I have the Orbi router and three satellites. I need to connect three 24 port switch boxes to the network. Must I connect the switches to the router or can I connect a switch to each satellite?.

That's a lot of switch ports. If you connect a wired device to the satellite, it will communicate to the router over the dedicated 5 GHz WiFi backhaul. I have benchmarked this link at 500 Mbps throughput, as have others on this site. A Gigabit Ethernet switch will provide ~990 Mbps throughput on each port. The answer to your question depends on what you are trying to do, and which devices need to talk to which. But, if you want the devices connected to the switches to have the fastest throughput to/from the Internet (990 Mbs instead of 500 Mbps), then you would be better off connecting your switches to the router.

Elvisj wrote: I connected the X8 R8500 into the ethernet in the external garage and the ports work but its wi-if does not. I appears to be there but message says "no internet connection". There is no way for the Orbi to know you have a secondary wifi connection. Based on your description that the R8500 ports work, but the WiFi does not, it sounds like you have the R8500 connected incorrectly and/or misconfigured. Setup the R8500 in Access Point mode. Make sure the cables are connected correctly for AP mode. This means connecting one end of the Ethernet cable to a LAN port on the Orbi router and the other end to the Yellow Internet port of the R8500. See page 89 of the R8500 manual for instructions on how to setup and wire the R8500 router for Access Point mode: http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/R8500/R8500_UM_4jan2016.pdf

Thanks, I have a 6,000 sf house and have widely distributed TVs, music, cameras and phones, which is why I spread 3 24 port switches within the house. Not all are full, but I like a port available when needed. I doubt speed is critical so I will test moving the switches to satellites, because running long ethernet wires across the attic from one router is difficult.

That's a large area to cover. It sounds like you already have the three switches installed and wired back to a router. Is that the case?

Yes you can connect switches to the satellites just as you would connect wireless devices to a satellite vs. the main router, especially if speed is not critical.

Orbi switch connection | NETGEAR Communities

11 Replies

st_shaw
Master
Jan 17, 2017
That's a lot of switch ports. If you connect a wired device to the satellite, it will communicate to the router over the dedicated 5 GHz WiFi backhaul. I have benchmarked this link at 500 Mbps throughput, as have others on this site. A Gigabit Ethernet switch will provide ~990 Mbps throughput on each port.

The answer to your question depends on what you are trying to do, and which devices need to talk to which. But, if you want the devices connected to the switches to have the fastest throughput to/from the Internet (990 Mbs instead of 500 Mbps), then you would be better off connecting your switches to the router.
- Elvisj
  Star
  Jan 17, 2017
  Thanks, I have a 6,000 sf house and have widely distributed TVs, music, cameras and phones, which is why I spread 3 24 port switches within the house. Not all are full, but I like a port available when needed. I doubt speed is critical so I will test moving the switches to satellites, because running long ethernet wires across the attic from one router is difficult.
  - st_shaw
    Master
    Jan 17, 2017
    That's a large area to cover. It sounds like you already have the three switches installed and wired back to a router. Is that the case?
cue003
Apprentice
Feb 19, 2017
Just to be clear from your last post... you have an Orbi router PLUS three (3) or is that four (4) satellites? And it is all working pretty well -- except one on the external garage?

This will be the most amount of satellites that I heave read about yet on this or any other site.

Where is the router in relation to all the satellites? Center of house, corner, etc.

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Orbi switch connection