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Orbi Best Connection setup

cjzielie
Tutor

Orbi Best Connection setup

I just bought the 3 satellite system and set it up as a wireless system as i thought was supposed to, but i live in a newer house that has ethernet jacks in every room and was wondering what the benefit or detriment would be of hard wiring one or two of the satellites plugged into the ethernet jack (would that be backhaul) and would it make for faster speeds and better performance, I have 1GB from Century Link and use their modem as a modem but do have some things plugged into its 4 ports for fast hardwire speed. i also bought a 1GB switch that i have about 6 cables plugged into that is hooked up to the orbi router. anyone have any ideas on how to set this up as awesome aka fast as possible. Thanks in advance

Model: RBK44| Orbi AC2200 WiFi System
Message 1 of 10
Roamabout
Luminary

Re: Orbi Best Connection setup

There are folks here that will tell you that you dont need the Orbi and should have just bought a bunch if individual access points and set them up with the same SSID to create roamable wifi coverage.

 

I have a similar wired network to you but I opted to replace my old access points because they are underpowered by modern standards and I wanted the single management interface of the Orbi. I found there were features of the Orbi that I had not anticipated like the ability to plug a wired device into a satellite. I simplified my wired network by leveraging that feature for some low bandwidth devices like printers in the more remote parts of the house.

 

 

I set mine up initially using the default wireless backhaul with an option to plug them into the wired network if I had to. I am very early into this experience but even with my 60 ft long house the satellites had no problem connecting to the router in the center of the house and on the floor below.

 

I have now cut over the whole house to the Orbi, over 30 wifi client devices in addition to the wired devices (FIOS router, NAS, old non-wifi devices etc).

 

On my second day with the Orbi and still waiting for the proverbial to hit the fan.

Message 2 of 10
cjzielie
Tutor

Re: Orbi Best Connection setup

Is there any benefit to wiring the satellite to the ethernet port speed wise or does it not really matter, i bought the $499 3 sat 1 router setup for 8,000 sq feet and only have 5000 sq to cover but want any advantage i can gain

Message 3 of 10
Roamabout
Luminary

Re: Orbi Best Connection setup

As a general rule if you have the correct cabling (cat5e or better) and a Gigabit switch to connect things up the ethernet backhaul would in theory be at least as fast and less prone to interference. I took the approach that it was a new feature perhaps with bugs and quirks and if the system worked with the wireless backhaul I would use that first and fall back to wired if I had problems.

 

I can stream a movie from a NAS server to a client device connected with wifi to a satellite connecting to the router over its wireless link and my Internet speedtests from that same client are the same as a speedtest on my wired gigabit network so my ISP (Fios) is the main bottleneck in my system.

 

 

Message 4 of 10
cjzielie
Tutor

Re: Orbi Best Connection setup

All my wiring is cat5e and I have 1GB speed as well as a gigabit switch but if I don’t need it I’ll just use wireless, just didn’t understand why everyone is so excited about Ethernet backhaul
Message 5 of 10
Roamabout
Luminary

Re: Orbi Best Connection setup

Certainly if you have a very large house where the wireless backhaul is impossible or unreliable (too much distance, too much structure, too much wireless noise etc) then the ethernet backhaul would be a valuable option to have.

Message 6 of 10
cjzielie
Tutor

Re: Orbi Best Connection setup

But what do you do just run the cat5e cord that runs to kitchen (for instance) to back of Orbi router, and plug Ethernet cord into kitchen wall and Orbi satellite and it works better ???
Message 7 of 10
Roamabout
Luminary

Re: Orbi Best Connection setup

If your house is wired and all the sockets connect back to a switch just plug the orbii (plural for Orbi) into the sockets in the rooms. You can also wire them directly in a hub and spoke topology or daisy chain them but in a wired house I would go with the connections through the switch.

 

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

 

 

Message 8 of 10
t_k
Luminary
Luminary

Re: Orbi Best Connection setup

cjzielie

 

If you have ethernet in your house already, you bought the wrong product! If you are still in your retun window, get a differnet product!

 

The selling big value of the Orbi's is that they have a very fast and dedicated wireless Access point to Access Point connection. It's a separate 4x4 Mu-MIMO radio that can only be used between devices, and it's why they are so expensive.

 

However, their device to device connection is also very unreliable and bug ridden, and still slower than a wired connection in any case. The only reason to use an Orbi is if you don't have ethernet already. If you do, there are cheaper and more reliable solutions.

 

Please, please, please don't listen to the fanboys and try to use the Orbi's. Over the next few months you'll end up trying to figure out why your connectivity keeps cutting out and why you keep having to restart your devices. See here.

 

If you're more tech savvy, go get the Unifi's, if not, go get the Eero's. In either case, they "just work", and are very fast with a wired backhaul.

Message 9 of 10
cjzielie
Tutor

Re: Orbi Best Connection setup

I’m coming from a Nighthawk x10 that couldn’t cover my house and even added an x6 as A AP and that seemed crappy as well, I actually like the Orbi for my phone and etc laptops but want the fastest setup
Message 10 of 10
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