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Need to EXTEND Orbi outdoors
I purchased this system 2 months ago and in our 2500 sq ft, 3 level home, coverage and performance have been exceptional, however once you go outside to our patio - which is less than 25' away from t...
OK I went ahead with purchasing the RBW30 Satellite, have placed it on our patio (protected from the elements) and successfully added it as my 2nd Orbi satellite.
Now I may have a misunderstanding about the underlying architecture here, but I tested 4 different locations in my front yard including the patio and my internet speed tests came back exactly the same. The outdoor unit is further away from the router unit, but it is maybe 25 feet from the other satellite unit that came with the kit. Since I had like almost 50% improvement in my wireless when I installed Orbi, I guess I was expecting the addition of this one to improve on the down/up speeds outside. Or is it more a case of the throughput will remain the same but the coverage in those areas will be better? I will run additional wireless signal tests, but now I am wondering where I am going to see the value of it. Maybe better to place in the basement?
jdanham wrote:Now I may have a misunderstanding about the underlying architecture here, but I tested 4 different locations in my front yard including the patio and my internet speed tests came back exactly the same. The outdoor unit is further away from the router unit, but it is maybe 25 feet from the other satellite unit that came with the kit. Since I had like almost 50% improvement in my wireless when I installed Orbi, I guess I was expecting the addition of this one to improve on the down/up speeds outside. Or is it more a case of the throughput will remain the same but the coverage in those areas will be better? I will run additional wireless signal tests, but now I am wondering where I am going to see the value of it. Maybe better to place in the basement?
As others have said the placement of the satellite is very important.
You do need to make sure it is close enough to the router "and" is in a position to provide a good signal to the location you want to cover.
The so called hub and spoke topology.
But a mesh topology has its own set of limitations.
For example, if you place a satellite that needs to go via an intermediate satellite to get to the router with an internet connection and the devices also use dedicated wireless for backhaul then the wireless communication over the backhaul needs to be repeated to get communication back to the internet connected router. This repeating (or relaying) means that the backhaul of intermediate satellite needs to receive and then retransmit the wireless packets so its throughput will be half that of a satellite communicating directly to the router with the internet connection. So, again, palcement of satellite devices is critical but for a different reason.
It's a difficult balancing act, that's for sure.