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Forum Discussion
Router / satellite positioning - for highest performance
I have a 3000sq ft house, mainly on one floor with a lot of thick walls and separate rooms. The router is positioned at one end only, so I'm mainly having to daisychain my satellites. I currently hav...
It would be helpful to know the composition of "thick walls". (Brick? Concrete? Stone?)
One floor houses sometimes are more amenable to Ethernet wiring than two-story buildings. (If the attic is accessible)
Having the ISP service at one end (or one corner) of a building leads to a lot of frustration. I was surprised when my next door neighbor changed ISPs recently and the installer located the cable modem square in the middle of the house. I was tempted to ask my ISP until I realized that over the years I have created my "IT Department" in that corner room: desktops, printer, switches, PoE cables to security cameras...... No way I can move all that now.
When dealing with WiFi coverage issues, I like to make a WiFi "Heat Map" of the building using a free app on an Android tablet. (I found carrying a laptop around the house a LOT more cumbersome.)
The answer to that original question of "Does Daisy Chain affect performance?" is "Yes, it does."
Every WiFi packet to and from a device has to be transmitted twice (or three times) This ties up the 5G WiFi frequency used for backhaul because only one radio can use it at a time. Back in the days when internet speeds were well under 100mbs, there was so much capacity in the backhaul that the ISP was the limiting factor. With speeds now very much higher and there is so much streaming, Daisy Chain can become an issue.
So far no one has mentioned Powerline Ethernet as a way of extending your network.
This can create a wired connection between devices.Tour modem and router for example.
I have a powerline link between a modem and router (two separate boxes) and an Orbi router in AP mode. In your case, this could let you move the Orbi router to the middle of the house.
You could leave the Orbi in router mode and ignore the Virgin Super Hub. Or you could put that into modem/router mode so that it can provide wifi where the Internet enters the property. This can leave you with a slightly messy wifi environment with separate SSIDs, but most users won't notice it. That works fine here. Wifi clients are pretty good at working out which source to latch on to.
Unless you have seriously fast Internet Powerline can usually manage that. It is only when you get to really fast Internet connection that it begins to get in the way.
Another advantage of Powerline is that you can use it to connect things that don't move around the house, like TVs and media toys.
michaelkenward wrote:So far no one has mentioned Powerline Ethernet as a way of extending your network.
This can create a wired connection between devices.Tour modem and router for example.
I have a powerline link between a modem and router (two separate boxes) and an Orbi router in AP mode. In your case, this could let you move the Orbi router to the middle of the house.
You could leave the Orbi in router mode and ignore the Virgin Super Hub. Or you could put that into modem/router mode so that it can provide wifi where the Internet enters the property. This can leave you with a slightly messy wifi environment with separate SSIDs, but most users won't notice it. That works fine here. Wifi clients are pretty good at working out which source to latch on to.
Unless you have seriously fast Internet Powerline can usually manage that. It is only when you get to really fast Internet connection that it begins to get in the way.
Another advantage of Powerline is that you can use it to connect things that don't move around the house, like TVs and media toys.
I will look into a Powerline ethernet link, thanks for that. Do you have any recommendations? The last time I tried one (8 odd years ago) it was pretty pants, but I'm sure they're improved now. I could at least use that for a wired backhaul, that would improve speeds into the furthest satellites here.
CrimpOn wrote:It would be helpful to know the composition of "thick walls". (Brick? Concrete? Stone?)
One floor houses sometimes are more amenable to Ethernet wiring than two-story buildings. (If the attic is accessible)
Having the ISP service at one end (or one corner) of a building leads to a lot of frustration. I was surprised when my next door neighbor changed ISPs recently and the installer located the cable modem square in the middle of the house. I was tempted to ask my ISP until I realized that over the years I have created my "IT Department" in that corner room: desktops, printer, switches, PoE cables to security cameras...... No way I can move all that now.
When dealing with WiFi coverage issues, I like to make a WiFi "Heat Map" of the building using a free app on an Android tablet. (I found carrying a laptop around the house a LOT more cumbersome.)
The answer to that original question of "Does Daisy Chain affect performance?" is "Yes, it does."
Every WiFi packet to and from a device has to be transmitted twice (or three times) This ties up the 5G WiFi frequency used for backhaul because only one radio can use it at a time. Back in the days when internet speeds were well under 100mbs, there was so much capacity in the backhaul that the ISP was the limiting factor. With speeds now very much higher and there is so much streaming, Daisy Chain can become an issue.
Many thanks for this, and useful info re the daisy chaining. I suspected that was the case, so I want to tray and avoid any more than one Satellite in a chain. I'll experiment moving them around to see what I can do. My latest experiment trial saw two daisy chains coming from one Satellite, that can't be good for performance!
My walls are mainly concrete and brick, with some metal lined (insulation) thrown in for good measure. I could possibly make one long run from the router to the other end of the house via the attic, that might be possible and would help greatly.
The idea of a heat map is a good idea, I'll try that.
