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Orbi outdoor satellite range versus indoor satellite range
Hi, I have a large property and I am trying to get wifi from my house out to my barn and up to my pond. I have my router in the house and 1 satellite in the pond pumphouse and 1 in the barn. My coverage/range is not quite enough to be able to use my Arlo cameras. I see that there is an outdoor rated satellite and I am trying to find out if that has a greater range than the indoor satellites. I see that the outdoor satellite has a range of 2,500 square feet, but I haven't been able to find out what the range is for a single indoor satellite.
jfishburne wrote:
I have been chatting with Net Gear's Orbi support. For me they recommended that I use the outdoor rated satellite in the middle (I happen to have power in a central location) and use it as a daisy-chain between my router and my farthest satellite which is about 650 feet from my router. I was getting 1 bar of coverage between my router and that farthest satellite and they said this should fix it. I hope that helps.
I looked at your diagram. If I were you I would just go move satellite 2 to the "possible" location temporarily, and see if it improves satellite 3 (or vice versa). That should give you a clue whether it will work before you buy anything.
One issue with daisy-chaining is that the user cannot control it. The system will decide whether to daisy-chain or go direct to the router, and you can't set it one way or the other. By doing the above, you can also see if the system is stable.
17 Replies
jfishburne wrote:
Hi, I have a large property and I am trying to get wifi from my house out to my barn and up to my pond. I have my router in the house and 1 satellite in the pond pumphouse and 1 in the barn. My coverage/range is not quite enough to be able to use my Arlo cameras. I see that there is an outdoor rated satellite and I am trying to find out if that has a greater range than the indoor satellites. I see that the outdoor satellite has a range of 2,500 square feet, but I haven't been able to find out what the range is for a single indoor satellite.
The outdoor satellite provides better WiFi coverage over an outdoor area, because you can place it outside and eliminate walls between the satellite and the client devices. The 5 GHz transmit power is actually slightly lower than the indoor Orbi satellite. I don't think the outdoor satellite will, or is itended to, operate at a longer distance from the router.
Orbi is designed to provide coverage over a large area, not to provide a link over a long linear distance. The best thing for that is a wireless point-to-point bridge with directional antennas on each end.
Can you recommend one that will work well with the Orbi?
Wouldn't the outdoor unit with wired backhaul get it done?
Thank you for the quick reply. I am close to having enough coverage so I am just looking for a way to easily boost what I have a little bit. Attached is a visual of what if looks like. I currently have 1 bar of coverage at the pond and 1 orange colored bar at the barn. So they both work, but just barely. I have power at a somewhat central location in the middle of the attached map and I was wondering if I placed an outdoor satellite there if that would help relay a stonger signal between the router and the barn satellite or if each satellite needs to directly talk to the router itself. Thanks!
Cat5/6 are around 165 feet. CAT6A could go up to 330' feet. Still leaves 70'+ to deal with. :smileyfrustrated:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_6_cable
Not sure where your getting 165' for cat5/6, but that is just wrong.
1000BASE-T (also known as IEEE 802.3ab) is a standard for Gigabit Ethernet over copper wiring.
Each 1000BASE-T network segment is recommended to be a maximum length of 100 meters (330 feet) (however, the length is not a pass/fail criterion as testing the conformance to EN 50173 series standards), and must use Category 5 cable or better (including Cat 5e and Cat 6).
Same place.
Overall, not quite enough for 400 feet which I presume we can agree on. I presume it should work with out too much degradation. It's a stretch thats for sure.
I would look into a directlional AP at the main building and recieve directional AP at the barn area. Might incure more cost this way vs try a burried cable. I would test a cable first. Run on top of the ground for a quick test. If it works then go bury it.
