Advice before purchase

Question

I'm living in a timber farmhouse in a remote area that has no cell reception. I have a dual 4G dual antenna on the roof that points to a cell tower 5 miles away over the hills and is connected to a 4G modem (GL-X750 Spitz v2 CAT 60). The modem is robust and the speed of 15Mbs max is adequate for cell phone calls, internet browsing and streaming, but obviously not blazing.

What I want to do is push the signal down to the garage, 16m (52ft) from the modem and out into the house paddock to 20m minimum (66ft). There are 2 timber walls between modem and garage and glass on the sides pointing to the paddock. I was looking at the RBK 852 and the RBK 625 2-packs for their range, not their speed, though I don't want to spend more than I need to.

I gather I'd plug the Orbi base 'modem' into the ethernet port of the 4G modem then the single satellite would work off the signal from the Orbi modem, and they both push out a wifi signal I assume the 4G modem would work with an Orbi?

My question is, what is the realist range of the signal from these devices, mine would be straight line through glass, so I can get cell over wi-fi reception outside of the house to a reasonable distance. I'm assuming the ones published are theoretical so I'm looking for real world ranges.

StephenB · Answer

rusty99 wrote:
My question is, what is the realist range of the signal from these devices, mine would be straight line through glass, so I can get cell over wi-fi reception outside of the house to a reasonable distance. I'm assuming the ones published are theoretical so I'm looking for real world ranges.

Orbi mesh systems are intended to provide high performance wifi coverage inside a house (or building).&nbsp; You are wanting something a bit different, so it's hard to say how well it would work.&nbsp; Among other things, it depends on how far the paddock is from the garage.
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There are some other possibilities you could consider.&nbsp; If the garage and paddock are both getting AC power from the house circuit breakers, then you might consider trying powerline networking.&nbsp; There are powerline systems that have built-in WiFi.&nbsp; Netgear used to make some (not sure if they still do), and of course there are other vendors.&nbsp; That would be your least expensive option, so worth a try.
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Another option is to get an outdoor wifi system, and connect it with ethernet to your existing modem (or router if that is separate).&nbsp; Cost would probably be similar to the Orbi system, and those products are a better fit for what you want to do.
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rusty99 · Answer

Thanks for that info, and to clarify, the house paddock is outside the front door as it used to be a working farm. The Orbi blurb states that their devices can cover courtyards as well as houses, so I was hoping to get coverage throughout the house as well as an unknown distance outside.&nbsp;

FURRYe38 · Answer

20-30 feet coverage outside of the home. Beyond that, would be a stretch.&nbsp;

StephenB · Answer

rusty99 wrote:
Thanks for that info, and to clarify, the house paddock is outside the front door as it used to be a working farm. The Orbi blurb states that their devices can cover courtyards as well as houses, so I was hoping to get coverage throughout the house as well as an unknown distance outside.&nbsp;

The mesh elements connect with each other using wifi.&nbsp; If they are too far apart, they won't connect with each other, and there isn't much point in putting them close together.&nbsp; The usual recommendation for placement is to put them around 30 feet apart (ideally with the router in the middle).&nbsp; That is assuming indoor placement.&nbsp; So you could maybe get away with putting a satellite in the garage, but the paddock would be stretch.&nbsp;
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But it is possible that you don't need to put a satellite in either of those buildings.&nbsp; My Orbi 870 will deliver ~200 mbps to my iPhone 12 when I am about 90 feet away from the house.&nbsp; The house is wood construction, and the closest mesh element is placed in the room closest to where I was standing outside - perhaps 10 feet away from the exterior wall.&nbsp; &nbsp;These distances are approximate, but definitely further than 20m. The only wall on the path was the exterior wall of the house.&nbsp; My mesh elements are all indoors.
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But my performance at that distance was inconsistent - I did see some connection drops, and there were a couple of measurements that were much slower (5-10 mbps).&nbsp; Note the iPhone I was using only supports WiFi 6, so the speed would have been similar with the 850.
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What range you would get depends on a lot of unknowns.&nbsp; Your timber construction might block more wifi signal than the wood framing in my house.&nbsp; Some homes have metallic sheathing that can also block wifi.&nbsp; Large metal appliances (refrigerators, stoves+hoods, etc) on the signal path can block wifi, as can pipes and chimneys.
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The fact that you are in a rural area is a plus - I am in a suburban area with a lot of neighbor wifi that can interfere.
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If you have dead spots in your home, then you could get the Orbi to improve your indoor coverage, and then add other kit if you discover you need it.
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But if your indoor wifi coverage is fine, then I'd suggest looking first at the other options.&nbsp;

You can find an AV2 powerline kit that has one adapter with a built inWiFi extender for under $100 on Amazon (US pricing).&nbsp; Make sure you look for at least AV1000 or AV2 (sometimes called AV2000).&nbsp; AV600 is a lot slower.&nbsp; These aren't rated for outdoor use (neither are the 850 satellites), so you would need to keep them out of the weather.
Outdoor Access/Points and Extenders are somewhat more expensive, and are more work to install.&nbsp;

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rusty99 wrote:
I was looking at the RBK 852 and the RBK 625 2-packs

Is the RBK 625 a typo?&nbsp; I am guessing you meant RBK 652.

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