Re: RBR50 extending connection outside plus inside guest house?

Bongobong · ‎2022-12-26

Hello,

I have a RBR50 with excellent coverage inside our main building. Now we would like to extend the WIFI to also outside the building and inside the guest house 15 m from the main building.

Could it be an idea to set an RBS50 inside the main building, in the corner closest to the guest house, and then another RBS50 in the guest house?

Or, do you have any other idea?

Kind Regards,

Erik

CrimpOn · ‎2022-12-26

Placing a satellite against an exterior wall (especially in a window) is an excellent method to extend coverage outside.

To a large degree, the remote building solution depends on building construction. Some building materials (such as brick and concrete) have a significant impact on WiFi signals. If the two satellites can be placed in such a way that there is "nothing but air" between them, and the other building is not large, then this might provide enough performance.

The #1 solution to extending the mesh to another building is installing a physical Ethernet cable. This provides the highest speed and most reliable service. Unfortunately, the cost of the actual cable is minor compared to the cost of installation. (Penetrating two building walls, crossing hardscape, walls, water features, etc. etc.

A number of forum posts have described using a WiFi "point to point" bridge. These units are rated in terms of kilometers. Their focused antennas often provide a strong enough signal to penetrate both building walls which totally avoids exterior mounting and allows a lot of flexibility in where the satellite can be placed in the remote building. If one end is connected to the router, this also avoids the "Daisy Chain" situation where every packet has to be received and then forwarded to the far satellite.

Bongobong · ‎2022-12-26

Thank you CrimpOn,

An ethernet cable is not an option in this case, so great to hear that it could be a solution to place satellites in windows.

Do you think there would be any advantage to place a RBS50Y unit on the outside of the main building instead of having a satellite inside? (the signal would have to cross the outer wall anytime, anyway)

Kind Regards,

Erik

plemans · ‎2022-12-27

What are the exterior walls made from? Thats a bit of a key.

Another easy check (very rough check) to see if it'll work is to take your phone (if its halfway newer) and go to where you're going to be placing the satellite. See if it has a connection and what speed its at. If its pretty solid speeds, the satellite should work fine. If its pretty crap, then you might have issues. The router/satellites still need to use that wireless backhaul so if you're phone doesn't have a good connection, its a bit doubtful if the satellite will. The satellite on the 50 series has a wider backhaul being 4x4 so it'll be a little more tolerant than a 2x2 in a phone but it gives you a rough idea.

Bongobong · ‎2023-01-22

It took a while but eventually I found two RBS50 satellites on the second hand market.

I placed one of them inside in the corner of the main building and the second one inside the other building. When connecting both satellites to the RBR50 router they did not form a Daisy Chain, which would make sense since the second one is further away from the router, but both connect to the router individually.

Does this mean that the signal to the second satellite, further away from the router, is so strong that a Daisy Chain is not needed? Or, do you think it would make sense to force the satellites into a Daisy Chain network?

Thank you for any advice in advance!

plemans · ‎2023-01-22

Test the speed on the one in the garage and see how it performs. It might not need a daisy chain.

but it can dynamically change to daisy chain if needed. so it doesn't hurt to leave it there if you're speeds are good.

CrimpOn · ‎2023-01-22

@Bongobong wrote:

Or, do you think it would make sense to force the satellites into a Daisy Chain network?

Alas, there is no mechanism to force satellites to connect in a specific way except that the original Orbi (which you have) has an option to disable the ability to use Daisy Chain. (newer models removed that option entirely). The system does what "works best" according to some internal programming logic. Since it apparently is not using Daisy Chain, then disabling the ability would be pointless.