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Forum Discussion
So if I was to return the Orbi
Wanting to try an alternate to the Orbi to see if I can get any better performance out of a stand alone wifi router before returning the Orbi to Costco. What is the best consumer grade router that I can buy to reasonably cover a 4000SF two story stick built house? Love the mesh concept but getting tired of the drops. I need rock solid stability as we use the WIFI for calling. Have over 30 devices connected and ethernet drops throughout the house so could go to an AP if I need to but that has its own challenges.
13 Replies
Superpop wrote:
and ethernet drops throughout the house so could go to an AP if I need to but that has its own challenges.if you have ethernet you dont need any mesh system or orbi and separate wireless access points with a dedicated router is your best option by far
alternatives for multi room wifi:
Google Wifi
Sitecom Huddle
Ubiquiti AmpliFi HD
Linksys velop
TP-Link Deco
Asus Hive
I guess I was not clear, is there a router out there that will cover a 4000SF stick built house without repeaters or AP's
Superpop wrote:I guess I was not clear, is there a router out there that will cover a 4000SF stick built house without repeaters or AP's
Definitely not using 5 GHz. You might be able to get OK coverage using 2.4 GHz, but it won't be fast far from the router.
Given that you have wired infrastructure, your best bet would be wired APs, like the Ubiquiti Unifi APs.
Repeaters are a poor solution, but It's not clear why you don't want to go the AP route.
Superpop wrote:I guess I was not clear, is there a router out there that will cover a 4000SF stick built house without repeaters or AP's
if you are asking if the is any single big honking wireless router that will cover 4000sf home the answer is not with any great success or stability or throughput / speed
its simple physics , the max any wireless is allowed to transmit is set by the regulations of the country you live in and can not be exceeded , so all these big honking routers with even bigger numbers on then wont give you any greater increase in coverage because of the limitations of the regulations
this is why if you have such a big space you need multiple transmissions to cover the whole house with stable and fast wifi speeds
the general consensus is if you have ethernet installed use wireless access points as this provides by far the best coverage and stability and throughput speed
anything other than ethernet connected wireless access points is a compromise , this includes orbi and other mesh systems
2.4 gig may give you better coverage than 5 gig but with much slower speeds , 2.4 gig may also be effected by other user in your area
SO if I go the AP route can I add AP's to a wireless router to suplement coverage and still have seamless roaming?
Picked up a Netgear X8 8500 today and it works great with no drops so far. WIFI seems to be comparable to Orbi for what I am doing. Back to Costco with the Orbi.
Superpop wrote:Picked up a Netgear X8 8500 today and it works great with no drops so far. WIFI seems to be comparable to Orbi for what I am doing. Back to Costco with the Orbi.
then its clear that you didnt need a wireless disto system in the first place if a single wireless router covers your needs
i think many of the complaints we are seeing may be related to the fact they are using the orbi in too small an area
Again you have no clue. Actually netgear support has located the issue and working on a debug firmware to help resolve it. They requested to give them more time to fix the issue for everyone. My house is a large one story. 2600 sq ft on 1 acre. My Orbi's are about 40 feet apart from one another and I have great coverage for all my devices to work just fine. Still, Android and IOS devices dropping as well as TIVOs.
Took my Orbi back, probably true that I may not have needed the mesh set-up and plan to leverage my installed ethernet cabling if I need to add an AP. So far my WIFI and Network performance has been great with the 8500. I may be clueless but I know that the Orbi is not ready for prime time and still lacks a lot of features that other new routers have. I am not an IT expert but I know flaky performance when I see it.
Superpop wrote:Took my Orbi back, probably true that I may not have needed the mesh set-up and plan to leverage my installed ethernet cabling if I need to add an AP. So far my WIFI and Network performance has been great with the 8500. I may be clueless but I know that the Orbi is not ready for prime time and still lacks a lot of features that other new routers have. I am not an IT expert but I know flaky performance when I see it.
the issue here is the orbi was never designed and never have the features of a big honking router like the 8500 ( i have one btw and its pretty good ) , the orbi is designed for a different market , that market being those that dont want , need or care about the feature set and just want a working whole house wifi solution thats just about plug and play , as for so called prime time thats exactly what it does here , eg provide whole home wifi
