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Orbi placement concerns
Having one router / WAP near the edge and the other WAP (satelite) near the middle of the home is a poor layout for optimized coverage. Reminds me too much of single WAP systems this Orbi mesh system...
Every home is different but this is our general guide for common house layouts: http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/31029/~/where-should-i-place-my-orbi-satellite%3F
The optimal placement does very depending on the layout of the home.
You can experiment a bit to see what works best for you, but there's a good chance you'll find the first place you put the Satellite works great.
Most internet connections have wiring that terminates at the edge of the home. Yes some of the coverage of the router would fall outside the home. Unless you are able to place the router in a more central location (due to internal wiring) there's not much that can be done about that.
Our focus has been on performance with a dedicated wireless band. As we've gone for performance rather than trying to minimise the size of the unit at the expense of performance, we also put a lot of effort into designing Orbi to be aesthetically pleasing. Whilst the router might be tucked away somewhere the satellite could be e.g. in the living room where it could be in the field of vision a lot.
hi serac
just thought i would answer your post in detail to clear up a few misconceptions
"Assuming the router puts out coverage equal to the satelite then much of that coverage could be lost past the edge of the home. How would the coverage be on the edge of the home opossite to where the obri router sits?"
this would be wrong as beam forming has changed the way wifi works and well as mimo where the signals bounce of the wall and reflect back into the space
"Seems like it would be just like a home with a single WAP / router if it were positioned where the orbi satelite is? (assuming you can get a ethernet connection there)"
not exactly as you just wouldnt have the over all coverage the orbi system has
i actually setup the orbi system quite similar to the diagram and got whole house coverage which not even the latest 2156M router would do
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"Mesh is the future for consumer wifi. I trust Netgear more then any other mesh product I have seen but you have more placement options with eero and luma.
- 3 (luma eero) vs 2 netgear units for roughly the same price"
at this stage the orbi is not true mesh as its based on star topology , it is planned for mesh topology at some stage
"-we are trying to cover 3800 sqft home 3 floors (including basement)"
suggest you would prob need 1 x orbi router and 2 x orbi sats but start with 1 and 1 and see how it goes as you can always add another sat later on
"Luma has no line of sight requirement (eero might but I don't think so)"
nor does the orbi :)
"I would like to get rid of luma and get Orbi but based on the above I think I might just by another AC1750 router (hardwire it, set to WAP only mode so no NAT issues) then run the same SSID on both routers. Pain to run the ethernet to the 2nd WAP but it would save me $300 and maybe be better?"
of course hardwired is always going to be the best way
but the orbi system is there for those that dont or cant do hardwire
pete