I recently purchased a Nighthawk XR1000 router and have been considering an addition to my setup to resolve a weak Wi-Fi signal on the opposite side of my house; specifically in my wife's office space that she uses for school. I do not want to run wiring throughout the house at this time.
After some research I have narrowed my options down to adding an EAX80 extender in my wife's office utilitizing the XR1000 to its fullest capabilities or disabling the Wi-Fi on the XR1000 and running an Orbi Wi-Fi 6 mesh setup in AP mode. Any thoughts or advice?
I know value-wise the extender seems to be the way to go but from a pure performance mindset I feel adding the Orbi system in AP mode would be the way to go. Am I wrong in this line of thinking?
My main goal is to future proof my current home and ensure my wife has the best possible connection for her Zoom classes as well as school work. Cost set aside, what would give me the best performance and reliability throughout the entire house?
My Current Setup:
Spectrum Gig > CM2000 > XR1000 > PC & SX10 > Media & Game Setup Hardwired
I am leaning towards maintaining this setup for my PC, media, and gaming needs utilizing the XR1000/DumaOS while using the Orbi system to take over the Wi-Fi needs altogether.
1. how big is your home (both square footage and how many levels)?
2. what are the interior walls made of? certain materials block wifi better than others. Also, the orbi's work great, but they actually need a bit of distance betwen them.
3. you didn't put which orbis system you're considering. What system are you considering? it makes a difference as the XR1000 + EAX80 is quite a capable combo. It'd be faster than the dual band orbi systems. The tribands? Orbi would be faster at a distance but the XR1000 would probably be faster close to the main device. If you're only needing/wanting peak speeds in the vacinity of the router, the XR might be the better option.
Its tough to say 100% because both are solid options. If it was me (and I had that budget:) ) I'd buy both from costco because of their generous return policy and try them both. Whichever performs better, return the other.
2. The majority of my walls are just drywall but the room that my setup is in (including the router) is an addition built onto the house, this actually puts a brick wall between the router and the remainder of the house. If I were to get the Orbi system I would place one next to the router and the other in my wifes office which are on opposite sides of the house, I'm not sure of the exact distance right now but I would estimate ~50 feet between them.
3. I was considering the Tri-Band AX6000 for the backhaul feature. Widespread speed, connection reliability, future proofing, and my wife's peace of mind is mainly what I'm looking for here. Peak speeds specifically around the XR1000 is not a main concern because I have my equipment in that room hardwired.
My main cause for concern and advice is that I have had bad experience with extenders in the past providing low performance or connection drops as well as some issues handing off the connection from router to extender. My most recent experience was with a Powerline adapter that included Wi-Fi extension and that did not work well in my situation (this may be due to the poor connection I'm getting from the outlet, I'm not sure). With that said the EAX80 is a fancier and more costly device so the experience may be different.
The Orbi setup in conjunction with the XR1000 seems like it may be overkill but I feel like it would be a pretty clean setup allowing the XR1000 to handle my PC/Gaming/Media needs using a hardwired connection giving me the benefits of DumaOS while allowing the Orbi setup to blanket the house in a solid Wi-Fi connection. Although these devices are expensive and my networking knowledge is rather limited which is why I seek advice before making a commitment. I want to create a home network that will not require updrades for the time I will live in this house; ~10 years planned.
that brick wall is going to cause issues with everything. its one of the best blockers of wifi.
And 1300sq ft isn't a large home. The XR1000 should cover it without issues if it wasn't for the brick. The orbi might not work right as they need to be at least 30ft apart or you can have issues.
You're correct in extenders causing issues. Single and dual band extenders cause a 50% reduction in speed because they have to go router----extender and then extender----device. An they can't do both at once. Plus they increase latency. The tri-bands are much better because they have a dedicated 5ghz just for router---extender. I haven't used an EAX unit yet so I can't compare it with my EX8000 to give you an idea of performance differences. With the AX spec allowing higher initial bandwidth, I've been curious to see what the performance difference is between the two but the wife hasn't given the OK to buy and and try. Sorry.
Thoughts on it? Any chance you could drill though the office wall with brick and hardwire in your wife's pc/laptop? You could put an extender/orbi on one side, pass a cable through, and have a switch (or not if not needed) to connect her devices to. If its a dedicated office, this might be a better option.
Sorry, its going to be tough because of that brick. Wifi isn't going to pass through it well at all. If you can get an ethernet wire or coax wire through there, you'll be much better off. If you've already got a coax run to the office, you could use moca adapters.
I was trying to avoid running a cable throughout the house but I will give it some more thought when I get home and can look everything over again. I do not believe there is a coax run to her office so moca adapters may be out of the question.
I believe the Orbi’s would have a larger distance than 30 feet between them but I’ll measure that out too when I get home. Either way it sounds like the brick wall may cause some issues.
Seems running a cable through the house is the best option but I really wasn’t looking forward to making that happen, haha
You don't have to run the cable throughout the house. Both orbi and the EAX80 have an ethenet port. Just put it right at the office wall, drill through the wall at floor board or wherever you'd prefer a connection and go through there.
