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Recommended Orbi Mesh Network type
We have a three story home, with the Cable modem coming into the basement. Would you recomment going with a Daisy Chain or Star network. I am considering putting the Router on the main floof via exis...
Extending the cable for the modem to the main floor would be a viable option. This is your choice. The CAT5 cable is probably fine if your ISP speed is 100Mb/s or less, but cannot handle 1Gb/s.
Is your cabling to the main floor only CAT5? You should use CAT5e or better for gigabit speed.
If it is at least CAT5e, then having your router on the main floor is better than in the basement. Many IoT devices will connect to the first 2.4GHz WiFi they see, which may not be from a satellite if it is closer. This is due to a race condition caused by the WiFi of the router being enabled for client connections before the satellites are up and accepting connections. Smart phone, laptops and tablets will constantly look for the best WiFi signal to support their roaming capability. Whereas a Smart TV, IP Camera, smart plug, etc are not expected to roam, so they only connect to the first signal they see.
Thanks Tom. The wiring is 18 year old Cat5, so it sounds like using the Gbyte cable from modem to router is the way to go. Only other option I can think of is coupling the incoming cable coax to a mainfloor coax port and moving both the modem and Orbi router. Do you think that woule be worth the extra effort?
Thanks again.
Pete
Extending the cable for the modem to the main floor would be a viable option. This is your choice. The CAT5 cable is probably fine if your ISP speed is 100Mb/s or less, but cannot handle 1Gb/s.
Is this question theoretical (prior to purchase) or practical (I have the Orbi. What's the best way to deploy it?)
Ethernet Cat5 cables were designed to support connection at 100 meters (about 330 ft.) See the 1000BASE-T specification: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabit_Ethernet#1000BASE-T It would be interesting to see if these much shorter cables will support gigabit links.
This is simple to test. Plug in the Orbi and see what "Link Rate" shows up. Or, use two computers with gigabit ethernet and see what speed they report.
Moving the modem and router "to the middle" is a great idea, provided that the coax still provides the right signal level. (Every foot of coax adds attenuation, and splitters drastically reduce the signal.)
Thanks. I do have the product in hand and will just get to it and see what link rates look like.
Cheers,
Pete
