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Forum Discussion
Orbi WiFi 6 (RBK853) AX600
I am building a 3 story house, 5,500 sqft. I am also building a shop/apartment about 250 feet away from my house. I am considering purchased the orbi 3 pack (RBK853) AX6000, I know it covers about 7,...
If you are building, then you already need to trench to provide electricity to the shop. As long as the trencher is on site, dig to place two PVC conduits for data cable. (One to use now, and one for whatever the heck is "de regur" in 10 years.
Local building codes will specify minimum distance between the electrical and low voltage cables.
https://www.truecable.com/blogs/cable-academy/running-ethernet-and-power-cable#
There is no WiFi router that will provide decent service at a distance of 250'. You could invest in a pair of WiFi repeaters to span the distance, but cable is better every time.
You are probably already considering this. Run as much ethernet cable as possible inside the house and plan that the location where the internet service and central router/switch/patch panel has adequate space, air flow, and electrical. Anything that can be connected with a cable is inherently better than WiFi connection. Just as the electical code requires outlets on every wall of every room, I would be thinking about ethernet jacks in every room.
Also, I would want some pathways for "future use", such as from this central location to the attic space and to the outside. That 2nd floor is going to be practically "inaccessible" once the walls and floors are sealed up.
CrimpOn Yes did plan on installing ethernet ports in the main areas. My main concern was getting signal to my shop. Correct me if im wrong, but I think I can purchase the 3 pack Orbi (RBK853) for just my house, but then run a line to my shop from my house that plugs into another sattelite that ill buy seperately. So 3 total sattellites. 2 in the house along with the router and then 1 in my shop that is fed from my router in my house. Since this is new construction ill just have the guys trench a line to my shop for conduit. Thoughts on this?
I think you have a good plan. Your "time frame" is really important...... because
This is a really awkward time to be investing in a new WiFi system. Every vendor is releasing products which conform to the new WiFi 6 (AX) standards, and products are just now beginning to come out that take advantage of the new capabilities. That is probably one reason you are looking at the Orbi "AX" product. I would spend some time looking at posts in the AX forum:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/bd-p/en-home-orbi-ax
Users have some pretty blistering comments about the AX systems.
Netgear is like General Motors. They have two competing AX product lines, the Orbi and the Nighthawk. Both are "better than sliced bread." Every other major WiFi vendor is releasing WiFi 6 products: D-Link, Linksys, TP-Link, Ubiquiti, AT&T, etc. etc.. Reviews of the products are just starting to come out and I have seen no "real world head-to-head" comparisons. It could very well be the case that when the house is ready to occupy, Netgear Orbi (or Netgear in general) will not have the most attractive system.
Thought of another "wiring issue": security cameras. PoE (Power over Ethernet) cameras are much less costly, easier to mount, and less trouble overall than WiFi cameras. But, how do you get the ethernet cable to the camera locations? Even if you go with WiFi cameras, they still need power. (Battery cameras are a POOR substitute for powered cameras.)
Sorry to ramble on. Quanantine is getting to me.
CrimpOn No apologies needed! Thank you for all your information! I want to go with the Wifi 6 systems just because they say it is the best and if we were to upgrade our iternet at some point in the futrure we would already be setup for it. Right now Att and Xfinity offer 1000mbps in our area. My son does alot of online gaming and is always wanting the best internet or "lowest ping". I dont really do that much web browsing but I do enjoy using streaming devices like amazon prime or netflix. Somethign else that might be a factor is we plan on going with Hulu Live TV or Youtube TV so we need strong wifi for out live tv. The shop is bascially going to be my "Man Cave" if you will, so all ill need is wifi for my phone and a TCL Smart tv for watching sports or whatever.