RBK853 vs RBE973

Uses same frequencies that are limited by building materials. Nature of the beast in any MESH system.

 

What is the distance between the RBR and the RBS. 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR 📡 and RBS 🛰️ to begin with depending upon building materials when wired or wirelessly connected. If building materials are a factor then you might close the distances some between the RBR and RBS. Most cases you'll see slower performances over wifi after the RBS unless they are ethernet connected. 

 

I'd definitely try the PL adapters to see if this will help in prove the performances at the remote RBS location.

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Havok_ wrote:

Does the RBE973 use different backhaul frequency/technology that penetrates walls better so I'd see better speeds?  Realizing that over wireless, the backhaul will suck vs wired, is it better on the 970 series?

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Yes, the 970 product uses WiFi7 encoding (802.11be) for the WiFi link between router and satellite.  While the actual radio frequencies are affected by distance and building materials the same way the 850 product WiFi link is, the encoding may result in a higher transmission rate than the 850.  As with all WiFi, this link remains "Half Duplex", meaning that when one radio transmits the other radios must listen.  The 853 has one router and two satellites, so all three share the 5GHz link.  It would be an expensive experiment to discover how much greater performance would be delivered by the 970 product.

 

Powerline adapters are a much less expensive experiment (under $100 for two).  Powerline is also affected by distance, condition of the electrical wiring, and passage through circuit breakers.  The highest performance is when two adapters are on the same electrical circuit and are not very far apart.  (I have a pair of TP-Link 9020P adapters on the same circuit which report a link rate** of over 1,300Mbps in both directions.  A third adapter that is on a different electrical circuit and is more than twice as far away reports only 340Mbps in one direction and 340Mbps in the other.

 

** TP-Link provides a utility (Windows) which reports information about their Powerline adapters.  I have not found a similar utility for Netgear Powerline adapters.

 

Like WiFi, Powerline is inherently "Half Duplex". All the Powerline adapters on the electrical grid share the bandwidth.

 

There certainly is a chance that Powerline will improve performance to this satellite.  Testing the hypothesis will be relatively inexpensive.  (I LOVE this kind of experiment!)

 

Another inexpensive test would be to purchase a 100ft. Cat6 Ethernet cable (under $20 on Amazon).  Ethernet is inherently "Full Duplex".  Data flows in both directions at the same time.  Also, Ethernet has dramatically less overhead than WiFi (or Powerline).  Pick a time when stringing a cable through the house will not a tremendous distraction and connect the router and satellite over the cable.  Within five minutes or so, the link should change from 5GHz WiFi to 'Wired'.  Measure the speed.  Is the increase in speed significant enough to make a difference?  If so, it is time to consider the cost/inconvenience of installing a cable vs. the increase in performance.

 

If you do either experiment, please return to the forum and share the results.