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Forum Discussion
Solved
Long distance expansion of system
I have the Orbi RBR50 router with satellite and have no issues with the current system. The satellite unit that came with the base router is at the far East end of our home and serves that area well....
If you decide to get the second system and wire to the first, make sure you set it for AP mode so that it will act as an extension of the first.
Short Answer: Yes, this will work. Put it in Access Point (AP) mode.
Longer answer: Because an Orbi router can ONLY be a "router", this Orbi network will not be "integrated" into the existing Orbi. It certainly can have the same WiFi name (SSID) and password, but devices will not automatically "hand off" the way they do within an Orbi network.
However, in this particular situation, it might not be a problem. By the time devices get 120 ft. from the main house, they may decide, "the heck with thar access point, I like THIS one with the better signal. The reason I hedge is because I have never tried this. There have been a ton of posts about adding another package (router/satellite) in AP mode, and the concensus is that "it works."
It it really clear that two WiFi networks that are entirely separate (miles apart) can have the same WiFi name and password and a device will happily connect to one whenever it comes in range. The issue here is that a device will get a worse and worse signal as it gets nearer to the pool, but the signal may not drop far enough. I think a person could manually turn off WiFi and turn it back on again and it would pick the stronger signal. But, what a chore!
How large is this guest house? (and, where does that Cat5 cable terminate?) One Orbi RBS50 might be able to blast WiFi enough to cover the guest house and pool.
There is also the issue of the "covered area". Orbi's RBS50Y is actually rated for outdoor. The other models are not. So, putting one outside runs a risk.
Thanks for the quick and thourough response.
I had read some of the other posts on this topic (using a second router in the "mesh") and thought that it might work for my needs.
The guest house is about 900 square feet under roof but only 600 square feet is "indoors". The balance is a covered area open on 2 sides.
The pool area is about 3,000 square feet in size.
The cat 5 ends at the guest house and travels the 120 feet from that structure to the router in the house.
If there was a way to put a satellite on a wired connection it would probably solve the handoff situation. But I'm not sure the "handoff" would work in that situation.
As it stands, the signal is acceptable up to the guest house which is about midpoint of the pool's length. By the time you get to the end of the pool or start to enter the guest house, the signal drops out. The main reason for the whole issue is to get service into the guest house. I'm not as concerned about wireless around the pool area but I think you are right. The router wired in the pool house would probably handle the pool area by itself.
I think I'm going to try it.
Thanks Again.
If you decide to get the second system and wire to the first, make sure you set it for AP mode so that it will act as an extension of the first.