Setup and Monitoring: Web Browser

The NETGEAR Orbi LBR20 allows for two separate means of internet connectivity, be it from a modem or the nano Sim port for a compatible 4G LTE SIM card. NETGEAR sent along a prepaid SIM card, and it went into the router as-is. Once powered on, the default WiFi network is created using the log-in credentials on the packaging. As per usual, when connected to the network, there are multiple ways to set up the device. Good old 192.168.1.1 (or Orbilogin.com) involves the web browser method, and seen above is the process that walks you through doing the same for any applicable satellite units you may have. I used Google Chrome version 86 for this purpose, but this process will work with all functional browsers.


The setup tool will then prompt you to check for any firmware updates, which I heavily recommend doing for all network devices in general. There was indeed an update available here, and the entire process took ~5 min including the reboot of the router.


You will then be prompted to register for a NETGEAR account, and in turn register the router to your account for book-keeping and technical support if needed. Then there is more self-marketing for NETGEAR Circle (for parental controls), reminders about the Orbi app, and quick links for more set up if you skipped it before. Only now do you get to the monitoring section, which is where most of my interests lay.


The monitoring portal is split into basic and advanced settings, some of which are shared across both. The homepage for the basic settings tab shows you a quick summary of the Wi-Fi network, including the number of connected devices and the status of the guest network. Parental control is a tab here, but it just redirects you to a web page that tells you to get another program to set it up and does nothing else but to show you its status if you do so elsewhere. You can go through more settings for internet and wireless connections alike, including setting up a static IP address if possible, changing the router MAC address, and going with separate SSIDs for the wireless networks. Other options here include adding a network printer, configuring a guest network, and adding a satellite unit if you either skipped it before or suddenly end up with one.






A lot more options in the advanced settings tab, with the homepage here also providing a specific and detailed summary of your particular router, internet connection, Wi-Fi networks, and guest networks. You can also go through the entire setup wizard again if you missed a step or are adding new kits, and also get other setup-related LAN, WAN, QoS, and device-naming options. The QoS section just contains an integrated Ookla Speedtest that is hilarious and sad at the same time, but settings elsewhere do make up for it. Under the security menu, we see more options, including parental control that again takes you to that same web page, but you do get separate access controls for every connected device, including setting up schedules for access by day or time of day. More rudimentary access control options are available by setting up a blacklist of domains and services manually or via keywords, be it forever or on a schedule, so you could argue that there is some form of parental control built in already. If you want to go all in on the big brother act, NETGEAR allows you to specify an email client to send logs and warnings to, including if attempts were made to circumvent the access controls from before.

There are two more menus of advanced settings here, so we can definitely say that NETGEAR has been good about providing a good amount of user control even via their web browser portal. The administration menu allows you to view and save logs, get more information on various connected devices, including IP and MAC addresses, back up and restore current settings, edit the login credentials to the web portal, and check for/update firmware on both units. The final menu, named "advanced setup," has a lot of options we already saw before in the basic settings tab, but also a few more that merit a mention. In particular, you can configure the backhaul topology and password protect it, switch between router and access point modes, set up port forwarding and triggering, use a dynamic DNS service if you have one from a service provider, enable a VPN with options configured for OpenVPN right on that page, add static routes, toggle remote management on/off, and more.