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Forum Discussion
WRPowers
Jan 07, 2019Tutor
Orbi and extender
I have recently installed an RBK50 Tri-band router and satellite - both on either end of the main level of my house. I have a basement location were there seems to be s signal "null" where a secur...
- Jan 08, 2019
JoeCymru wrote:
Let me spend your money. Rather than trying to go really low cost (and I have one of those Netgear extenders if you really want to go cheap ... I put it away when I got Orbi because one of my main goals was to make that mickey mouse EX6100 go away and get rid of the multiple SSID's).
If it was me, for filling the hole, I would go with a cheaper, smaller Orbi. Say an RBS20 add on, or and RBW30 add on. Again, it is your money, but for all the hassle of using an extender with Orbi for what it is actually going to put out, I would throw some additional bucks at it (but not for another RBS50 for sure). Just my opinion, naturally.
For this application, to cover a security camera in a basement, where no roaming is needed, I really don’t see an advantage for using an Orbi satellite over an extender apart from central management.
An additional satellite will have the same or more level of noise on the existing Orbi wifi network.
ekhalil
Jan 07, 2019Master
Yes, but please make sure the extender uses a different SSID than Orbi's, so that your devices will not start roaming to the extender.
Please note that the extender will use the same radio channel(s) as Orbi's and will have some noise on Orbi in the area that the extender has range overlap with Orbi. If the traffic in the extender is not high this noise will have minimal effect.
WRPowers
Jan 07, 2019Tutor
How do you set an SSID for the extender? I thought it just mirrored whatever the SSID was for the host router. Wouldn't mind having the security cameras on a different network. Just thought I'd try it before springing for another Orbi satellite. Thanks.
- FURRYe38Jan 07, 2019Guru - Experienced User
You don't set an SSID for the extender, the extender will automatically use the same SSID as what is coming from from Orbi wifi.
- ekhalilJan 07, 2019Master
WRPowers wrote:
How do you set an SSID for the extender? I thought it just mirrored whatever the SSID was for the host router. Wouldn't mind having the security cameras on a different network. Just thought I'd try it before springing for another Orbi satellite. Thanks.
It depends on your extender. In most modern extenders you should be able to set the extended network SSID. I have two extenders at home from D-Link (2 different models, one of them is DAP-1620) where you can choose either to keep the same SSID or extend with the same SSID. You can also set different SSID's for the 2.4 and 5 GHz networks. Please see below from the setup wizard in the extender's app:
- ekhalilJan 07, 2019Master
I checked your extender Netgear EX6100 and it has the same possibility. Please check the manual on: https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/EX6100/EX6100_IG_27Nov2013.pdf
- FURRYe38Jan 08, 2019Guru - Experienced User
Let us know if you were able to get the extender working for your needs and if it worked or not for you.
WRPowers wrote:
How do you set an SSID for the extender? I thought it just mirrored whatever the SSID was for the host router. Wouldn't mind having the security cameras on a different network. Just thought I'd try it before springing for another Orbi satellite. Thanks.