Orbi RBK852-Connect to satellites by Ethernet?

[skrishnan37]

Recently got the RBK852 with 2 satellites.  Are any of the ports on the satellites WAN & able to connect to the main unit or is it all remotely?  (My house has ethernet ports throughout so I'm not worried about one unit being too close to another)

[FURRYe38]

https://kb.netgear.com/000051205/What-is-Ethernet-backhaul-and-how-do-I-set-it-up-on-my-Orbi-WiFi-Sy...

Working with most recent FW as of yesterday:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/New-v3-2-15-25-FW-update-seen-in-Orbi-App-Today/m-p/1917250...

[skrishnan37]

With those speeds, should I be using cat 6 cables only?
And are Ethernet cables like cell phone charging cables. The longer the cable, the less the performance?

[FURRYe38]

At minimum, yes. Cat6 or higher. I've been using CAT6 for years. Great performances. 

No they are not. 

[jcrim]

I just received a new RBK752 pair last week, and I use Ethernet backhaul between the router and the Satellite. I'm actually using cat5e - cat6 would be preferable, but it's what I had when I installed the cable for my TV a few years ago. I'm getting > 300Mbps over it, even though I believe it's rated lower.

IMO an ethernet backhaul is always preferable to a wireless backhaul, if you can use it. Fortunately the RBK752 and RBK852 support it. It was automatically detected upon setup, so very easy to configure.

[FURRYe38]

Enjoy it. 

[nakenergy]

What does it do to the backhaul wireless radios if ethernet backhaul is turned on? Are those radios freed up to handle more traffic?

[FURRYe38]

No, the backhaul radios are idle waiting for a connection should the ethernet connection be disabled or something happens to the ethernet connection. The backhaul isn't user configurable. 

---

@nakenergy wrote:

What does it do to the backhaul wireless radios if ethernet backhaul is turned on? Are those radios freed up to handle more traffic?

---