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Upgrade to WiFI 6
Hello,
I am looking for some advice on whether I should upgrade from a WiFi 5 Orbi system to a WiFI 6 system.
I currently have a Motorola 8600 cable modem and a 1 GB internet plan from Comcast. My home is 3,600 sq feet.
My Orbi setup is in the screenshot below.
Reasons for upgrading:
- Increased bandwidth for video streaming. I also have a Plex media server.
- Looking to have coverage outside to a garage that the current setup can't support.
- Currently have around 20-30 devices connected at any one time.
I am also concerned about whether these Orbi products will still receive firmware updates in the future. I do check regularly for them.
I am not pulling the plug right now since the system I am looking to upgrade to, the Orbi 850 series are too expensive right now to buy new.
Are there any other alternative Orbi systems you'd recommend or should I wait for sales?
I'll just add my 0.02c since we had similar hardware and layout. I had an Orbi RBR50 with 3 satellites, one in guest room (closest to garage, about 30 feet), one in basement, one in upstairs office, and Orbi router in living room. I transfer files around using wireless backhaul and was getting about 30-50MB/sec. Just upgraded to an Orbi 960 with two satellites. Local thruput is now about 100-105MB/sec, however the garage coverage is no better than it was before.
8 Replies
A Orbi AX 7 or 8 series system would be something to review. For that size of home, just 1 RBR and 1 RBS would work. Two RBS however I would turn down the power to 50%.
Is the current system meeting your goals? Other than the not reaching the garage?
How far away is the garage?
And what are the home and garage's exterior walls made from?
Certain materials block wifi better than others and it doesn't matter what you add for wireless access points if the home is made of those.
The current system is meeting my goals except for not reaching the garage. The home and garage is made out of cedar siding and coverage is good throughout the house.
The space between where the cable modem and Orbi router sits from the garage is about 40 feet. The Orbi router is in a second floor office.
Try taking on of the satellites from the home (furthest from the garage) and stick it in the garage to see if it can pickup the house wifi (try it in a window if there's one) and rebroadcast. If it can, I'd simply add a satellite.
If it doesn't, you might need to figure out a way to connect them.
Either by running ethernet, using a moca adapters (if they have coax connections), trying powerline, or a point to point system.
Because wifi 6 didn't add much for range. What extra range it picks up is by increased efficiencies and not from increased broadcast power.
