Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
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Orbi 960 Placement

Will307
Aspirant

Orbi 960 Placement

I have the Orbi 960 and two Sats.  My house is 3200 sq foot built in 1996 (all dry wall no concrete).  I have had connectivity issues and speed issues for months.  Recently,  I decided to unplug both of my satellites and I am finding this more stable but still not what I want in terms of coverage. 

 

My router is pretty much dead center of my home.  Before I unplugged my Sats one was ~30 feet upstairs and the other ~30 feet downstairs. 

 

Assuming my issue is too much overlap of all 3 boxes.....seems my choices may be

 

1) Reduce the transmission power of my router to 25% and leave the sats where they are

2) Move my Router to one corner of my home and only use one Sat and move this to the opposite corner (up 2 floors).

 

Any help here would be appreciated.....perhaps there is another choice.

 

Message 1 of 16

Accepted Solutions
Will307
Aspirant

Re: Orbi 960 Placement

 I know.  I read that.  I deleted my App and reinstalled it.  So far I cant find an example but I am certain it was like this.  I'll screen shot an example if I can find one.  Some devices that are connected do not show link-speed now. 

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Message 16 of 16

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CrimpOn
Guru

Re: Orbi 960 Placement

Most users tend to place the base unit (RBRE960) where the Internet Service Provider (ISP) device is.  If you are able to relocate that device to a radically different place in the building, you are one of the "lucky few".

 

There is certainly no harm in reducing the Transmit Power to see what effect it has. (Not much effort required, either.)

 

It might be helpful to have a description of what sort of issues you were (and are) facing.

Message 2 of 16
Will307
Aspirant

Re: Orbi 960 Placement

I have several Roku TVs.  They often lose connection or slow down dramatically.  I have Wifi cameras inside and outside -- same issue. My kids have tablets and when they move around (downstairs living room to upstars bedroom) often it just hangs until i re-boot it. 

 

I can probably move my Router and Modem to my Garage where the cable comes into the house.  This is one absolute corner -- let's say South West......North East (2 floors up) and I then put a Satellite.  I need covered to extend outside for my outdoor Wifi cameras.

 

Message 3 of 16
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: Orbi 960 Placement


@Will307 wrote:

My kids have tablets and when they move around (downstairs living room to upstars bedroom) often it just hangs until i re-boot it. 


"it" as in:

  • The tablet hangs until the user turns WiFi off and back on?
  • The tablet hangs until the entire WiFi system is powered off and back on?

 

Message 4 of 16
Will307
Aspirant

Re: Orbi 960 Placement

Mostly it recovers if I reboot the tablet -- however there have been occasions where it only works for a brief period after I reboot the tablet and I'm forced to reboot the router.

Message 5 of 16
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: Orbi 960 Placement

Intermittent issues are the very devil.  A fundamental step in troubleshooting is to be able to replicate the problem.  Things being fine for a while, and then mysteriously "going bad" only to recover later just sucks.

 

One area where the Orbi 'app' is superior to the Orbi web interface is displaying information about device connections. In addition to the primitive "WiFi Bars" symbol, the app also displays the "Link Rate".  (The Orbi router actually has this information, the web interface simply doesn't display it.  There is an Excel spreadsheet that uses the same SOAP network interface to display both the link rate and the connection strength in a spreadsheet.  Alas, fewer and fewer people use Microsoft Excel these days.)

 

Would be interesting to find out what the app says about the connection of those Roku TVs (not Roku devices connected to TVs, correct?)

 

Generally speaking, centrally locating the primary router is the Holy Grail of WiFi.  I would be every so happy if my ISP connection was not upstairs in the very corner of the house.  I like the idea of covering the interior with the router and placing satellites on opposite sides near the walls to cover corners and outside.

 

Not as confident about placing the main router in the garage.  If summer heat kills the router, the whole house goes dark.

Message 6 of 16
plemans
Guru

Re: Orbi 960 Placement

one thing to check was my home was built right around that same time and instead of using phone cable, they used cat5e for all the phone runs. It was cheaper to use at that time and if ran back to a central hub, can be switched over to ethernet jacks versus phone jacks. For under $100, I was able to convert my home to having ethernet in every room and hardwire in all my satellites. So much more reliable performance and I can even hardwire in tv's/roku's. 

Message 7 of 16
Will307
Aspirant

Re: Orbi 960 Placement

So it seems like option 1 -- reduce transmission power -- may be my best option. 

Yes,  they are all Roku TVs (TCL,  ONN, etc).  

(I might put one in my attic 🙂 

The cat5e scenario is interesting.....I will have to check.

 

Message 8 of 16
Will307
Aspirant

Re: Orbi 960 Placement

Regarding Link Rate, thank you for pointing this out. 

But,

I have a Google Nest thermometer about 8 feet away from my router connecting to 5Ghz that shows link rate 72Mbps and then I have an AirTV box two floors up (in attic) on 2.4GHz showing 866Mbps? 

Message 9 of 16
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Orbi 960 Placement

For that size of home, the RBR and just 1 RBS would be needed. 

Message 10 of 16
Will307
Aspirant

Re: Orbi 960 Placement

If my RBR is dead center where would you place the other RBS?  Also,  I have outdoor Wifi cameras some are >30 feet away.  Same answer 1RBR 1RBS?

Message 11 of 16
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Orbi 960 Placement

Farthest away from the RBR. 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS🛰️ to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.
https://kb.netgear.com/31029/Where-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite ‌‌🛰

I would also turn down the power on the system as well. I run 25% in my 5000sq ft home with two RBS. 

 

The Orbi system is a indoor system and not for outdoor use, though typically some coverage would be seen out side of the home. Say 20feet or so of good signal coverage. 

 

Having too much signal in the home can cause problems:

https://youtu.be/UR0viMLISz4

 

 

Message 12 of 16
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: Orbi 960 Placement


@Will307 wrote:

I have a Google Nest thermometer about 8 feet away from my router connecting to 5Ghz that shows link rate 72Mbps and then I have an AirTV box two floors up (in attic) on 2.4GHz showing 866Mbps? 


This is a puzzle.  My (original) Nest Thermostat contains only a 2.4GHz radio chip and connects with a link rate of 72Mbps.

(The 3rd generation Nest does have dual frequency capability. Which do you have?)

 

Is the AirTV this one: https://www.airtv.net/products/airtv2/#tech-specs ?

If so, it has 802.11ac, which is capable of 866Mbs (with a strong signal).

 

Message 13 of 16
Will307
Aspirant

Re: Orbi 960 Placement

I have the Nest 3rd Gen -- just bought it recently in favor of my old Ecobee.

Yes,  that's my AirTV box. 

Message 14 of 16
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: Orbi 960 Placement

There is something strange here.  2.4GHz cannot product that high a link rate.

 

I had hoped that the app would product information leading to why the TVs and tablets were having communication problems.

Message 15 of 16
Will307
Aspirant

Re: Orbi 960 Placement

 I know.  I read that.  I deleted my App and reinstalled it.  So far I cant find an example but I am certain it was like this.  I'll screen shot an example if I can find one.  Some devices that are connected do not show link-speed now. 

Message 16 of 16
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