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Forum Discussion

itGeeks's avatar
itGeeks
Apprentice
Sep 26, 2016
Solved

Feature Request: Orbi Satellite Ethernet Backhaul

As good as Orbi looks on paper I don't understand Y you would cut yourself so short and not support Eithernet backhaul for the satellites, I have 5 locations needing a system like this but without su...
Features
  • AmitR's avatar
    AmitR
    Apr 26, 2017

    Let me acknowledge that our customer base has been clamoring for this feature for a while, and we are trying to be responsive to their needs.  To provide context on why it's taking a while to get it out, during the first quarter, the Orbi Engineering team was focused on bringing out the two new products (RBK30 & RBK40) to market.  Now that it's accomplished, we're actively working on bringing this feature and a couple of other interesting, market-requested features to you.  

     

    Orbi Product Team

Hirrdgoon's avatar
Hirrdgoon
Apprentice
Mar 08, 2017
Ended up returning the orbi due to no WIRED backhaul. I hope they add it in for you guys down the road.

I would have kept it if it had this feature.

Building out a Ubiquity Unify network instead.
  • JMU1998's avatar
    JMU1998
    Luminary
    Mar 12, 2017
    How is your experience with Ubiquity thus far compared to Orb? Similar issues new issues?
    • Hirrdgoon's avatar
      Hirrdgoon
      Apprentice
      Mar 13, 2017

      I setup a Unifi network.

       

      So i have the Unifi Security Gateway, only 1 UAP-AC-Pro access point and the clould key to control it all.

       

      Pros

      - Way better visibility and controll of the network

      - Cheaper overall for my setup than orbi

      - Wired passthrough on the access points

      - Ability to upgrade and add more devices for low cost

      - Rock solid

      - Lots of firmware upgrades

      -PoE devices!!!

       

      Cons

      - Difficult to setup (until i got the cloud key)

      - Speed is not as high as orbi at the moment, need to tweak it.

      - coverage is not a large, but i only have 1 access point. Adding more solves this and the speed issue

       

       

       

      Unifi is an enterprise solution, the orbi is and end user solution. Both work well.

       

  • selsrog's avatar
    selsrog
    Tutor
    Apr 23, 2017

    I'll be returning my gear as well.

    Forgot to check the existance of the ethernet backhaul (as I imagined it was available).

    Cannot wait for the firmware update... If it ever sees the light of day...

    • rafale7's avatar
      rafale7
      Apprentice
      Apr 23, 2017
      selsrog wrote:

      I'll be returning my gear as well.

      Forgot to check the existance of the ethernet backhaul (as I imagined it was available).

      Cannot wait for the firmware update... If it ever sees the light of day...

      I returned mine yesterday. It is too bad because they were performing quite well but did not fit my use case. After thinking about it, Not to second guess the netgear engineers and marketing guys but being in the tech field doing both jobs myself, I would have adopted a slightly different product strategy:

      1. I would have made the routers and satellites interchangeable given the fact that they are physically identical in terms of hardware. It would have saved cost by releasing a unique unit and lowered the inventory management.

      2. I would have designed it with the flexibility of the ethernet backhaul, used a 3x3 broadcast radio with the 4x4 backhaul

      3. limited the backhaul to 2 satellites to maintain performance of the wireless satellites.

       

      I spent some time testing different 2x2,  3x3, and 4x4 APs with a single clients on the 5GHz AC band for those who think the unifi AC lineup is anywhere close to an upgrade, think again. they are practicaly the slowest AP you can buy with the exception of the just off the mill AC-HD which is finally using a decent/enterprise chipset. The others use a chipset only found in a couple of very poor budget N or "AC was an afterthought" routers. The AC-Pro achieved 25-50% lower speed vs the Apple AP at most locations in spite of using 50% (6 Vs 4) more units in my topology.

       

      5GHz copy.png