So I bought the 3-pack from Costco for $499 (RBK53). My house is a single-level at 2100sq ft. Probably overkill but I thought it may be worth it for the 2nd extra satellite for only $100 more basically. My ONLY RJ45 connection is on one corner of the house in my office. This is where the modem is and where I placed the Orbi router. I placed 1 satellte in the middle of the house and the other all the way in the opposite corner of the house in our bedroom. Both satellites get the blue connection light but my speeds seem to be lacking both in the living room (middle house) and our bedroom (opposite corner of house from Orbi router). Since I cannot place the Orbi router in the middle of the house as shown in the setup drawings when dealing with multiple satellites, what alternatives do I have? Should I just return the 3-pack and buy a 2-pack since my home is only 2100sq ft, or is there a way to utilize both satellites for maximum speed/coverage?
Model: Orbi High-Performance AC3000 Tri-Band WiFi System (RBK50)
I'm surprised your speeds are limited within your 2100 sq ft, between at least the middle satellite and the corner. Are you sure you measured the speeds on a device connected to the middle satellite and again with the same device connected to your router? We want to be sure the speed difference is due to the satellite backbone connection.
In the worse case, I'm sure you can sell your extra satellite since the retail price for an add-on is $250. Or just keep it for future use.
Dumb question, but how do I know what device I am connected to when running the speedtest? Also, the speed tests vary SIGNIFICANTLY depending on what test platform I use, ie. speedtest app from Ookla, speedtest through Google search, or speedof.me site. The speedtest app from Ookla is a consistent 35+mb DL (which is fine since I only get about 45mb wired). The speedof.me and Google tests range from 2mb to 20mb DL max. Very strange. In any case, let me know how I see what I am connected to when running the tests and I will get you more data. I appreciate the response!
Yoiu can login to each satellite and click on Attached Devices to see what devices are connected, Uses same usename and password as your Orbi. You can get the satellite IP Address from the Orbi Attached Devices lists. Also see the the following thread: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-satellite-and-genie-app/m-p/1203351#M2738
You may be OVER saturating your house with the wireless signals. Each unit (Router and Satellite) is supposed to provide coverage for 2000 sqft. So, you are trying to cram 6000 sqft of signals into 2100.
Have you tried with just the router where it is and one satellite at the far end of the house, furthest away from the router? Are you using the wired connections from the other satellites for devices, or using wireless only? Unless you are specifically wanting to use the wired connections from the satellites, I would try dropping to 1 sat, or even try it with just the router to see if it improves your connectivity. If it does, you could definitely attribute it to over saturation.
While the router + 2 satellite kit at Costco is hard to pass up for the price, I think it may be causing some people more issues if they do not have a space that requres that much signal. As the other poster said - keep it for a spare, or find someone who just wants to buy the router and sell him/her the extra satellite.
I tried the telnet option in your link but unfortunately I cannot telnet into my router as it gives me an error...story of my life. "Error while connecting to the host - could not open a connection to host on port 23" So there's that...
Below is a pic of what my "Attached Devices" screen looks like. As you can see, it doesn't tell me what devices are connected to what satellite, etc. Also, several unknown devices with same MAC, I can only assume it is my DirecTV but there are only 3 boxes for that so not sure why there are 5 unknowns? Also, my printer doesn't show up and that is connected. Weird.
Below is a pic of what my "Attached Devices" screen looks like. As you can see, it doesn't tell me what devices are connected to what satellite, etc.
See in screenshot the IPs of the satellites - 10.0.0.3 and 10.0.0.8 ? Go to those IPs in your browser and you'll see what devices are connected to those satellites. The satelittes have a web page interface too.
If you end up only needing two satellites, you may be able to sell the third one for more than the $100 difference you paid 🙂 That was my thinking when I got the three pack.
So I powered off my bedroom unit, seemed to actually help. Speeds seem to be faster all-around. Will test for a couple days and report back. Thanks all for the replies!
Before running telnet, did you enable telnet in the Orbi router at http://orbilogin.com/debug.htm? You also need to disable telnet in the router when finished. The telnet commands make the alternate Attached Devices list permanent.
You can get a temporary list by doing this:
Log into Orbi and and click on Attached Devices
Click on any device name to open Edit Device page
Click in device name box
Press the <enter> key on your computer (or Go on your iPad)
but it doesn't show what band your devices are connected to.
Neither listing names the satellites, so you kind of have to know what devices should be connecting to which satellite, but that is variable. My nearest satellite is 40' away near the garage, so when I come in, my iPhone connects to it and stays connected even when I sit about 12' from the router and 30' from the satellite.
You can also use the Edit Device pages to give your devices a friendly name.
Yes sir, I did enable telnet at the link, I did some reading and it's prob a firewall issue with my router.
In any case, I did rename all of the devices so I know what is what now. After removing the 2nd satellite, I "think" its running better now. We'll see as time will tell
I too bought the 3-pack from Costco (could not pass up the reasonable price). My home is only about 1500 ft2, and 1 level. I initially tried to use the router and both satellites. The main problem I found is that it is hard for the phone to lock onto the nearest unit for the best speed (I think in general it is already kinda a problem for for this, but worse when trying to use all 3 units). In the end I decided to have the router on one end of the home, and the satellte on the other. I will keep the 3rd unit for when I add another garage to the home, and will put it out there.
Could also try playing around with lowering the transmit power on one or both bands (2.4, 5) on the router to lower its coverage area to see it it works better with handoff with the satelitte(s).
