 2 2.4GHz networks and 2 5GHz networks. Is there a way to get at each of the 2.4GHz networks independently? I have a Nest Cam on 2.4 GHz that is 5 ft from Orbi satellite and is continually dropping. I would like to test each of the 2 2.4GHz networks separately.
This is great. Thanks. As others have stated, some devices just can't handle the 2 same name SSID's. Now I can get rid of that old access point that I need just from some IOT devices.
Brilliant! Was finally able to connect some old IP cams who won't run on a dual band network. I've been trying to get a USB HD network drive going for a few days now, but haven't succeeded yet. This might help getting access to the config files.
Really good video, can't wait to setup 2.4 and 5 ghz on my Orbi, will make setting up all my wireless security camera much easier and less disconnects of the wifi cams I'm sure! Thanks for the info!!
Peyton, Un-related to ssid but the ethernet light were my ORBI is connected to my modem is solid orange and blinking green. I've read that the solid orange may be connection issue but I cant find anything on the web about this? ORBI seems to be working at the right speed.
Worked for me, thank you so much. The only issue I now have is how to separate the password for reach SSID. They both have the same one. Not a big deal but would be nice to have different passwords for each.
Awesome.. Do you happen to know how to covert an orbing RBR50 to RBS50? I need a video tutorial showing how to get it done. I have two satellites with the model I purchased almost a year ago. I need to be able to use the other router as a satellite. Thanks in advance.
I had a question about also changing the satellites ssid as well, Do we: 1. Change the router’s ssid 2. Reboot 3.change satellites ssid 4. Reboot the satellites Or is it another step? I’ve also had an issue where I’ve separated the ssid for the router for it to reset back to being a singular ssid instead!
Thank you!!! I needed to separate 2.4 GHZ out so I could add smart life bulbs (they will not add in 5 ghz) and this was perfect. I do have a question. I would like to keep the 2.4 and 5GHZ choices but the 2.4 is the one that shows in the ORBI dashboard. And then my printer wants to use that one. Which means I have to put my computer on the 2.4 when I want to print. Any way to have the 5 GHZ be the "first" so it shows in the ORBI dashboard and my printer? My printer only shows the 2.4 and not the 5. I originally removed the 2.4 after I installed my smart life bulbs but then they lost the connection when I removed the 2.4 GHZ from the router (even though write ups said 2.4 was only needed to install them). Any ideas?
Hi Peyton, this is a great video and worked exactly as described. I have been able to reconnect my smart switches to the newly named 2.4 network, so feels good. However, I have a number of satellites, wired and wireless and just concerned if there are any issues there as the Orbi app regularly doesn’t display the satellites now. Do you have any thoughts on this before I dig any deeper? I used telnet to rename the 2.4 said and wondered if it is better to manually change the 5ghz. Are the backhaul settings affected for example? Hoping you can help as you clearly know your stuff. Do you also have satellites set up?
I witnessed the same issue, Jean. I noticed that the next morning, my Orbi RBR50 again showed just one SSID! I double checked the firmware version and it was unchanged (I had restored it to V2.1.4.16). Even the settings I had changed with the nvram command were good. I finally repeated the steps to separate the SSIDs but I am not wondering what led to this and how can I stop this from happening again! Did you experience this too? Were you able to find a solution?
@@PravalSingh42 not actually. I hoped if I repeated the process it somehow would solve itself, but it hasn’t. I’ve learnt to live with just one SSID :(
Interesting note: Trying this as of July 2020, I changed only the wl_ssid, after the reboot, both wl_ssid and wla_ssid were set to the 2.4GHz name, rendering the actual point of doing this completely useless. Not sure if Netgear is trying to keep us from screwing anything up or if their code wasn't handling these sort of separations like they should, but guess I need to find a more up to date version. Great video though!
Any disadvantages in doing this? Sounds like a good idea to me but knowing my luck I’ll run into crap later. Trying to change the firmware on a smart device and I need to be on 2.4 specifically
Thank you for this video. My Orbi would not switch over to 2.4 GHz unless 5Ghz was completely gone. Speeds were very slow on the 5 GHz when just in another room.
Great job! I have been searching for a long time on something like this. I have a camera that has to be setup with a phone on the same 2.4 network as the camera. The Orbi RBR40 had no way of handling it until I found this. Thanks.
Just picked up my Orbi system today. Used to having two SSID's (2.4ghz and 5ghz of course). Are there any downsides to renaming each one? How does the router know exactly what one to use per device? Just don't want to delve into something and cause issues down the road. Thanks!
The only downside is that you will have to downgrade firmware versions and disable the Orbi from automatically updating again. Newer firmware versions essentially disable the ability to do this. I do not understand your second question.
@@Rucher.de.la.maison.des.terres it is easy to get the 5G back. You just have to reverse your steps. The easiest way to get everything back the way it was is to perform a hard reset on it.
@@Rucher.de.la.maison.des.terres same for me. It was a headache dealing with this. I got a refund on my smart home device(doorbell) and reverted all of my steps.
Awesome video! You’re 1000X more helpful than waiting on hold for Comcast to put an idiot on the line that knows zero. Can’t wait for 5g so I can get rid of Comcast.
I'm running into a problem even getting past the first command prompt, getting the ssid info. When I type in the command, I get the message: "/bin/ash: config: not found". I have telnet turned on in computer and Orbi settings, so I'm at a loos as to what step Im missing.
Thank you for posting this video and now I am finally able to connect all my smart devices that need to configure at 2.4 GHz.... but the funny thing is I cannot find my 5GHz anymore. Why is that? Any ideas?
When it asks for your username and password in the browser, which does it mean? Like wifi name and password or your username and password or the orbi app or website?
I thought I was successful, and two different SSIDs appeared, and now it consolidated back to one... I also watched the video on how to downgrade the firmware, but that didn’t work. Did Orbi change something? Why do they make it so challenging?! So many devices require a 2.4 gHz connection. :(
Thank you for the information. I watched the video but did not read the comments and did not downgrade my firmware, which is v.2.5.2.4. Everything worked out and I was able to connect my device. But I still think that there ought to be a better and simpler way. I just found that after changing the name of the 2.4GHz network back to its original name, my smart switch no longer connects.
it worked . seems stable, i have a question, any idea why my web UI shows the name for the 2.4 on my "wireless" instead of the 5ghz? Thanks for the video very helpful
Im moving on from my Google Wifi and got an Orbi, trying to decide if I should separate the newtwork out before i set it up. Anyone have any good use case for or against? shouldnt most devices like printers and phones behave like they are on the same network even if they are connected to different wifi band? i understand some older or dumber equipment might not. I'm trying to decide if its going to be worth the effort to reconnect things like my thermostat, etc. It feels like i could put all non essential devices on 2.4Ghz and leave the 5 Ghz for more priority devices like phones and computers, and that would provide some benefit?
Do you know if there is a way to do a Speedtest on the Orbi satellite? Tere is a built in Orbi Speedtest but it does not show any detail for the satellite performance.
I did it an works, but few minutes later, the router rebooted itself and then doesn't show the changes. Should I have to activate telenet all the time in debug mode?
After this video was made, Netgear sent out a handful of firmware updates which essentially broke this method of separating the SSIDs. Luckily, you can downgrade back to the firmware I used in the video, and disable the router from automatically updating. I made a video on how to downgrade the firmware and disable auto updates, which can be found on my channel. Try that out, then try this video again, and it should work as expected. Let me know if you run into issues.
@@paytufo Hey, were you able to fix this issue? I have been facing it too in spite of the fact that I am now on an older firmware, as per the steps mentioned by Peyton. I double checked the firmware version and it was unchanged (I had restored it to V2.1.4.16). Even the settings I had changed with the nvram command were good. I finally repeated the steps to separate the SSIDs but I am not wondering what led to this and how can I stop this from happening again!
This was an awesome solution while it worked. With the new version of Orbi, it keeps defaulting back to only one network. Seems like they blocked this 'loophole'. Any other suggestions on how this can be done currently, and not going back to the old router version?
@@PeytonB Thanks for the quick answer! I see the video you posted on the downgrade. Any downside to downgrading that you know of? Besides the potential security patches? Thanks!
Newer orbi here. Does not work. My computer while it can get 5g just fine orbi keeps giving me the crap 2.4ghz. I wish i can just disable to 2.4 ghz, but I cant
So I did manage to separate my 2.4 and 5.0 GHz bands on my Orbi, but it didn't work, when I changed to the 2.4 GHz, it didn't check it as using the 2.4 band. I tried reverting it, but my wifi broke and not only that, but the channels wouldn't "merge" and I saw the name that I had assigned to my 2.4 band was still there, even after I committed the changes and rebooted.
hi peyton, i'm following your step to separate 2.4GHZ & 5GHz, when i type "ADMIN" in CMD, the next step "password" come out, but i can't type anything, i don't know why..
i don't know why i can't type anything except the enter button in "password", i saw your video when you enter "admin", it show a big letter, i keep trying, but still not working.
Followed your instructions 2 months ago for my home system and everything is perfect and now i try to set up the same model and same set up at a different location and i keep getting this error ."Could not open connection to the host, on port 23: Connect failed" i already created inbound rules on the firewall and basically keep getting this error. Can you help?
Did you ever find a fix for it? Also, I usually use my orbi in AP mode. I wonder if there's a way to do it without having to revert it back to router mode.
Also works for RBR40, using wla_2nd_ssid. Router Firmware V2.3.5.30 . I elected to rename the 5GHz network, and observed that the satellite didn't appear to follow suit. Didn't matter for me, as I only wanted to rename for long enough to connect a SmartLife device.
Though very thoughtful and helpful, it seems to have decayed my performance and I can’t seem to go back to my old settings and pervious performance. I will probably restore to factory defaults and set everything back up. Great guide though.
So.. was able to get them to show up separately... but cannot get any devices to connect to it. It either says the password is incorrect or "Authentication error occurred"
Hi Peyton - thanks much for this. Do you by chance know of any way to force 5Ghz to use 40Mhz channel width instead of 80Mhz? (Oculus Quest has an issue with 80Mhz when streaming VR content).
I was able to rename one of the bands to 2.4Ghz, but after rebooting, when trying to go back and check the result in command prompt or try to rename the 5Ghz one, it keeps telling me "Could not open connection to the host, on port 23 : Connection failed". I checked to make sure Telnet was still activated, am I missing something?
Hi i had the same problem , after followed all instruction , i f i go in telnet i see my new 2 wifi ssid , but when i check with my phone i see only the new one and it say in 5ghz, have you find the answer ?
They removed telnet abilities in newer firmware. They actually removed the ability to do any of this in newer firmware, so you will want to downgrade if you want to do any of this.
@@gabe8168 could you elaborate? Would be helpful if i could resolve my problem that way. I just need a fixed 2.4G only network to show for older devices to bloody stay connected
@@qasimz2 you need to downgrade your router (you can find a youtube video on this) and split the guest network. In the video he uses a command like wla_ssid but wla1_ssid is for guest if I remember correctly
Are there any downsides to this? I just spent 3 days trying to get all my smart light bulbs, switches, plugs, thermostats etc to recognize my new Orbi MESH router after my old Netgear died. What a NIGHTMARE! There are a few devices that just won't work at all unless they see a dedicated 2.4Ghz. I'm a little worried I will lose all my work by making them separate now...does anyone know? I wish I would have found this video 3 days ago! Would have saved me a huge migraine! I would hate to have to repeat the whole process again.
The only downside I can think of is that, for devices that you would typically carry/move around your home, you will have to manually change whether you want to be on the 2.4 or 5GHz band, whereas before it would make that change automatically depending on which has the better signal.
You did a great job on the video, but really, is it just me or is Orbi at fault for not anticipating this type of problem? I'm not a techie but rather someone who bought the Orbi expecting it to work with the old and the new devices. Silly me to expect I could just plug in a device and they would automatically work!
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I've found that this works best on firmware version 2.1.4.16. Here is a tutorial on how to downgrade your firmware and prevent the Netgear Orbing from updating automatically: th-cam.com/video/6N1atnfZGYE/w-d-xo.html
The fact that you don't know how to telnet from MAC shows YOUR LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE. Half of what you did opened users to so many vulnerabilities. You are a fool
What vuln? Foolish to not explain your comment
@@stevenwjones2800 yeah no problem. For starters, you inform your viewers to enable telnet. which is extremely vulnerable. Telnet by nature is disabled because of its KNOWN insecurities and then you justify doing this by calling it "techie" stuff that people don't need to worry about it.
After I downgrade and separate the SSIDs, are you able to update to get security patches? Or does upgrading disable the separate SSIDs?
I am on V3.2.16.22_1.4.9 so I am assuming unless i downgrade there is no way to telnet into the router and do this...
Dude, 4 years later still helping folks. This is great. thank you from a linux lamer.
Thanks, this is just what I was looking for! My Orbi router is on firmware V2.3.1.60, and this worked exactly as it was supposed to. The 5GHz variable on mine was wla_ssid, just as you described. I telneted in, renamed my 5GHz band, and rebooted. I had to enable telnet again on the router after the reboot, before telneting in and renaming it back to its original name. Nice!
Enable Telnet is no longer an option on the webpage. Any other way to accomplish this?
having the same issue here, any work around for this?
Absolutely brilliant! I was at my wits' end with not only frequent internet connectivity drops but also poor speeds at the furthermost end of my flat, despite a Satellite 15 feet and one closed door away. Separating SSID's has resolved both issues....and restored my faith (and confidence) in Orbi Netgear 50RBR. Thanks.
Unfortunately it doesn't look like you can enable telnet anymore in the most recent firmware.
My Orbi doesn’t have those settings. I see nowhere to enable Telnet
Thanks for the video. It was incredibly helpful, because I have many "cheap devices" for home automation at home that can only connect to 2.4G bands and I was unable to use them with the Orbi and I was about to return it.
Again, thanks a lot for the tip!
Wow. That's actually pretty genius. Worked for me (Feb 2019) and I'm running the latest firmware. Got my 5Ghz network onto it's own name. Hopefully that will help with a few smart plugs and my Nest Hello that don't like 5Ghz and keep getting confused.
omg you're a master! i've been struggling with getting some 2.4GHz devices to stay connected but they seem to have issues with 5 and 2.4 having the same SSID. Why wouldn't Orbi just expose these in the GUI!?!
Thanks for the guidance.I was able to successfully configure the 2.4 network, so I could connect a few key devices like Nanoleaf, a Smart bulb and a switch to the ORBI network, but the 5Ghz network is acting up a bit and dropping post the change. I then reverted the 2.4 network, naming the SSID back to 'original' and now I cant control the 3 devices that only work on 2.4.
Please advise if you have an idea on next steps. I would ideally like to always have control of these 3 outlier devices via the app.
I just bought this router and didn't realise it had a single SSID... very annoying. I guess it would be a good plug and play feature for some but i wanted to be able to select the networks in my house. This video made it so easy to change that, thankyou. I don't think I would've figured that out on my own. I am running firmware V2.3.5.30 and it worked fine. Thanks
Mi Orbi seems to be overriding the instruction after a few minutes. It will take the name of the 2.4 ghz and apply it to the 5 ghz one. Is this normal?
Sweeet:)
It's kind of a good idea when the Orbi automatically assigns the band but it sucks when my other device is on a different network and I can't communicate/ control it. Great and easy tutorial. Thank you very much 👍🏻
Awesome instructions! After over a year I was finally able to view my weather station remotely. Thanks!
Will try this today. I dislike that fact that there isnt an option in its gui to move devices on specific bands. Thanks for this. Will keep you posted on my results. Payton, what happens to the mesh system when this is done? Is there something else that needs to be done for them to work properly?
Dear Peyton, Thank you. I got a new outdoor motion sensing camera flood light combo (similar to a Ring system but it was Feit Electric) and of course it wanted 2.4 gHz. I followed your instructions and I was able to separate the two bands on my ORBI router and the new camera system worked great. HOWEVER, I could no longer print to my two wireless printers. As soon as I reversed the procedure you recommended to combine naming both gHz channels using the same SSID the printers worked fine. But of course the camera system quit working.
So let's assume my SSID was initially ORBI. I only changed the 2.4 channel and named it "ORBI 2.4" I left the 5 gHz alone so it would still have the original name "ORBI" and I would not have to go around and relog in with every device in the house.
So I am perplexed. My Epson printers one is a ET3760, the other is a ET7700. Could it be that these printers only use the 2.4 gHz band and therefore when I changed the SSID to "ORBI 2.4" it could not find the band because they were both logged into "ORBI" was now the name of only the 5 gHz connection? I am wondering now if I had taken the printers and logged them into "ORBI 2.4" would that have solved the printer issue and left the camera connection intact?
I was so proud of myself because I was able to follow your ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT tutorial and thought I had my camera up and running only to find out that I could not print to my two printers.
I am really interested in your response. Thank you. Doc from Las Vegas
Hello. Using the analogy that you mentioned, I recommend leaving the 2.4GHz network named “ORBI” and changing the 5GHz to “ORBI 5GHz”.
Your printers are likely on the 2.4GHz band as well as your camera. When you changed the SSID of your 2.4GHz band, your printers did not know what to connect to (i.e. they did not know to switch to “ORBI 2.4”). Let me know if this works better.
@@PeytonB Thank you, I appreciate you taking the time to answer me. I am a semi-technical person, so for me to be able to understand and follow your directions means your tutorial was really good. Other You Tube videos from other contributors sometimes assume their viewers know more than they really do and it is hard to follow. Good Job!
My goal is for someone of any skill level to understand my videos, so I am glad to hear that. Let me know if you have any additional questions.
I have the same problem . Mine is the 2.4ghz shows up but when i try to connect . They ask for a password I put in the password but i still cannot connect to my Feit Floodlight camera . Any advise .
@@wyncastillo1765 Are you using the QR code and holding it in front of the camera? No way could I get that to work.
Start at the beginning and up in the right hand corner it says, QR Code, but if you click on it you can change to Easy . Change it to easy it will take you to where you login, attempt to login. If it doesn't hold the reset button in for 15 seconds until it gives you a couple of tones. The lights will probably come on and the LED will be red, be patient it will turn to blinking blue. Now start again change to EASY mode and login in. It seems I had to do this about four times before I got it to take. Pay attention to the strength of your 2.4 gHz signal. I had to come down off the ladder and stand like 1/2 way between my light and my router.
Thanks! It works for me even with the latest firmware at the time of writing V2.5.1.16 (on Orbi RBR50)
Not working for me :( V2.5.1.32
Thanks so much, trying to mirror my laptop to my ROKU TV would fail any time the TV and laptop were on different bands. Now I can connect each to the same specific band. So much less frustration! Note: my firmware is v2.3.5.30 and the wla_ssid variable appears to have been renamed to wla_2nd_ssid. I didn't try since I'm leaving the 5GHz channel with the original name. For anyone wanting to see the available variables, you can type "config list | grep ssid" and look for the one having the expected wla prefix and ssid suffix.
when I type "config list | grep ssid" (without the semicolon), I got the config: not found error
Er don’t have the enable telnet option? I have Orbi RBR50, any solution …
I want to separate the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz SSID's for the guest network. Do you know if this is possible? If yes, what are the ssid variable names for the guest network to set?
Good video. On Orbi, there are 2 2.4GHz networks and 2 5GHz networks. Is there a way to get at each of the 2.4GHz networks independently? I have a Nest Cam on 2.4 GHz that is 5 ft from Orbi satellite and is continually dropping. I would like to test each of the 2 2.4GHz networks separately.
Not sure if the new wifi6 mesh (RBK352) can change the 5G channels via this way?
Great video, Wemo switches are great but useless on a 5 ghz wifi... Thanks
Saved the day man !!
Enable Telnet option is not showing up in 2023
This is great. Thanks. As others have stated, some devices just can't handle the 2 same name SSID's. Now I can get rid of that old access point that I need just from some IOT devices.
that's no Telnet option in 2022, what can I do?
Brilliant!
Was finally able to connect some old IP cams who won't run on a dual band network.
I've been trying to get a USB HD network drive going for a few days now, but haven't succeeded yet.
This might help getting access to the config files.
Really good video, can't wait to setup 2.4 and 5 ghz on my Orbi, will make setting up all my wireless security camera much easier and less disconnects of the wifi cams I'm sure! Thanks for the info!!
Peyton, Un-related to ssid but the ethernet light were my ORBI is connected to my modem is solid orange and blinking green. I've read that the solid orange may be connection issue but I cant find anything on the web about this? ORBI seems to be working at the right speed.
Worked for me, thank you so much. The only issue I now have is how to separate the password for reach SSID. They both have the same one. Not a big deal but would be nice to have different passwords for each.
Is there any instruction on how to separate the passwords for each SSID you could share?
Awesome.. Do you happen to know how to covert an orbing RBR50 to RBS50? I need a video tutorial showing how to get it done. I have two satellites with the model I purchased almost a year ago. I need to be able to use the other router as a satellite. Thanks in advance.
I had a question about also changing the satellites ssid as well,
Do we:
1. Change the router’s ssid
2. Reboot
3.change satellites ssid
4. Reboot the satellites
Or is it another step? I’ve also had an issue where I’ve separated the ssid for the router for it to reset back to being a singular ssid instead!
I'm currently using the Orbi RBK13 running on V2.7.3.22. Do you know it would work on this model and firmware?
Thank you!!! I needed to separate 2.4 GHZ out so I could add smart life bulbs (they will not add in 5 ghz) and this was perfect. I do have a question. I would like to keep the 2.4 and 5GHZ choices but the 2.4 is the one that shows in the ORBI dashboard. And then my printer wants to use that one. Which means I have to put my computer on the 2.4 when I want to print. Any way to have the 5 GHZ be the "first" so it shows in the ORBI dashboard and my printer? My printer only shows the 2.4 and not the 5. I originally removed the 2.4 after I installed my smart life bulbs but then they lost the connection when I removed the 2.4 GHZ from the router (even though write ups said 2.4 was only needed to install them). Any ideas?
If your printer does not support 5GHz WiFI, it will not see that network.
Hi Peyton, this is a great video and worked exactly as described. I have been able to reconnect my smart switches to the newly named 2.4 network, so feels good. However, I have a number of satellites, wired and wireless and just concerned if there are any issues there as the Orbi app regularly doesn’t display the satellites now. Do you have any thoughts on this before I dig any deeper? I used telnet to rename the 2.4 said and wondered if it is better to manually change the 5ghz. Are the backhaul settings affected for example? Hoping you can help as you clearly know your stuff. Do you also have satellites set up?
Been looking for a solution to this for ages. Thank you so much!
My Orbi seems to override these instructions after a few minutes, it will take the name of the 2.4 ghz and apply it to the 5 ghz. Is this normal?
I witnessed the same issue, Jean. I noticed that the next morning, my Orbi RBR50 again showed just one SSID! I double checked the firmware version and it was unchanged (I had restored it to V2.1.4.16). Even the settings I had changed with the nvram command were good. I finally repeated the steps to separate the SSIDs but I am not wondering what led to this and how can I stop this from happening again! Did you experience this too? Were you able to find a solution?
@@PravalSingh42 not actually. I hoped if I repeated the process it somehow would solve itself, but it hasn’t. I’ve learnt to live with just one SSID :(
Interesting note: Trying this as of July 2020, I changed only the wl_ssid, after the reboot, both wl_ssid and wla_ssid were set to the 2.4GHz name, rendering the actual point of doing this completely useless. Not sure if Netgear is trying to keep us from screwing anything up or if their code wasn't handling these sort of separations like they should, but guess I need to find a more up to date version. Great video though!
I lost sight of my 5ghz channel after this process. Any tips?
The same for me , any suggestion?
OK great, Should i do this set up or the one you did for the Guest set up in your 2019 video?
just wanted to say this works perfectly at this date for everyone confused its config get wla_ssid and not get_wla_ssid
Thanx a million Peyton this worked like a charm. After a few trial and errors I'm good.
Any disadvantages in doing this? Sounds like a good idea to me but knowing my luck I’ll run into crap later. Trying to change the firmware on a smart device and I need to be on 2.4 specifically
Thank you for this video. My Orbi would not switch over to 2.4 GHz unless 5Ghz was completely gone. Speeds were very slow on the 5 GHz when just in another room.
Great job! I have been searching for a long time on something like this. I have a camera that has to be setup with a phone on the same 2.4 network as the camera. The Orbi RBR40 had no way of handling it until I found this. Thanks.
Just picked up my Orbi system today. Used to having two SSID's (2.4ghz and 5ghz of course). Are there any downsides to renaming each one? How does the router know exactly what one to use per device?
Just don't want to delve into something and cause issues down the road.
Thanks!
The only downside is that you will have to downgrade firmware versions and disable the Orbi from automatically updating again. Newer firmware versions essentially disable the ability to do this. I do not understand your second question.
When I do if it says config not found what am I doing wrong
I did this. It worked for a moment. But now I only have my 2.4 band and the main one disappeared from the wifi list. Advice?
have the exact same problem
@@indianmathsguyonyoutube5510 I don’t think it will ever allow us to separate it
I have the same problem - did you arrived to get the 5Ghz wifi back?
I seems that mine come and go, without name. Weird.
@@Rucher.de.la.maison.des.terres it is easy to get the 5G back. You just have to reverse your steps. The easiest way to get everything back the way it was is to perform a hard reset on it.
@@Rucher.de.la.maison.des.terres same for me. It was a headache dealing with this. I got a refund on my smart home device(doorbell) and reverted all of my steps.
thanks buddy i have changes ssid on both router and setelite and now its working like super stable and fast.
thank you very much,
May i know did you access the setelite with same IP address ?
@@talktokajo no satellite ip address is different
This and the other video about downgrading saved my situation! Thank you SO much! 😄
I'm not sure what I did wrong but I can only now find the "2.4GHz" network and not the original one
Awesome video! You’re 1000X more helpful than waiting on hold for Comcast to put an idiot on the line that knows zero. Can’t wait for 5g so I can get rid of Comcast.
I'm running into a problem even getting past the first command prompt, getting the ssid info. When I type in the command, I get the message: "/bin/ash: config: not found". I have telnet turned on in computer and Orbi settings, so I'm at a loos as to what step Im missing.
I bought Netgear Orbi Mini 2-Pack AC2200 recently, looks like variable for 5GHZ changed to wla_2nd_ssid, wla_ssid returns blank.
Looks great, I want to do this but my firmware is V2.5.1.22 Can you tell me if this will still work. Thanks, Good video as well.
Thank you for posting this video and now I am finally able to connect all my smart devices that need to configure at 2.4 GHz.... but the funny thing is I cannot find my 5GHz anymore. Why is that? Any ideas?
Did you find a solution for this? My 5ghz also disappeared
When it asks for your username and password in the browser, which does it mean? Like wifi name and password or your username and password or the orbi app or website?
I thought I was successful, and two different SSIDs appeared, and now it consolidated back to one... I also watched the video on how to downgrade the firmware, but that didn’t work. Did Orbi change something? Why do they make it so challenging?! So many devices require a 2.4 gHz connection. :(
I had the same issue, Nicole. Were you able to find a solution?
Thank you for the information. I watched the video but did not read the comments and did not downgrade my firmware, which is v.2.5.2.4. Everything worked out and I was able to connect my device. But I still think that there ought to be a better and simpler way.
I just found that after changing the name of the 2.4GHz network back to its original name, my smart switch no longer connects.
Can this be done with an iPad or do you need an actual laptop or desktop? I’m trying it on my iPad but it’s not responding
it worked . seems stable, i have a question, any idea why my web UI shows the name for the 2.4 on my "wireless" instead of the 5ghz? Thanks for the video very helpful
If you switch to the Advanced tab, you'll see both the names.
question: I get this after I enter the commands “/bin/ash: config: not found”
I did as well.
Me too. What’s the fix?
Me too. Bro.
Im moving on from my Google Wifi and got an Orbi, trying to decide if I should separate the newtwork out before i set it up. Anyone have any good use case for or against? shouldnt most devices like printers and phones behave like they are on the same network even if they are connected to different wifi band? i understand some older or dumber equipment might not. I'm trying to decide if its going to be worth the effort to reconnect things like my thermostat, etc. It feels like i could put all non essential devices on 2.4Ghz and leave the 5 Ghz for more priority devices like phones and computers, and that would provide some benefit?
Do you know if there is a way to do a Speedtest on the Orbi satellite? Tere is a built in Orbi Speedtest but it does not show any detail for the satellite performance.
I did it an works, but few minutes later, the router rebooted itself and then doesn't show the changes. Should I have to activate telenet all the time in debug mode?
After this video was made, Netgear sent out a handful of firmware updates which essentially broke this method of separating the SSIDs.
Luckily, you can downgrade back to the firmware I used in the video, and disable the router from automatically updating. I made a video on how to downgrade the firmware and disable auto updates, which can be found on my channel. Try that out, then try this video again, and it should work as expected. Let me know if you run into issues.
@@PeytonB Thank you! I've had some issues since I start updating
@@paytufo Hey, were you able to fix this issue? I have been facing it too in spite of the fact that I am now on an older firmware, as per the steps mentioned by Peyton. I double checked the firmware version and it was unchanged (I had restored it to V2.1.4.16). Even the settings I had changed with the nvram command were good. I finally repeated the steps to separate the SSIDs but I am not wondering what led to this and how can I stop this from happening again!
@@PravalSingh42 I can´t, now I'm in the older official version and everything works pretty well. The router manage all the connections quite well.
strange on my orbi rbr40 when i write the "config get wla_ssid" i get nothing but black line and i do have an 5ghz on so ????
my firmware is V2.5.1.16
Hello Peyton, I just purchased a Orby 750. I need to add the 2.4 GHz, do I follow the same step?
I have the 750 also. Were you able to figure it out?
This was an awesome solution while it worked. With the new version of Orbi, it keeps defaulting back to only one network. Seems like they blocked this 'loophole'.
Any other suggestions on how this can be done currently, and not going back to the old router version?
I do not know of any other solution besides reverting back to a previous firmware.
@@PeytonB Thanks for the quick answer! I see the video you posted on the downgrade.
Any downside to downgrading that you know of? Besides the potential security patches?
Thanks!
If you're trying to set wla_ssid, that variable no longer exists in new verstions. Try wla_2nd_ssid instead and stick with the latest updates.
@@michaelwhite7107 I will rey that, thanks!
@@michaelwhite7107 There's no such variable as "wla_2nd_ssid"!
Newer orbi here. Does not work. My computer while it can get 5g just fine orbi keeps giving me the crap 2.4ghz. I wish i can just disable to 2.4 ghz, but I cant
how about cutting your 2.4ghz power setting to a very low power percentage (under advanced, wireless menu when accessing your router at 192.168.1.1)
@@lobod80 Interesting
Thank you! Now for someone to build a GUI version :)
How do you rejoin them back? After the .244 firmware its made a mess of my sat's disconnecting all the time
So I did manage to separate my 2.4 and 5.0 GHz bands on my Orbi, but it didn't work, when I changed to the 2.4 GHz, it didn't check it as using the 2.4 band. I tried reverting it, but my wifi broke and not only that, but the channels wouldn't "merge" and I saw the name that I had assigned to my 2.4 band was still there, even after I committed the changes and rebooted.
Good looking out. Been having a hard time setting up my RING doorbell Amcrest security cameras with ORBI. Need the 2.4G
Same!!
hi peyton, i'm following your step to separate 2.4GHZ & 5GHz, when i type "ADMIN" in CMD, the next step "password" come out, but i can't type anything, i don't know why..
The cursor won’t move, but type the password and press the “return” key, anyway. It won’t look like you’re typing anything, but you are.
i don't know why i can't type anything except the enter button in "password", i saw your video when you enter "admin", it show a big letter, i keep trying, but still not working.
Did you read my previous reply? The cursor will not move when you are typing your password.
Any idea how to set back up the satellites? My Orbi has 2 of them and it won't connect to either now.
Go to the main router’s configuration page, choose Add Orbi Satellite, and follow the steps it displays.
Followed your instructions 2 months ago for my home system and everything is perfect and now i try to set up the same model and same set up at a different location and i keep getting this error ."Could not open connection to the host, on port 23: Connect failed" i already created inbound rules on the firewall and basically keep getting this error. Can you help?
Did you ever find a fix for it? Also, I usually use my orbi in AP mode. I wonder if there's a way to do it without having to revert it back to router mode.
Can you do this on Terminal instead of going into Windows? That would be great thanks!
Google "Putty" it's a Windows telnet client and will let you follow his steps. Good luck
Also works for RBR40, using wla_2nd_ssid. Router Firmware V2.3.5.30 . I elected to rename the 5GHz network, and observed that the satellite didn't appear to follow suit. Didn't matter for me, as I only wanted to rename for long enough to connect a SmartLife device.
Hi I tried to get this to work but I couldn't get pass log on at the command prompt! :( I need some help!!
same issue ....did you ever figure it out?
was going to do this but looking at which devices orbi auto placed on 5G and 2G, it's done a perfect job on its own
Though very thoughtful and helpful, it seems to have decayed my performance and I can’t seem to go back to my old settings and pervious performance. I will probably restore to factory defaults and set everything back up. Great guide though.
So.. was able to get them to show up separately... but cannot get any devices to connect to it. It either says the password is incorrect or "Authentication error occurred"
Hi Peyton - thanks much for this. Do you by chance know of any way to force 5Ghz to use 40Mhz channel width instead of 80Mhz? (Oculus Quest has an issue with 80Mhz when streaming VR content).
Unfortunately, I do not know of any way to do that.
I was able to rename one of the bands to 2.4Ghz, but after rebooting, when trying to go back and check the result in command prompt or try to rename the 5Ghz one, it keeps telling me "Could not open connection to the host, on port 23 : Connection failed". I checked to make sure Telnet was still activated, am I missing something?
Once you reboot Orbi, you have to go back and re-enable Telnet in the debug section.
I have to agree with recent post. does not work with firmware V2.3.1.58 after reboot ssid reverts back to what ever it is for 2.4 ghz on both.
Thank you so much! I couldn't have figured this out on my own!
Got it done...Thanks so much! Darn Rainbird Sprinkler WIFI only accepts 2.4!!!
Hi, i cant detect my 5ghz even tho it shows that i had already changed it from config get wla_ssid
Hi i had the same problem , after followed all instruction , i f i go in telnet i see my new 2 wifi ssid , but when i check with my phone i see only the new one and it say in 5ghz, have you find the answer ?
Exactly what I needed! You, Sir are a gentleman and a scholar! :D
So has anyone found a way to separate 2,4 & 5 Ghz with modern firmware? To somehow do it without telnet?
i did this but now it seems all my devices weather on the 2.4 or the 5ghz now seem to cycle and disconnect and reconnect alot
1:00
I'm on nearly the identical screen but it does not have an, "Enable Telnet" option. Any help would be appreciated
They removed telnet abilities in newer firmware. They actually removed the ability to do any of this in newer firmware, so you will want to downgrade if you want to do any of this.
@@PeytonB Alright, thank you so much!
Won't work on the newest firmware :(
Enable guest and use wla1_ssid instead
@@gabe8168 could you elaborate? Would be helpful if i could resolve my problem that way. I just need a fixed 2.4G only network to show for older devices to bloody stay connected
@@qasimz2 you need to downgrade your router (you can find a youtube video on this) and split the guest network. In the video he uses a command like wla_ssid but wla1_ssid is for guest if I remember correctly
Thanks@@gabe8168. I will look for that video.
Worked perfectly or my Orbi router, great job thank you
This doesn't work anymore? It will not separate anything and I'm not sure why.
Are there any downsides to this? I just spent 3 days trying to get all my smart light bulbs, switches, plugs, thermostats etc to recognize my new Orbi MESH router after my old Netgear died. What a NIGHTMARE! There are a few devices that just won't work at all unless they see a dedicated 2.4Ghz. I'm a little worried I will lose all my work by making them separate now...does anyone know? I wish I would have found this video 3 days ago! Would have saved me a huge migraine! I would hate to have to repeat the whole process again.
The only downside I can think of is that, for devices that you would typically carry/move around your home, you will have to manually change whether you want to be on the 2.4 or 5GHz band, whereas before it would make that change automatically depending on which has the better signal.
@@PeytonB any need to do anything to the satalite?
Thank you so much for posting this. It is so helpful!
Very Helpful! Thanks OP! Netgear needs to include better infacing and settings changes in the iOS app.
You did a great job on the video, but really, is it just me or is Orbi at fault for not anticipating this type of problem? I'm not a techie but rather someone who bought the Orbi expecting it to work with the old and the new devices. Silly me to expect I could just plug in a device and they would automatically work!