Hiam interested in the Orbi system as, like many, I am working from home now but have poor wifi signal in the kitchen! Have been thinking about a mesh system as I didn't want to spend too much time faffing around with a single extender and where to place it. This is primarily because of my current setup. The router is in the first floor office (where the master phone socket is). This router has ethernet connections for the first (of three in the house) powerline plugs, an old workhorse desktop pc with no wifi and the home security system hub (admittedly this could move elsewhere if necessary and could, I guess in theory, be switched to wifi -although I've not cracked that yet). The powerline plug in the office serves the TV box in the front room downstairs (which can only use ethernet) and another TV box (same type) in the loft bedroom. I guess my main concern with a mesh (or even extender) setup is that, once I have turned off the wifi in the router as required, what happens to the aforementioned ethernet connections as there is no scope in this case to make use of the ethernet sockets in the orbi satellite units. many thanks in advance!

You seem to have a good working router. Your best option is to keep you existing ISP router as a main router and use it for the TV boxes, and add Orbi in AP mode to improve the wifi coverage.

30 feet is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. https://kb.netgear.com/000036466/How-far-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite-from-my-Orbi-router

Not necessarily. However the RBR and RBS would be best if they matched. RBR20 and RBS20. Or RBR50 and RBS50. You can mixe 50 and 20 series RBS together. RBR 1 series doesn't seem to mix with the other Orbi systems. You might want to get a 20 series or 50 series system if your employer is wiling to reemburse you.

Potential Orbi setup, ethernet restrictions

8 Replies

ekhalil

Master

Apr 11, 2020

What is the type of the current router and what type of TV boxes do you have?

If the connection between the router and the TV boxes is normal LAN and does not need any vLAN configuration nor IGMP then you have two options:

1. Keep the existing ISP router as the main router and set Orbi in AP mode. In this case you can also keep the existing powerline ethernet connections between the existing router and the TV boxes.

2. Bridge the existing ISP router and use Orbi as the main router. In this case you have to move the ethernet connections (towards the TV Boxes) to the Orbi router or satellite.

Chrissy_Wissy

Tutor

Apr 11, 2020

thanks for reply. The router is the TalkTalk Wi-Fi Hub (UK). It has top-level wireless, supporting 802.11ac Wave 2. The AC2200 rating gives a theoretical throughput of 1733Mbps on the 5GHz band and 217Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. The router uses 4×4 MU-MIMO with Beamforming. The TV box is the talktalk TVPlus box. Spec (cut and paste from the provider)

DVB-T2 tuner	2
RF input	1* DTT tuner input for DVB-T2/DVB-T, IEC, 169-2 female
RF output	1* DTT pass through [PAL} output for DVB-T2/DVB-T, IEC 169-2 male
HDMI	1HDMI 1.3a output
SCART	1* output
USB 2.0	2* USB 2.0 (host type A connector) one on front or side panel, one on real panel
RJ-45	1* RJ45 Ethernet input (100 base-T, auto MDIX)
SPDIF	1, Toslink

ekhalil
Master
Apr 11, 2020
You seem to have a good working router. Your best option is to keep you existing ISP router as a main router and use it for the TV boxes, and add Orbi in AP mode to improve the wifi coverage.

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Potential Orbi setup, ethernet restrictions