Netgear Orbi with Skinny Smart Modem 3

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Netgear Orbi with Skinny Smart Modem 3

waryofdairy

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#315426 15-Jul-2024 13:53

Am thinking of changing to Skinny. Currently I have a 2Degrees connection with a Fritzbox router. I have wifi turned off in the router and an Orbi plugged into it to handle the wifi in the house. Has worked fine for as long as I can remember.

I want to know if I get the Skinny smart modem connected (which in theory should just work out of the box), can I then just plug my Orbi into that again to handle the wifi (turning off the wifi in the Skinny modem) and that will work?

I read something about VLan and PPPoE and thats all double dutch to me - I was hoping just to plug it all back in and it will work. Currently both the Fritzbox and the Orbi are set in router mode.

I did try to ask Skinny but they said "we provide support for our Smart modem but you'll have to sort out your Orbi yourself". So any help would be appreciated, don't want to make the change then find the Orbi can no longer be used!

Thanks

Darryl

michaelmurfy

meow
13240 posts

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#3259803 15-Jul-2024 14:34

Before you change, just phone up 2degrees and ask for a better deal else you're moving to Skinny. They may match or better their offer.

If you do change you've got a couple of options:

1) Use the Fritz!Box (BYOD). You only need to login and disable VLAN tagging and this saves you a little per month.
2) Use the Smart Modem 3, it has great WiFi (likely better than the Orbi) and if you need to add an extension then these are cheap from any Spark Store (Spark Smart Mesh 2).

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
Referral Links: Quic Broadband (use R122101E7CV7Q for free setup)

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waryofdairy

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3260698 17-Jul-2024 11:52

Thanks for the reply. Just so I'm clear, do you not think the orbi would work plugged in to the Skinny modem?

Cheers again!

Rushmere

354 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3260727 17-Jul-2024 13:05

Is there a reason why you want to use the Skinny modem as well as the Orbi?

I've used an Orbi with Skinny (without using the Skinny modem at all). The Orbi handles the connection and the wi-fi.

You can use the Skinny modem to get started, then try switching over to using the Orbi instead. If you have any problems, you can just switch back to the Skinny modem while you figure out the Orbi settings. The only slight complication is enabling VLAN 10 on the Orbi for Skinny, which you can get instructions for here

All of the other Skinny settings are here

waryofdairy

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3260733 17-Jul-2024 13:12

Aha! Hadn't thought of doing that, thanks heaps for that info. I presume thats using the Spark settings..?

Rushmere

354 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3260740 17-Jul-2024 13:37

waryofdairy:

Aha! Hadn't thought of doing that, thanks heaps for that info. I presume thats using the Spark settings..?

You can use step 1 of the Orbi settings for Spark, except the username should be user@skinny.co.nz

For step 2, the VLAN option should NOT be enabled for Skinny (that setting is different to Spark).

It's fairly straightforward to set up, but you can always get help here if you get stuck.

waryofdairy

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3260743 17-Jul-2024 13:40

Great, thanks again!