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Can I use a mesh network to provide wired interent?
I'm using wireless internet (T-Mobile). But I live in a rural area and have to place the T-Mobile modem in a barn to get a good signal (barn has a good one of sight view of the cell tower). Is th...
I got my configuration up and running.
T-Mobile Home Internet in the barn, with ethernet cable going to RBR, which is placed in front of a single pane window.
RBS in line of sight of RBR, about 70 feet away, in front of a dual-pane window.
Additional RBS on other side of house.
No wired backhaul.
Backhaul status for 2nd satellite listed as poor, but still seems to have good connectivity.
I have connected the 1st RBS to my wired network in the house, which goes to a netgear switch (GS316).
Attached to the netgear switch is a AC1000 wifi router that devices in my basement use. Not important, I just wanted to point out that the RBS did handle connecting to my switch and the ability for other routers/access points to use (which I confirmed with Netgear support).
However, speed tests when connected to the AC1000 were low (20 MB/s), so that would not be a viable method for everyday use. It works for me because the devices down there (water leak detector, energy monitor) are low bandwidth.
I connected a single device (laptop) to the 2nd satellite via ethernet and did not see the same speed reduction, the speed seemed appropriate for the backhaul status being reported (around 100 MB/s).
It appears that the wifi of the Orbi is much better than that provided by the T-Mobile Home Network device. When measured back to back I got 125 MB/s from the T-Mobile wifi, and 140 from the Orbi wifi.
Once I had the Orbi I was able to relocate the T-Mobile device to a better location, and I now get results in the 160-200 MB/s for my network (from an iMac located in the same room as the 1st satellite.
Summary: You can connect a satellite to a switch and it will handle multiple connections, but the speed through a router connected to that wired network does not come close to the speed of a direct connection (I only saw about 5 MB/s).
Very happy with my purchase (RBK753), before the rest of the house had very limited bandwidth (could not see the T-Mobile internet device), and now I have excellent bandwidth in the entire house.
Thanks for all the help! Much appreciated.
tjm1962 wrote:
Is there a way to drive the router ("Internet port") of a mesh system with a wifi signal?
In effect, you want a wireless to wireless connection between the first router and another device?
Not easy.
How far is the barn from where you need the wifi?
It's about 70 feet to the barn.
House is around 2000 sq. feet, do you think a mesh network would work? It would seem to me that everything would have to go through the satellite that is in line of sight of the barn, I wasn't sure if that would hurt performance or not.
Being that short of the distance, one could run a CAT6A STP cable from the home out to the barn.
Or try something like this:
https://www.netgear.com/business/products/wireless/wireless-airbridge/wbc502.aspx
tjm1962 wrote:
It's about 70 feet to the barn.
House is around 2000 sq. feet, do you think a mesh network would work?
Do you need the Internet in the barn, or is that just the best place to connect to the satellite?
I would investigate ways of improving satellite reception in the home.
Barn is the best place for the T-Mobile Home Internet device due to the hills around here and tower location.
If I went mesh it would be line of sight to my house, do you think the 70' would be a problem for a mesh satellite, and then I would put the other satellite in the far corner of the house? Does the second satellite need to be able to reach the Master unit?
If I understand correctly I can plug a wired device into a satellite. Any performance concerns if I connect a wired switch for my home network to it?
Would it help or hurt if I connected the two satellites with a wired connection?
Burying a cable is not something I want to consider, too many obstacles. It might be possible to move the T-Mobile device to the house but would involve installing an antenna on the roof without any guarantee of connectivity (just too many hills and trees in the way...).
I'm thinking of trying out the RBK753 (https://www.netgear.com/home/wifi/mesh/rbk853/), any concerns?
Thanks for the help!
Might be on the hairy edge of having the RBR in the home and the RBS in the barn. Depending upon barn materials. Signals would need to be mostly unobstructed. Would be best if you could get a LAN wired out there then the RBS would be wired for backhaul and would work great.
