NETGEAR Orbi Desktop Setup and Configuration

Given I had already set up the NETGEAR Orbi RBK863S via the mobile app, the mesh system was good to go and putting out a stable WiFi 6 network that was seen by the Intel AX210 WiFi 6E NICs I have installed in my PC and laptop. At this point you could continue to use it as-is and rely on the app for any further updates/customization, or you could try the browser-based admin panel to see if you prefer that instead. Simply log into the generated WiFi network using the set credentials and head over to 192.168.1.1 or 10.0.1.1 depending on the connection, or Orbilogin.com, in the browser of your choice. Here too the push towards the app is apparent, but it shouldn't matter much.


The admin panel opens up in landscape mode and first does a firmware check on all three devices, which can be skipped if you so desire. I heavily encourage you to update the firmware of your networking solutions whenever there is one, but perhaps do ensure public response has been fine given more than a few instances recently across such products where a broken firmware release went out and made things worse. It was at this point that I realized the app was somehow mistaken about there not being any firmware updates and the admin panel was quick in alerting me to a new update available, which I promptly downloaded and installed given this product was recently released and it's more likely to have bug fixes at this stage than break anything. Indeed, I had no issues with the newer firmware—not that I detected anything before—so I can at least vouch for this release.

There are two menus of options here, with the first being a simpler, basic set relative to the aptly-named Advanced set. The video above goes through the functionality of the browser-based controls which is on par with the previous few times I've used a NETGEAR Orbi product. It is exhaustive for the vast majority of end users, who will not bother going through all these, even assuming they step away from the mobile app. Note that a few of the functions are tied to subscription plans, be it from NETGEAR or separately, as with the case of a VPN and parental controls previously mentioned.