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What can I use as a WiFi Access Point wired to our ORBI 6e mesh network?
Our house is a relatively new build Thermalite block 3-storey with an attached garage to the side and a room over the garage. The room over the garage is, essentially, outside the main walls of the house but is our office/study/family (e-games) room and where our FTTP (1Gbps) comes into and the ONT box is installed.
Currently our main router for our RBKE963 mesh is in that room and connected to the ONT box and the mesh satellites are in the main part of the house. No matter where I position the satellites in the main part of the house, the backhaul signal is always very poor through the Thermalite wall - even when the satellite is positioned directly on the opposite side of the wall (less than 0.5m from the router 😮). The fastest connection the ORBI mesh system can ever muster is 300mbps and generally much less. Often also, the network mesh can be very unreliable with our satellites regularly showing purple flashing lights.
I'm looking to move the RBRE960 router into the main part of the house by running an ethernet cable from the ONT box through the Thermalite wall but that would then leave our study with a very poor WiFi signal. My thoughts are that I could then run another ethernet cable from the router back through the house wall to a basic (ideally cheap) Access Point in the study to give decent WiFi in that room.
What device can I use - an old version, pre-loved, ORBI satellite, perhaps(?) - connected via an ethernet cable to the main router to give seamless WiFi when moving between the house and the study? It doesn't need to be as fast as the RBKE963 mesh and I'm trying to avoid spending hundreds and hundreds on another RBSE960 satellite for just one room.
Any WiFi access point (from any manufacturer) with an Ethernet port can connect to the 960 router and provide service to the office/game complex.
Alas, an Orbi satellite cannot function as a generic WiFi access point.
If the router is moved inside the house, would that not free up one of the satellites that is currently in the house to be placed in the office/game complex?
Any WiFi access point (from any manufacturer) with an Ethernet port can connect to the 960 router and provide service to the office/game complex.
Alas, an Orbi satellite cannot function as a generic WiFi access point.
If the router is moved inside the house, would that not free up one of the satellites that is currently in the house to be placed in the office/game complex?
Another possibility is that using Ethernet cable to connect the closest satellite to the router would enable the remaining satellites to Daisy Chain to that satellite at a higher speed. That would leave the primary connection point for all those office/game devices in the original location.
Sadly, both satellites are currently in use as both WiFi APs and ethernet hubs on our top floor and ground floor and I am not allowed to run surface-mount (visible) ethernet cables in our house so anything more than simply going through walls would require some surgery on wall and ceiling dry lining and ends up being a big job. I had a right game getting the FTTP fibreoptic cable to the ONT box without it being surface mounted ...the things we do! 😄 Anyhow, we have a storage cupboard just the other side of the wall so that is where the ORBI router is going to be moved into.
I'll look into a router that I can use in AP mode for WiFi and as a 1Gbps ethernet hub in the study as they tend to be much cheaper than dedicated APs.
