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Re: Is there any benefit to have a wired backhaul for an Orbi Mesh system?
In my experience no! I’ve had an RBR750 and 5x RBS750s for a couple of years. Although for some of that time I’ve had pretty good Wi-Fi network, I’ve spent countless hours/days/weeks fiddling tryin...
I’m sure in general you are correct, wired will usually be more robust than Wi-Fi, which is why I wanted to go down that road in the first place. All I know is that the end result for my network has been very clear. After a huge amount of time and troubleshooting (new cables, setting everything up from scratch etc), the network is significantly more stable with a wireless backhaul. Handoff when roaming between APs works much more smoothly and devices connect much more quickly. I’m not sure why, that’s just my experience. Perhaps I’m just unlucky!
Would need more details and feedback on questions given to better help you figure out the "I’m not sure why".
Sorry, last reply was in fact a reply to the post before yours. Thanks for taking the time to help.
In answer to your questions:
Firmware V4.6.14.3_2.3.12, all satellites up to date.
Property size is roughly 5000sq feet. Lots of thick cob (mud) and stone walls. Minimum distance between APs is 20 feet (when walls are v think), max 40 feet (across garden to garage). I have read the recommendations about optimal placement/distance and have spent a lot of time experimenting with different positions, as well as reducing the transmit power of both bands.
Switch was a TP link SG1005P unmanaged gigabit switch. It's not in there at the moment, but I tried with and without as a test just in case.
I have tried different cables, but the current ones (which I disconnected last week and it's been fine since) were brand new, Cat7 shielded. The RBR750 confirms that when connected they manage to negotiate a full speed connection, looking at the statistics page (1000M/Full).
I have 5 satellites. Now that they are all on wireless 5GHz backhaul, it's all working pretty smoothly, with generally good handoff and roaming, reasonable speeds and quick device joining. Testing speeds from APs to the router with the openspeedtest add-on for Home Assistant (ethernet to router) I get generally get 300-600mps wirelessly with latency of a few ms.
It is probably worth noting that I do have a potential double NAT situation going on at the moment, as I have a Starlink v2 router providing my internet. This is plugged into the WAN port of the RBR750. Starlink does not appear to be fully compatible with Orbi (numerous examples in these forums of people with similar experience), and I have found that when enabling bypass mode (as recommended by Starlink when using a 3rd party router) on the Starlink my network (in terms of latency and speed) is actually much worse! So whilst I do have a potential double NAT situation, my network is currently performing the best it has for a long time with the Starlink in router mode and the Orbi using 5GHz backhaul. The problems with wired backhaul being less stable than wireless pre-dated the Starlink router (I had an ADSL modem before that) so I had assumed the two were not linked but I thought it was worth mentioning just in case.
Your system is behind on FW as well:
What is the size of the home in Sq Ft?
Where do you have the RBR and RBS placed with in the home and remote locations?
Can you draw us up a floor diagram and lay out with indication of where the RBR and RBS are placed with distances please?
Please describe the issues and problems seen when the RBS were all ethernet connected...
Some non NG branded switches can also impact how the RBR and RBS work when ethernet connected. NG GS-105/108v4 and GS308v3 series switches work for Orbi systems.
For the 7 series Orbi system, CAT6 UTP cabling would be recommended and sufficient for ethernet connections between the RBR and RBS.
Recommended connection paths for ethernet connected RBS:
Depending on size of home and placement of RBS, 5 RBS maybe too much. I have a 5k sq ft home and can get away with one RBS ethernet or wireless connected when I have my 750 series online.
Hi,
Thanks for your reply.
In answer to your questions:
I'm surprised about the firmware - I've just rechecked on the router browser config page and it states that all the devices are up to date - is this not accurate?
My home is approx 5000sq feet. Two floors, but the problem is that much of it is made out of cob (mud) or stone and the walls and some of the floors/ceilings are very thick. I have placed the router centrally upstairs, and done extensive experimentation with the position of the satellites which are all downstairs. I'm aware that optimal placement is 30 feet or so, but in certain areas I've found that things worked much better with a smaller distance for the wireless backhaul due to the sheer thickness of mud and stone (RBSs 2 and 3)! That's why I've got 5 of them.
The thick walls also make routing ethernet tricky, but I managed to route two ethernet cables from the RBR to the RBSs numbers 1 and 3. The other RBSs run of wireless backhaul. They are all arranged in hub/spoke orientation, apart from 5, which is daisy chained from 4. 5 is in a garage with a clear line of sight and works pretty reliably.
So I was running a mixed ethernet/wireless backhaul, but have since ditched the wired part and it's all 5GHz now. The whole network was generally less stable when these two ethernet backhauls were connected. Devices took longer to connect, sometimes several minutes, and would drop connections. Pings and speeds were less.
I only used a switch briefly as a test
I'm aware that a minimum of Cat 6 cable is recommended, I went with Cat 7 to future proof things. The cables are all brand new and shielded/braided.
I followed the link you mentioned about connections.
I've attached a floor plan. Sorry it's quite busy! Hopefully it's all self explanatory.
I very much appreciate you taking the time to help!
Thanks