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Orbi RBR50 + satellite
I have an Orbi RBR50 & satellite wifi network setup at home. Working OKish but dead spot in gamer son's bedroom. Bought a Nighthawk X4S Range Extender to try and boost the signal there. Can start up ...
That makes it a repeater by my reckoning, a subset of the extender range. Most extenders can repeat and do genuine access point.
Why does Netgear insist on confusing people with its inconsistent nomenclature?
Might not be the best choice in these circumstances, given that the user already has Powerline.
Yet another approach, if the son has any wired devices Powerline Ethernet with a combined access point could fill the bill.
For example:
PLW1000 | Powerline | Networking | Home | NETGEAR
That would feed off the original router, with no need to get the Orbi involved.
Another option would be to get Powerline plugs minus the AP and use that to feed the extender.
XAVB1301 | Powerline | Networking | Home | NETGEAR
The advantage of this approach, which I know from experience, is that it removes possibly dodgy wifi links from much of the chain.
Thanks for both replies, Michael. I'm already running a TP-Link Powerline AV500 adaptor with ethernet cable to his room but the signal is very weak, which is why I was trying to boost the wifi signal to that area, as it works well in other locations around the house. We have fibre optic to the house and a router connects to the fibre optic box. Both the Orbi system and the Powerline are connected to that router, that's the Access Point, right?
I didn't understand your two connection plans, if I work in the other direction this is what I think I have:
fibre optic box (internet to house) > router (access point) > Connection 1: Orbi home system / Connection 2: Powerline AV500 adaptor (for son's room). The adaptor is not in his room as the signal is too weak, I have to run the ethernet cable across the lounge floor! The router was supplied by the ISP as their top oif the line, also connects the phone. House has standard plaster walls with wooden frame but is quite large, wifi signals always seem to get blocked somehow.
JAR1 wrote:
Thanks for both replies, Michael. I'm already running a TP-Link Powerline AV500 adaptor with ethernet cable to his room but the signal is very weak, which is why I was trying to boost the wifi signal to that area, as it works well in other locations around the house. We have fibre optic to the house and a router connects to the fibre optic box. Both the Orbi system and the Powerline are connected to that router, that's the Access Point, right?
No, that isn't the access point I was referring to. An AP is really just a wifi extender that is wired back to the router.
In other words, the AP doesn't receive wifi from the router and act as a relay. It receives the Internet over a LAN cable and acts as a wifi source. (You still haven't told us the model number of this Nighthawk X4S Range Extender – EX7000? EX7300? EX8000? – so I can't show you where to look in the manual.)
This arrangement wouldn't make the most of the Nighthawk X4S Range Extender, but you could connect that to the TP-Link Powerline AV500 adaptor plugged into your son's room and use that as an AP.
If that works your son will have powerful wifi. The only problem is that the LAN link from the Powerline AV500 adaptor runs at 100 Mbps while the Range Extender will be able to communicate at 1000 Mbps over the LAN. This should still be faster than a wifi repeater, but not as fast as if you had the newer generation powerline plugs.
The adaptor is not in his room as the signal is too weak, I have to run the ethernet cable across the lounge floor!I do not understand that. What signal? A Powerline adaptor works off the mains network. It isn't "listening" to any wifi. It may, though, be sending out wifi. That is also an access point.
Are you saying that the mains "signal" isn't up to it when you put the Powerline adaptor in his room? Or is the wifi signal no good when you do that?
From what you say, I assume that the TP-Link adaptors are delivering wifi and that the "source" plug for the powerline network is connected to your router rather than the Orbi.
Again, we are left in the dark because you don't say what the model numbers are for the TP-Link Powerline AV500 adaptors.
That makes it a repeater by my reckoning, a subset of the extender range. Most extenders can repeat and do genuine access point.
Why does Netgear insist on confusing people with its inconsistent nomenclature?
Might not be the best choice in these circumstances, given that the user already has Powerline.
