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Forum Discussion
What is the maximum number of Satellites for Nighthawk Mesh MR60 Router
Situation: I have an MR63 which works fine with one router and 3 satellites. I have difficulty in connecting the 4th or 5th satellite apart from one time, where a 4th sat was connected. The typical ...
Not sure of the exact amount you can have as I don't have that system.
a couple tips based off the orbi system though.
1. you can have issues if you have to many satellites and they're to close together. I had more stability with a router +2 satellites than I did with 3 satellites. they need at least 30ft between them for the roaming/mesh setup to work properly.
2. the MK60 system is the dual band system. It doesn't have the dedicated backhaul of the MK80 system or the triband orbi's. Its not going to tolerate adding as many satellites as the triband systems because it doesn't have the dedicated backhaul. Its also going to see performance drop off faster with daisy chaining (by quite a bit)
3. when adding more satellites, some have powered off the connected satellites to install the new ones. Then, once the new ones are setup, powered the working ones back on. These has helped get more satellites installed than should be.
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
FYI .. and to share with everyone, the distance between each node (where a node is a router or a satellite), is 30 ft or so (ie they are neither too close nor at a direct line of site).
Please note that the satellites were placed with a direct line of sight with the router when adding each satellite. Sync process was perfect, and then I let "all" 3 at the same "floor" level but reasonably apart and they run for several hours (just to undertake an end-to-end system test). No issue at all.
When I move one of the satellites after the successful test to (say) the ground level in the garage and the router sill placed at the first floor (with at least 40ft virtual direct "geometrical" line of sight, the satellite in the garage drops all the time. For this reason, I was trying to add a 4th satellite and place it somehere between the router and the [3rd] satellite in the garage (which is dropping on/off).
I have had Netgear-branded Arlo and found out that it seems the firmware running the "auto-reconnect" service is NOT as professional as one expects from Netgear. So I had to dump the "several" thousand dollars Arlo Pro system (BTY: several cameras where the majority were connected via wired Cat6 anyway).
I do pray that Netgear pays attention to such (one assumes) a simple issue since the coverage is certainly NOT an issue with the MR60. The com=nstrucion is mainly a timber frame with gyprock and a few metal beams between the ground floor and the first floor.
The observed defect (i think it is a MAJOR DEFECT just like the not so pleasant experience with Arlo Pro) is as simple as when a satellite loses the sync (for whatever reason), the router sometimes "auto-re-syncs" within 10-30 seconds while other times, it does not re-sunc until one power cycles the satellite.
Wonder if I can set up two routers, each with its own 2 satellites. One system being placed on the ground floor, and another placed on the first floor. Both systems will be connected directly via separate Cat6 to the main ISP modem (with a built-in 4-port switch). I know that the default IPs for the routers have to be user-defined, and I am guessing that I may also have to user-define the 5GHz channel to avoid conflict ) or, would the routers negotiate and sort the IP range and channels in a smart way!- I doubt it!)
Any thoughts from the community with experience in setting up two MR63 systems at two different levels of the same premises, please?
Thanks in anticipation.