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Forum Discussion
Three-floor house
Trying to determine the best set-up for Orbi Mesh Network
Three-story fraternity house, 13,000 square feet total (roughly 4,000 per floor).
About 25 students living there, but up to 75 people could be there at once.
Regular to heavy use of video watching, online classes, looking at 600/35 internet connection.
What's the best Orbi product for this situation, and how do you set them up effectively among three floors?
5 Replies
Bainsey wrote:Three-story fraternity house, 13,000 square feet total (roughly 4,000 per floor).
About 25 students living there, but up to 75 people could be there at once.
Regular to heavy use of video watching, online classes, looking at 600/35 internet connection.
What's the best Orbi product for this situation, and how do you set them up effectively among three floors?
There is not a computer science or electrical engineering major in the frat?
(or, a friendly alum who is in the networking business?)
My guess is that it will take one WiFi router and five satellites to cover this building (two units on each floor).
But, that depends on the shape and construction of the building.
Is it possible to install ethernet cabling from where the internet service comes in to satellite locations?
This is an awkward time to invest in WiFi systems. The new WiFi 6E systems are just beginning to come out (a couple this week). Although there are zero WiFi devices that support 6E (yet), within a year there will be. And, 6E will provide vastly superior connection between the mesh units. The Original Orbi was engineered in 2016, when 100mb internet was rare. Even Netgear's WiFi 6 Orbi's were designed in 2019, when gigabit ethernet was rarely available.
How about providing a rough diagram of the shape of the building and the possibility of installing ethernet cables?
Hmm...I wouldn't say Gb ISP services were rare, it's been on various ISP plans since about 2017-18. I had first crack with my ISP in 2018 testing Gb speeds on a ORbi CBK40. Worked then. Thought Gb has been someone new, its becoming more common place in the past couple of years.
That kind of sq footage, not sure if Orbi would be a good fit. Unless you can add say up to 4-6 additional RBS. You might want to take in some reviews for actual wireless APs instead of a wifi MESH sysem.
Strongly endorse using a wired connection between the floors.
What is the time frame for installation?
i.e. is this an immediate need, or is this in preparation for "in person" instruction beginning in August/September?
Are you prepared to "rip the whole thing out" in 2-3 years?
Is there a proposed budget?
The ISP will be providing a 600 down/35 up connection.
I'm also a big fan of going wired over wireless, but let's be honest here. We're dealing with college students, born in this century. They're going to be watching classes and other videos on their laptops, taking them wherever they want, and not even including their smartphones.
For the one who asked for a schema, just picture three 80'x50' floors. The modem will be on the middle floor, central to the building, and all other WiFi/meshes would orbit around that. We'd like to be able to put each mesh or WiFi "station" in a lock box, for security reasons, to prevent theft.
So, if not Orbi, then what?
