SXS50 (Add-on Satellite)

Introduction: -As an IT Professional, I have been using Netgear routers for years in my home, and I’ve never had issues with them. My most recent is the 5-year-old Nighthawk R-7500 router and the Apple Air Extreme access point which are now retired as spares.Due to my house being 2400 Sq. ft two story structure, I had to use the access point for upstairs, and the R-7500 downstairs to maintain performance and minimize dead spots. The problem was I had to have two SSID’s for the router and access point, and two SSID’s for guests. Sometimes, my devices wouldn’t automatically switch from AP to router thereby causing a poor transitional connection. I also wanted to utilize the latest Wi-Fi 6 protocol available in my iPhone12.I chose the Orbi pro6 mesh system due to following options: -1. Great reviews from nearly every vendor on the net.2. Professional web-based GUI that rivals enterprise class GUI’s. This product was meant for small businesses, and for those who aren’t IT savvy, you can download a Netgear Insight app to set up and operate this router.3. Single SSID for the entire house. Unlike Wi-Fi range extenders and access points where you get disconnected from one SSID and then reconnected to another as you go around the house, the Orbi pro6 system let's you connect to whatever SSID you assigned the device on the network. No more disconnections/reconnections!4. A mesh network that will use one SSID for Admin for personal and home products use, and a choice of three more SSID’s for guests and IOT’s.5. Won’t go obsolete soon – Supports maximum bandwidth of 2.5 Ghz. from ISP’s, latest Wi-Fi protocol Wi-Fi 6 (802.1 ax) and older protocol such as A, B, G, and N. Wi-Fi 6 is supported by newer devices such as the Apple iPhone12.6. Can use a backhaul cable between the router and satellite – I have a CAT-7 cable that is already installed to support faster data transfer between both systems.7. Mounting Brackets – As you can see in the picture, both router and satellite came with wall mounting brackets, and this made hardware installation very easy.Install and configuration: -Install was easy. Turn power off cable modem and old router. Disconnect old router, and once modem is fully re-booted, connect new router. When the Orbi router booted, it automatically connected to my XFinity service without any issues. Also, since the router came paired with the Satellite from the factory, it automatically synchronized with the router and they recommend a separation distance of 10 ft. during pairing. Once you logged into the router, it forced you change the admin password to a more sophisticated password.You do not have to program the satellite, the router passes on the configuration information to the satellite.Performance: - After a month of usage, I here are my experiences: -I routinely get around 900 Mbps from my ISP and that’s what I’m getting when I measure the speed using the router’s GUI.Without the Cat7 cable, and a direct distance of over 50 Ft. between several walls, a heater, and second story floor, I was getting a bandwidth of 500 Mbps on the satellite and over 700 Mbps connected to the router’s Wi-Fi.With the satellite connected to the router using the CAT7 cable, I get over 700 Mbps on my iPhone12 that utilizes WiFi6 and this is true for all locations in the house. I haven’t experienced any dead spots, and I settled on permanently using the CAT7 cable for the backhaul.Roaming around the house, the router and satellite automatically switch you to whatever device you are closest to, and gone are the days of having to sometimes manually switch SSID’s. Surprisingly, I get a strong signal in both my backyard and front lawn. You can continue streaming whatever you like while enjoying your summer barbeque.All devices that support both 2.4 and 5Ghz. radio stay connected to the 5Ghz, radio. All devices that utilize the 2.4 Ghz. radio such as printers and security camera’s stay on the 2.4 Ghz. radio.The router and Satellite lights stay off unless they have problems, and blink at you to confirm configuration changes. Power saver - Gone are the days of flashing Christmas lights (LED’s) all the time.Streaming video from the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook pro to my new 65” Vizio TV is a breeze since all systems are on the same SSID. Gone are the days of needing special adapters for this.Improved security software - I used to see a lot of DOS attacks attempts in the old router logs. For this Orbi6 Pro, I barely see any in its logs, and good luck to neighborhood hackers trying to get free Wi-Fi.Conclusion: -This is a rock-solid performer and with over 20 devices connected to this system, I haven’t experienced any issues. It may be pricier and bigger/heavier than the competition but if you want great performance and security, this is it. You pretty much set it up and forget it – Minimal maintenance is required, and you can set it up to automatically get router firmware updates from Netgear.The saying goes that you get what you pay for – For now, this system is one of the best performers of mesh routers. Supporting a maximum ISP bandwidth of 2.5 Ghz, and latest WiFi6 protocol, I’m looking forward to many years of great service from it.

UPDATE 11/11/22 - This router has been rock solid for over a year now (since 8/2/21). I am updating this review to let people know it has only lost internet connection once or twice (I suspect it was the ISP), and always regained connection immediately.Even better, there was a slight issue with a firmware update, and their tech support was some of the best I have ever experienced. I was expecting an annoying phone tree and to get routed to various representatives who had no idea how to assist. Instead, there was just very brief phone tree navigation, and I was connected with someone who resolved the issue! He was really knowledgeable. I was VERY impressed.Yes, it would have been better if there had not been an issue in the first place, or failing that if there had been a warning in the release notes. But Netgear did resolve it, and did so relatively painlessly, which is more than most companies can say. A prerecorded message did warn me that my 90 day free support had expired, and I may need to pay for further support. But then it immediately routed me to an experienced representative, and he did not try to get me to pay for support. So if you get that warning, just ignore it.The issue was that after the version 4.2.3.102 firmware update, the password for the admin config stopped working. The router came right back up and was working fine; I just could not get into it. Even though I had backed up the configs right before the update, they had the same password. I hesitated to do a factory reset and re-apply those configs just to have the same problem.I didn't see an option in Insight to change the password, but it's actually in there. In the app, on the "Location" tab, in "Location Configuration". It's a strange place to put it, and I don't know why it isn't under the settings for the router instead, but it worked. Insight had an old password, and the firmware update had overwritten the password from the admin config with the password from Insight. This had never happened for previous firmware updates, and the representative said this is likely because this firmware version (4.2.3.102) modified functionality related to Insight, whereas previous firmware versions probably had not.I changed the password in Insight, and this automatically and immediately changed the password in the admin config (it immediately logged me out, and I had to use the new password I had just specified to log in). The representative said pushing the password like that from Insight to the router is supposed to be a "Professional" feature, which I am apparently getting for free even though he said my account is only a free "Premium" account. Possibly this has to do with initially getting free limited time subscription with the purchase of the router. I got an email after 30 days indicating my free trial of "Insight Premium" would expire, and I did not renew it.Insight did initially warn me when I added the router to it over a year ago that it would override the admin password on the router (annoying). I thought that was a one-time thing. Apparently even though I had since then changed the password on the router through the admin config, that old password was lying in wait in Insight, just waiting for a firmware update with the right functionality to spring into action and overwrite the password in the admin config again, lol.In summary, don't change the password in the router admin config, do it in Insight. I rather wish Insight did not let you change the password on the router at all. It would be more secure, and it would keep this issue from happening. But, it does give users a way back in if they forget the password, so they don't have to reconfigure the router from scratch. And, I did get an email and the Insight app popped up a notification warning me the password had been changed, so at least you will know when it is changed.__________________________________________________________ORIGINAL REVIEW 1/11/22 - Not that many reviews for the SXK30 (AX1800), so I'm leaving a comprehensive review. tldr: highly recommended for anyone who wants a secure, stable router, whether they are a home user or a small business. But for beginners, the advanced features may be difficult to configure. And, if you're not going to use the advanced features, then this router is overkill. It's working great for me with 60+ devices, but most of those are IoT.I don't need mesh, but I wanted the 4 SSIDs for a segmented network. I could have gotten just the router, instead of the set with a router and a satellite / extender, but at the time I bought it, it was only a $30 difference. I went ahead and set up the extender, and used it to replace my switch. The satellite does NOT have line of sight to the router, though it is close by in an adjacent room. I have a CAT-6 cable running between the 2 (I had already run the cable for the switch). I also tested it out WITHOUT the cable, and it worked fine. It takes the satellite a few minutes to connect anytime the router reboots, or while it's applying settings. But once it connects, it seems to work great.I configured it via the web interface. Be sure to back up the configs often as you configure it, in case you have any problems. If you are looking for a fast, easy setup, then this router may not be the best fit for you. If you are a beginner, but you want to take advantage of the advanced features, you should check out the user manual (on the Netgear site). If the user guide seems too complicated, then this router may not be a good choice.It's a beautiful, sleek design, without a bunch of annoying LEDs that are on all the time. The LED indicators on the front turn different colors when it's booting / connecting, and to let you know if there's a problem, but otherwise they are off. They come with little shelves to mount them securely to the wall.One reviewer said in June 2021 that the unit failed to operate after the very first firmware update, and they spent hours on the phone with technical support and finally threw the router away. I bought this in August 2021, and at that time, the newest firmware version was from July 2021. I had no problems with the July update (V3.2.33.108). So, it looks like Netgear fixed the problem. Typically, I do like to wait a few weeks with firmware releases, just to make sure there are no serious issues. I make an exception for a brand new device, because I want to make sure everything is working while I am within the return window.I have 60+ devices, and it's been working fine so far. This router (SXK30) says it supports 40 concurrent devices, but I really didn't want to pay 3x as much for the SXK80. The majority of my devices (about 45 of them) are IoT devices that ARE online all the time, but are low bandwidth. There's always the risk that if I run into any problems, Netgear will point to the fact that I am exceeding the device limit as an excuse, whether that is the actual problem or not. If that happens, I'll temporarily take some devices offline to get it under 40, to prove that isn't the problem. Your results may vary, but I've been totally fine so far.I really can't speak to the speed. I used to have fiber gigabit, but I downgraded to 100Mbps (my company is paying for my internet connection now that I'm a telecommuter, and I can't tell that much of a difference). So, this router is total overkill for 100Mbps. I'm getting the same speeds on the router as I get connected directly to the modem from my ISP, usually somewhere between 70 - 120Mbps.It lets you configure "Client Isolation", which it describes as: "Client isolation prevents hosts and clients in the VLAN from reaching ports, hosts, and clients in the same VLAN, thereby increasing security." Sure sounds like layer 2 isolation, which can be called INTRAnetwork routing. Different companies have different terms for it. It means devices on the same network can't communicate with each other. I actually posed this as a question before I bought it, and "Netgear Team" responded that layer 2 isolation / disabling intranetwork routing was NOT supported. I tested it out using Fing, and they were right, devices on a network that has "Client Isolation" enabled CAN see each other. Even on the guest network, I could see the other devices on the guest network with Fing.So what does "Client Isolation" do...? Apparently, the devices can SEE each other, but it prevents them from "REACHING" each other. When "Client Isolation" is enabled, I can see the other devices on the network with Fing, but I could not ping them, connect to them, etc. True layer 2 isolation would be more secure.Netgear calls disabling INTERnetwork routing (communication between networks) "Network Isolation": "Network isolation, also referred to as network segmentation, prevents hosts and clients in the VLAN from reaching ports, hosts, and clients in other VLANs, thereby increasing security." Fing confirms that devices on one network cannot see devices on the other networks. I should hope so, otherwise what would be the point of segmenting the network?It actually has 5 LANs, although the first LAN is the native VLAN, which must be VLAN 1. This cannot be changed or removed. This is a complaint with many network devices, not just from Netgear (because for security reasons it's best to avoid VLAN 1).Apparently the web configuration is on this VLAN, because I could NOT access it under any other VLAN. I've seen this on other network devices also. UPDATE 11/11/22 - the release notes for firmware updates list this as a "known issue": "The device UI can be accessed via the default VLAN network only. Workaround: Connect to a WiFi network that uses the default VLAN profile when you want to access the device UI."It's good security to limit access to the configuration to a particular VLAN, but it would be better to move it off of VLAN 1. When you are planning your network, remember to leave at least one secure admin computer on VLAN 1 to configure the router. Otherwise, if there's no wireless for that VLAN, you may need to do a factory reset (it's a good idea to make frequent backups).The packaging says you MIGHT get a free year subscription for the Netgear Insight app, and new users MIGHT get a free one month Premium subscription. I downloaded the app and it says 1 free month. It did not find the router in a network scan (although Fing could see it). I entered the info to add it manually, and it said adding it in the app would override the admin password on the router, which is annoying. I went ahead and did it to check it out. The app is super limited, with only some of the basic features. It really doesn't seem very useful. I guess you can check to make sure it's up, and if it's not responding you can reboot it remotely. But if it were that unstable, I would just return it! The ONLY thing I used it for is to move the LAN port for one of my desktops back onto VLAN 1, so I can configure the router from the web configuration (as mentioned, you do not seem to be able to configure the router from any other VLAN). The app does let you do this, but it was not at all straightforward, and applying the change took the networks down, and took a really long time. And it said it failed, though it actually worked. I wouldn't pay for a subscription for this.Additional security features it has that I wanted:- Change the address of the router- Change the IP ranges for the different VLANs- MAC address filtering- Disable UPnP- User ID / password can be changed- Can disable remote management- Can be configured via web interface. You do NOT need a Netgear account to configure it (you don't have to use the app at all)- It seems like WPS can be de facto disabled by disabling the sync button, although WPS does still show as Locked on Lan 1 only (and disabled on the other LANs). The user guide says to use the button to use WPS, and mentions no other way to use WPS, so without the button, theoretically there should be no way to unlock WPS. The guide does not mention that you can disable the sync button, but it's an option in the web configuration (Advanced Setup -> Sync Button).UPDATE 11/11/22 - According to the release notes, firmware version 4.2.3.102: "Removes WPS functionality from fronthaul due to security concerns". I'm hoping this means it disables WPS instead of just locking it in on LAN 1, but I haven't tested to be sure.Cons- No true layer 2 isolation- Can't change native VLAN ID (to anything other than 1)- Can only reach the web configuration from VLAN 1- Limited number of LAN ports, especially if you wire the router and satellite(s) together (you lose a port on each). Most routers have 4, this router has only 3. But you do get another 4 on the satellite- Limited number of LANs and SSIDs. The more segmentation, the better- Email alerts are not particularly useful. It will email firewall alerts immediately, and the logs on a schedule. The logs don't record when new devices are connected- WPS can't be completely disabled on LAN 1- The Insight app can access the router, even though I had already changed the password and disabled remote configuration and UPnP! Hopefully the fact that I added my device in Insight will prevent someone else from doing the same and hijacking it. I would like to be able to disable management from Insight, in addition to disabling remote access.- When applying config changes, a lot of the time it takes the networks offline when it should not be necessary. For example, the wireless networks go offline when changing the VLAN on one of the LAN ports. But, it's a minor inconvenience, because I don't make those kinds of changes often.- I came across a strange bug, which is annoying, but seems harmless. Periodically, a bunch of wireless devices would start showing up as "Wired" under Attached Devices. It seems to come and go. The one time I used the Insight app, I saw the same thing. Netgear will hopefully fix this with a future firmware update- It's slow to apply settings. Every time you apply the settings, you need to wait a few minutes. I typed this whole long review while I was waiting for it to apply each change I made. But, that's really only a drawback for the initial setup, when I was testing everything out. I don't make that many changes most of the timeAll in all, it has some good features for an entry level business router. 5 stars, because I think it's the best option at this price point, with the most features that are important to me. I wish it had better security, but it's certainly more secure than consumer routers, especially ones from your ISP. It may seem like a lot of cons, but sadly these are quite common. If you can find a better router for a reasonable price, I'd REALLY like to hear about it. My last router was the Peplink Surf SOHO, which was very secure, but unusable because of the constant connection issues (you can read my review).It's been about 5 months now, and it's been quite stable. Lost internet connection a few times, but it always reconnected right away, and I suspect that was the ISP. Netgear just emailed me that there is a firmware update available, but as mentioned, I will wait a few weeks to make sure there are no serious problems before upgrading.