I just moved to a new house that was already wired for Cat6, so I figured I would take advantage of that to create a wired backhaul on my existing Orbi setup. I brought with me a router (RBR850) and a single satellite (RBS850) that had already been synced wirelessly at my old house (which didn't have Cat6 wiring). I have my Orbi router connected to a Netgear switch, which then feeds all the Cat6 jacks in the house.
I purchased two new RBS850s to expand my wireless network. I felt these two additional satellites were needed because it's a three story house and things are spread out. I connected both satellites to the Cat6 jack in their respective rooms and attempted to sync them to the router. There were all kinds of problems getting them to sync. After restarting the satellites are router multiple times, the Orbi app told me the satellites were properly synced. However, the web interface told me the satellites were out of sync. I ignored the web interface at that time, assuming perhaps it was wrong. I did get the dark blue light on the satellites that seemed to indicate they were working properly.
For the past couple of weeks since install, I noticed that no devices would connect to those satellites even though the app says those satellites are working fine. I assumed there was a handoff issue and spent 30 minutes on the phone with Netgear "support" trying to get to the bottom of the issue (and I do put support in quotes becuase, geez, I can't believe they actually want you to pay good money for the laughable level of support I was given). While I was busy waiting for the Netgear support person to look up a solution, I browsed through some old community posts. I noticed a few people mentioning that the satellites have to be synced WIRELESSLY before they are wired.
I asked the technician on the other end of the line if it matters if the satellites are synced wirelessly or wired and he said it didn't matter. Since the technician didn't actually seem to know anything about Netgear products, I decided to test the theory anyway.
I disconnected the Cat6 cable from the first Orbi satellite that the web interface told me was having a problem. Then I started the sync process again and, voila, it synced properly and gave me an "ok" status on backhaul in the web interface. I then reconnected the Cat6 cable and the web interface updated to say the backhaul status was "ok" and that the connection was wired instead of wireless. I did this for the second problem satellite and experienced the same thing.
Now that the web interface says there are no problems with the sync, I notice that devices that are close to the satellites now connect to them and that handoff from one room to the next seems to work well. If I'm sitting right next to a satellite, my device connects to that satellite, rather than trying to connect to the router 2 floors up. And I can verify high throughput rates by running speedtest when connected to the satellites. As I move from the top floor of the house to the bottom, I get very good handoff from one satellite to the next.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1) You MUST sync the satellites WIRELESSLY or they will not work. When you buy a new satellite, you must sync to the router without a Cat6 connection or the process will not work properly. The Orbi app may tell you they are working, but the app isn't reliable.
2) The Orbi app status indicator is not accurate. The two satellites that were not working had the "all is clear" green dot next to them in the app, indicating they were working fine. If you want to get the true status of your system, use the web interface. The web interface status indicator is the only accurate indicator.
3) Once you have synced your satellites wirelessly and confirmed they are properly synced via the web interface, THEN you can connect the Cat6 cable to get wired backhaul. You can confirm they are using wired backhaul by refreshing the status on the web interface.
I'm hoping this will be helpful to someone experiencing similar problems. Thanks to those members who posted this tip. You saved me from a lot of headache.
