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Other mesh networks such as Eero and soon Luma support hard wiring your sattelites. I think its extremely important Netgear Orbi does the same. Especially for those of us who can.
218 Comments
Good point and I agree 100%, The only thing is I need to corect you about Luma Luma already supports Eithernet backhaul like Eero.
- The luma barely functions in my house with internet download speed in the 1-5 mb range with or without Ethernet backhaul enabled. I'm working with support but pessimistically ordered an Orbi as a replacement. Should I try eero?
I have Eero and it does well. Using MoCA for ethernet backhaul. Doing everything I can to optimize my streaming TV. Make Orbi even better and add it.
sort of defeats the very purpose and design of the orbi system , if you have structured cabling buy cheap wireless access points and run them with a router , would end up costing less
Why wouldn't you allow the sattelite to connect via ethernet instead of wireless? It seems like an obvious function to me.
I also have an ethernet connection that goes from the basement to upstairs, through concrete floors and the opposite side of the house, so it would make more sense for the most throughput for the sattelite to use ethernet instead of wireless so it can then broadcast the equivalent strong signal upstairs that the downstairs will have.
My question is whether the ethernet backhaul support could be added in the future via a software update? If not, then that will probably eliminate me trying the Orbi.
Thanks.
- peteytesting - I went from cheap WAPs to the Orbi because I hated dealing with 6 separate SSIDs. That is the point of the Orbi and other mesh products. When you want to place a satellite further away (different floors or through many walls) from the router then you are degrading your bandwidth. This is where Ethernet backhaul support is a great feature. I almost bought the Eero or Luma due to this feature. I decided to try Orbi first and it is working pretty decent for my house. I do need another satellite and I might need the Ethernet backhaul support for total coverage using 1 SSID. I am still happy with my Orbi setup without this feature but this is just an added bonus.
I have a cottage on the property that has Ethernet cable that I'd like to connect to a satellite to make one network. Can I at least connect the AP in the cottage to my orbi router?
+1 for ethernet backhaul!!! Definately the way to go.
The way the current system is setup is it has the following limitations:
1. All wireless traffic is funneled back to router which maxes out at a 1GBPS connection. Allowing ethernet backhaul could support 1GBPS connections PER ORBI!, So if you have 3 of them you could conceptually have 3GBPS active at once. In reality though ORBI's access points max out at 867MBPS. But still you would have 3 x 867MBPS of total bandwidth available to you in ethernet backhaul scenario. WIN-WIN.
2. Agree with the single SSID comment. I believe you can do that with systems like the Unifi's WAP's, but you have to toy around with RSSI values and you basically have to be an RF engineer to get it right.
3. If all satellites ran over ethernet backhaul, that would free up RF spectrum (less interference) for actual wireless clients since all that current wireless backhaul traffic would be going over ethernet.
+1 for hardwired backhaul.
I am waiting for another 2-3 weeks. If no indication from Netgear, I would have to opt out for Eero which would not not be my best choice.
i would not be holding my breath for that change as i suspect it would be way down on the dev teams list as there is plently of work still left to do on features that are actually susposed to be imcluded like USB and real Qos and a few other things
i will go as far as to say we may not see ethernet at all in the stock netgear fw and you may have to wait for some 3rd partty firmware to come along and port it over with working ethernet backhaul
if you have structured network cabling why would you be screwing round with mesh type systems anyway
