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Forum Discussion
How to tie a device to a particular satellite? (RBR50/RBS50)
Hello, my system cosists of a RBR50 router, to which two RBS50 satellites and one RBS50Y outdoor satellite are connected. The system just uses one common WIFI SSID througout the house. I have two WiI...
hobie123 wrote:Therefore, my question is the following: is it possible to control, e.g. in the configuration interface of the system, maybe via the MAC addresses of the router/satellite and the MAC address of the device, respectively, to which satelite/router a specific device connects? What I want to achieve is that certain devices in my household, e.g. the WIFI switch, connect only to one particular satellite, and that they are not "free to decide" which satellite they connect to, even of they "see" (are in the range of) two satellites.
Alas, no. This is one of the most common complaints about the Orbi system. What I have found effective, but more cumbersome, is to use a "schedule" on the smart plug. i.e. schedule the smart plug to turn off at a specific time and then turn back on one minute later. For example, if the time is now 9:05 and I want to power cycle the WiFi system:
- Set the plug to turn "on" at 9:15.
- Set the plug to turn "off" at 9:14
- After 9:15, use the smartphone app to remove the schedule.
This question came up in a different context and I was surprised to find that the schedule was actually kept on the plug, rather than in the cloud.
Another possibility is that when the WiFi signal drops, the smart plug may reconect to a different Orbi unit, which would put it bak "on line." This would depend on (a) having a strong enough 2.4G signal from another Orbi unit at the plug location, and (b) that the smart plug is capable of searching out the other Orbi. That would be an interesting possibility to investigate. I'll try it with one of my smart plugs today.
There is another possibility: an inexpensive WiFi "extender", for example the TP-Link N300 which sells on Amazon for under $20. It is 2.4G only, which is all smart plugs need. Locate it close to the Orbi unit that is closest to the outdoor unit. Configure the extender to broadcast a different SSID than the Orbi (on a different WiFi channel). Configure the smart plug to connect to the extender SSID rather than the Orbi SSID.
My reasoning is that 2.4G signals penetrate farther than 5G signals. Since the outdoor satellite gets a "good" WiFi backhaul signal (correct?), it is certainly close enough that a 2.4G device will be able to connect to a 2.4G extender that is pretty far from the outdoor Orbi.
The experiment was successful. Some of my Christmas lights were controlled with a KASA (TP-Link) smart switch which was connected to an RBR40V in my garage. Powered off the RBR40V. Opened smartphone KASA app. "Lights" showed up. Click "on", "off", etc. Can hear the "pop" and see the blue LED change. When I came back upstairs, I see that Orbi "Attached Devices" shows the smartplug connected to the Orbi router. (It takes much longer than one would expect for the Orbi Attached Devices screen to catch up with reality.) All of the WiFi devices that had been attached to the RBS40V changed to either the router or my RBS50 satellite. My guess is that they will "stick" there until the RBS50 WiFi signal drops, which could be months.
So, before doing anything drastic, I would just turn off that smart switch, wait a minute or two, and see if it attached to a different Orbi by itself.