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Forum Discussion
Using Orbi and Nighthawk X8
So we've been fighting poor signal to the other side of the house for years now (mother in laws apartment). We've finally run an ethernet cable through the basement from the wireless router to the b...
It sounds like she purchased a system with an RBR20 base unit. That only has one LAN port.
Although it sounds like you are happy with your X8, if you do want to switch over to Orbi then the appropriate model is probably the RBK50. That would give you 3 ethernet LAN ports in the RBR50 base unit. You could use the third port (and the ethernet cable already in place) for backhaul between the router and the satellite (though you likely won't need it).
However, if the apartment is largely separate from the main house, then you don't really need seamless roaming throughout the space. Adding an wired AP device (ether extender or router hardware) in the dead zone will be enough to get good wifi coverage there.
The Orbi can be set up as a aired AP, it doesn't need to replace your Nighthawk. So you can place the Orbi base in the dead zone, and use it that way. It might be overkill (meaning that you might not need the Orbi satellites). If so, she could exchange it for a Nighthawk extender or router. They all can be deployed as wired APs, using the ethernet cable to connect to the router. If you go with extender hardware, make sure you get a model that has at least two LAN ports so you can connect up the existing desktop PC.