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Orbi RBK53 - I need WiFi coverage beyond range of router
I am considering the purchase of the Orbi RBK53 but have the challenge of getting a signal to my guest house's satellite that is beyond the range of the router (about 225'). The guest house is curren...
bmeighan wrote:
Thanks for the responses. Just to clarify and/or add more details:
Perhaps I'm confused by the "backhaul" terminology. I read this to be the data from the satellites that is transmitted back to the Orbi router. I understand that through a firmware update the backhaul can be Ethernet wired. But does backhaul also mean that the Orbi router can communicate TO the satellite by way of Ethernet cable? I'm trying to solve for the problem that my guest house is beyond the range of WiFi signal but does have Ethernet to the main house. I also don't want the performance degradation that comes with extenders. So, can the Orbi satellite work in the guest house if it is wired to the Orbi router? (I seem to recall reading that an ethernet wired Orbi satellite cannot be used as an access point.)
Another suggestion provided here was to purchase another Orbi router and connect it in the house in access point mode. While this is an expensive solution, it does sound like it will work (but don't want to if satellite will work).
With regard to the last paragraph, I assume one of my old routers (like an Apple Airport Extreme) can serve as an access point too, right? To configure that as an access point, do I do that through the Orbi software or by using Apple's Airport Utility?
Thanks for the feedback.
Don't read too much into the marketing-speak. Backhaul is bi-directional. You can plug your satellite into Ethernet in your guest house and your guests will access the Internet via WiFi as if they were in the main house. The SSID will be the same as in the main house.
I would not recommend buying a second Orbi system for the guest house, unless the guest house is very large and requires multiple APs to cover it. How large is the guest house? How many floors?
You configure your old router as an access point via your old router's user interface. You do not set it up via the Orbi.
There is confusion about extenders, in part because there are multiple types of extenders. Some extenders simply receive the existing WiFi signal and rebroadcast it on the same channel. These suffer at least 50% degradation in throughput, because they share the same channel. Other extenders take the existing WiFI and rebroadcast it on a new channel. These are better, but they use more channels so are more prone to interference with nearby WiFi systems. Orbi functions similar to the latter extender.
Using your old Airport Extreme in AP mode in the guest house sounds like the best approach here, unless it cannot cover the required area. The Airport Extremes are very good and fast routers. Possibly faster than Orbi.
Yes, you can do this (buy an Orbi, put the Orbi router in the main house, adjacent to the modem, and put the Orbi satellite in the guest house, with a wired backhaul, since they're out of range). The backhaul is bi-directional. It's for the Orbi satellite to talk to the Orbi router, and vice versa. It wouldn't do much good to be unidirectional (e.g., when you request a resource, there needs to be a way to get that resource back to you after it's retrieved). "Backhaul" just generally refers to non-endpoint-facing infrastructure. E.g., your cell phone company has a backhaul between the cellular towers and the larger phone and computer networks. "Fronthaul" refers to the connection between the tower and your phone/tablet/data connection, and to anyone else's, and backhaul is their connection to everything else. Same for your wifi: from your Orbi router to devices, and from the Orbi satellite to devices, is a fronthaul connection, and between the Orbi router and satellite, is a backhaul connection. Both front- and backhaul connections are bi-directional.
You will have the benefits of a single wifi network, and a single point for configuration (if you change which wifi channels you're using, the SSID, or password, the change will be effective in both places). Assuming the coverage areas for the router and satellite don't overlap, you will lose some of the benefit of having a mesh system, as a large portion of the reason to have one is the seamless handoff from one wireless access point to another (though you could add an outdoor satellite in the future if you want, if you have a power connection, and then either run a second wired backhaul to it, or daisy chain them in some combination of wired and/or wirelessly). If there's a dead zone in the middle, where devices don't get a signal from either the router or the satellite, you could just as easily use a router in your house, and a second router (in AP mode), or a wireless access point, in the guest house. You also potentially miss out on better wifi coverage in your main house by having only the router in it (though this depends on the size and construction materials of your house, and placement of the modem, and, consequently, Orbi router, within it). If you want to use an old router as the AP in the guest house, you'd configure that from the old device itself, not from the Orbi (e.g., set the Apple Airport Extreme from its own configuration page to operate in access point mode, an connect the WAN port on the Airport to one of the LAN ports on the router in your main house). And you could give it the same SSID or a different one, having it use the same wifi channels or different ones, and give it the same wireless password(s) or (a) diffferent one(s), since the Airport and whatever other router you're using won't be coordinatng with each other anyway.