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Forum Discussion
RobTTGP
Nov 23, 2021Aspirant
Nighthawk X6 Tri-Band WiFi Router R8000 + 3 additional EX8000 – AC3000 Nighthawk X6S Mesh exted
Hi all, So, I had an apple network set-up in my house but it was aging and so I thought i would upgrade it. My issues within our house are; I have a bungalow so its widespread. The wall...
RobTTGP
Nov 23, 2021Aspirant
Hi FURRye38,
Thank you for the quick reply, it's roughly 15m x 18m so 270m2 or 2900ft2.
There is roughly 35ft between the router and the 2 extenders in the house and maybe 45ft to the metal garden office.
Thanks,
Rob
plemans
Nov 23, 2021Guru - Experienced User
What I'd try doing?
connect the 2x EX8000's in the home with them setup in extender mode and not hardwired in. (with the "onewifi" feature enabled) In extender mode, it still uses the smart roaming protocol so devices should work fairly well.You can also setup the EX8000's for different backhauls on the r8000. Meaning you could have one connected to the high band and the other to the lower band channels (might take some playing around with to get working like that).
You're garden one is the challenge. When the EX8000 is hardwired in, its ran in access point mode. Access point mode disables the roaming protocols. But most newer devices have their own smart roaming protocols built into them. So when you leave the garden shed, its structure could cause the device to automatically roam because of the decreased signal. So potentially you can have it with the same ssid as the house and potentially roam. It isn't as seamless as using a system like orbi or the MK nighthawk that supports both wired and wireless backhaul but it might work.
- plemansNov 23, 2021Guru - Experienced User
Another thing to try is to disable the smart connect on the R8000. Seperate out the 2x 5ghz bands and connect each EX8000 to one of them. Maybe they're cause instabilities because they're connecting to each other and not back to the R8000. I've seen that happen when the extenders are to close together.
Shoot for a star setup.
Star: extender<--------------router--------------------->extender
try to avoid daisy chain.
Daisy: router-------------->extender------------------>extender
- RobTTGPNov 23, 2021Aspirant
Hi Plemans,
Thanks for the reply, I'll try it without the data cables and see how it handles it but if I force it to connect to one extender and move away then it does struggle at distances it shouldn’t which indicate the walls are causing an issue, but it's worth a try at least.
If that doesn’t work it sounds like I need a system that offers wired (or both) backhaul if generally speaking my explanations above are reasonably accurate.
In that case what would you recommend? The Orbi seems to focus very much on the wireless backhaul, does it work will even with a wired backhaul and / or am I paying a lot for a wireless backhaul I’m not going to use?
I need a system that has seamless handover of devices, wired backhaul, WiFi 6 (if I’m getting a new system it seems wise to get one that will last) and one that’s easy to set-up ….. is there anything I’m missing and or what are the best options?Thanks,
Rob
- plemansNov 23, 2021Guru - Experienced User
If you're looking at mesh systems, the Orbi setup works well with both wired and wireless backhaul. I've used combinations of both in home home with great success. If you get your current system working though, I'd probably wait a bit. The firmware on the 7 & 8 series has been a bit sketchy lately. Seems like it goes in streaks of working great and then a period of sketchiness as something causes bugs.
so overall, I'd try playing with your current system first. Voice calls don't take a bunch of data so none of your devices are going to be bottlenecking the system. It'll just be trying to figure out the best seamless roaming option. That's why I'd try the wireless backhaul so the roaming functions on the EX8000's is enabled.
- FURRYe38Nov 23, 2021Guru - Experienced User
RobTTGP wrote:
Thanks for the reply, I'll try it without the data cables and see how it handles it but if I force it to connect to one extender and move away then it does struggle at distances it shouldn’t which indicate the walls are causing an issue, but it's worth a try at least.
If that doesn’t work it sounds like I need a system that offers wired (or both) backhaul if generally speaking my explanations above are reasonably accurate.
In that case what would you recommend? The Orbi seems to focus very much on the wireless backhaul, does it work will even with a wired backhaul and / or am I paying a lot for a wireless backhaul I’m not going to use? Yes and Yes.
I need a system that has seamless handover of devices, wired backhaul, WiFi 6 (if I’m getting a new system it seems wise to get one that will last) and one that’s easy to set-up ….. is there anything I’m missing and or what are the best options? Keep in mind that it's up to devices to pick and chose where they connected too. So some divices may or may not have good roaming abilities. Kind of depends on how well they are designed and supported.Rob