RBR40 and RBW30 satellite - poor connection with line of sight free and daisy chain on
My house has 3 floors with the RBR40 router on the middel floor in a corner of the house. Less than 30 ft away from the router is a satellite with a sheetrock wall in between them. Immediately above that satellite (let's call this Sat-B) is another satellite (Sat-C). Straight down the fall from Sat-C is the final satellite (Sat-D). There is 30 feet between Sat-C and Sat-D with no barriers, it's an empty hallway.
The following advanced features are enabled:
* daily chain topology
* implicit beam forming
* MU-MIMO
* 20/40mhz coexistence
Fast roaming is NOT enabled.
The 2ghz and 5ghz radios are both set to 100% transmit power.
The distant satellite (Sat-D in my explanation above) often moves to amber or red color and tries to reconnect and/or offers poor connection speeds. The Sat-D often is connect directly to the router which, to me, makes no sense given the walls and 150+ foot distance when there is perfectly good satellite (Sat-C) just 30 feet away.
Any suggestions on how to fix this issue? There is no possiblity of moving the router's location.
Re: RBR40 and RBW30 satellite - poor connection with line of sight free and daisy chain on
"no possiblity of moving the satellite"
that's a challenge. Reason I say this is sometimes things in the walls/floor/ceiling cause issues like hvac, metal plumbing, even some tiling has a foil lining that goes under it that can block wifi.
So when the satellite is saying it has a poor connection, thats the first thing you should be trying. Move it around. Sometimes laterally can help just as much as moving it closer if it removes whatever is blocking the signal.
And if you absolutely can't move it, then swap it with one of the other satellites to see if it exhibits the same behavior in that location.
My house has 3 floors with the RBR40 router on the middel floor in a corner of the house. Less than 30 ft away from the router is a satellite with a sheetrock wall in between them. Immediately above that satellite (let's call this Sat-B) is another satellite (Sat-C). Straight down the hall from Sat-C is the final satellite (Sat-D). There is 30 feet between Sat-C and Sat-D with no barriers, it's an empty hallway.
The distant satellite (Sat-D in my explanation above) often moves to amber or red color and tries to reconnect and/or offers poor connection speeds. The Sat-D often is connect directly to the router which, to me, makes no sense given the walls and 150+ foot distance when there is perfectly good satellite (Sat-C) just 30 feet away.
The math is not working out for me. 60ft horizontally plus 15ft? vertically would compute to a diagonal measurement of about 62ft, not 150+.
No matter. Yes, satellite D should connect to satellite C rather than D. RBW30 satellites are designed to plug directly into wall outlets, which is often a poor location for WiFi radios. I like the suggestion to get an extension cord and try moving satellites around a bit to see if connections improve.
Re: RBR40 and RBW30 satellite - poor connection with line of sight free and daisy chain on
You misquoted my original post when you said "no possiblity of moving the satellite".... I mentioned that the router couldn't be moved. The satellite can be moved but I, perhaps mistakenly, assumed that putting it in the hallway where there are no obscructions to the next satellite would be best. I'll tinker with some other locations but I am limited because of the positions of the electrical outlets.
Should I change the transmit power (reduce it from 100%) to potentially force the far satellite (Sat-D in my example) to connect to another satellite rather than trying to connect directly to the router?
Re: RBR40 and RBW30 satellite - poor connection with line of sight free and daisy chain on
Should I change the transmit power (reduce it from 100%) to potentially force the far satellite (Sat-D in my example) to connect to another satellite rather than trying to connect directly to the router?
Is there an easy way to monitor the performance of a single satellite, other than the colored LED, so I can determine the impact of any location changes?
Re: RBR40 and RBW30 satellite - poor connection with line of sight free and daisy chain on
I used to play with placement of my satellites pretty consistently both for testing and just to optimize. It was a bit surprising at times to realize what area's actually needed better coverage when I though they were covered. I even played with using from 1 to 4 satellites. The optimium for mine was 2 satellites for my area. any more and speeds didn't increase and devices struggled to roam properly.
So before turning down your broadcast strength, I would just play with moving them around a bit and then speedtest them.
I usually tested hardwired into a satellite and then tested over wireless. that way I could both test if the satellite was in a decent location in regards to the router as well as how well it covered its area.
So would I start with changing the strength? probably not. I'd try the moving them around.
Then if you're still getting the issue, try the broadcast strength.
I've tested quite a few mesh systems now so I pretty much know where to place them based off if the system is a router +1 satellite or however many I'm going to use.
