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Nighthawk r7000 AC1900 with MESH X6S XS8000 AC3000
I currently have a Nighthawk r7000 AC1900 router located in the far corner of my home and I am unable to move it closer to the center of my home for better Wi-Fi coverage. I am considering purchasing the Nighthawk XS8000 AC3000 Mesh extender to assist with Wi-Fi coverage for the opposite corner of my home. I currently stream from my PC next to my router quite a bit every night and also stream my cable channels with occasional minor hiccups. Almost everything would end up passing thru the Nighthawk XS8000 AC3000 Mesh extender. Has anyone here ever used the Nighthawk XS8000 AC3000 Mesh extender with an Netgear router and what were their results? Pros, cons, caveats, installation notes, etc. This potential solution would cost less than purchasing a Orbi system since I already have a decent router.
I have used the EX8000 - for eval some time ago, as my router system is an Orbi RBK50.
The EX8000 has the same radio performance as the Orbi RBS50 (triband), so it should give good results for you. If you use it in extender mode, you can dedicate one of the 5G radios for the EX8000->router connection (using fast lane), and use the second 5G radio for your devices. That gives you the best performance in extender mode. The main drawback (which applies to all extenders) is that you need to place the EX8000 where you can get a solid (preferably 5G) connection to the R7000 WiFi.
If you can run ethernet to the EX8000, then you could also use it in AP mode, which eliminates any concerns about the quality/speed of the wifi backhaul. If you do that, you'd also be able to use all three bands for your clients.
7 Replies
I have used the EX8000 - for eval some time ago, as my router system is an Orbi RBK50.
The EX8000 has the same radio performance as the Orbi RBS50 (triband), so it should give good results for you. If you use it in extender mode, you can dedicate one of the 5G radios for the EX8000->router connection (using fast lane), and use the second 5G radio for your devices. That gives you the best performance in extender mode. The main drawback (which applies to all extenders) is that you need to place the EX8000 where you can get a solid (preferably 5G) connection to the R7000 WiFi.
If you can run ethernet to the EX8000, then you could also use it in AP mode, which eliminates any concerns about the quality/speed of the wifi backhaul. If you do that, you'd also be able to use all three bands for your clients.
My Nighthawk r7000 AC1900 router is dual band so does this mean my router will have its only 5G radio dedicated to communicating with the EX8000 leaving one 5G radio on the EX8000 available for device access and the other EX8000 5G radio dedicated for communicating with the router? If so this will be fine as the EX8000 would end up being the primary communications device. I would place the EX8000 at about the 50-75% signal range from the router. Too bad AP is not an option for me since it would be difficult to run CAT 6 cable in my home. I also considered a Powerline device but would also need a switch to increase the number of ports on my router.
oillogger wrote:
My Nighthawk r7000 AC1900 router is dual band so does this mean my router will have its only 5G radio dedicated to communicating with the EX8000
No. One radio in the extender is dedicated to communicating to the router. But the router 5G radio isn't dedicated, clients can still connect to it.
