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Forum Discussion
Orbi switch connection
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.
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.
I have Time Warner with my own modem, which has only one ethernet port. I run it to the Orbi router. I bought the 4th satellite today and it appears to have installed correctly. Each satellite has a 24 port switch connect to it which also appears to work. The satellites are positioned at the 4 corners of the house. The external garage is away from the house but I buried an ethernet cable to it. The router has hubs plugged into the ethernet ports: Samsung, Sonos, and Arlo Pro. 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". This appears to be a common Orbi problem, secondary wi-fi's do not connect. So I am left with another switch if I have multiple devices. Does anyone know how many switches can be connected in series? I have tried that before and sometimes it works and sometimes it does not.
