4 satellites running fine...

[lowepg]

Wanted to see if Orbi would function past the posted limit of satelites....

The router + 2 satelites was convering our house pretty well, but I wanted to ecxtend coverage into the yards.

It didnt see to like daisychain mode with the 4 satelites, but once I switched that off, everything conneced fine.

The bad news: the coverage outdoors is really disappointing. So this experiemnt will be short-lived, returning the extra satelites and ordering some legit outdoor access points to hardwire.

[DarrenM]

Hello Lowepg

We do offer a out door orbi satellite you can find it here.

https://www.netgear.com/orbi/rbs50y.aspx

DarrenM

[lowepg]

Yes I know.

But I assumed the range would be similar to a indoor satellite...l and it was not acceptable, so no need to bother testing the outdoor unit (at a MUCH higher price as well!) 

[st_shaw]

---

wrote:

Wanted to see if Orbi would function past the posted limit of satelites....

The router + 2 satelites was convering our house pretty well, but I wanted to ecxtend coverage into the yards.

It didnt see to like daisychain mode with the 4 satelites, but once I switched that off, everything conneced fine.

The bad news: the coverage outdoors is really disappointing. So this experiemnt will be short-lived, returning the extra satelites and ordering some legit outdoor access points to hardwire.

---

Ealier this week I was doing some work outside my house and my coworker and I were both able to get >25 mbps on our iPhones from more than 500 feet away from the house.  That's with the Orbi router and satellite inside the house.

If your outside coverage is disappointing then the problem is probably something other than your Orbi.

You didn't say where you put your satellite when you tested outside, but you should get long ranges with the Orbi outside with clear line of sight to your client devices.

[lowepg]

Sorry, but given the issues Orbi has JUST getting firmware correct, I dont think its safe to assume:

"If your coverage is bad- its probably due to something other than the Orbis"

Moreover, I dont think your experience is necessarily representaive of all cases. For example, our house is brick- so I would expect ANY wifi to struggle to get great coverage through brick walls.... hence my desire to try another satelite.

However, given the premium price for these things (especially if you add an outdoor satelite $$$$) - it should be near bullet-proof- and it ISNT. Not by a long shot. A orbi "3-pack" plus an outdoor unit would run right around $900. For $900, I want "AMAZING" - not "OK"

I had a wiring guy quote my $400 to run cat6 to all 3 floors of my house and one outside connection. Add 3 Ubiquity Pro APs and a edgerouter and you're looking at about $475 in hardware. So, just about the same expense.

Orbi's (assuming the firmware works on that day)  vs hardwired Ubiquity Pro Access Points? That's like comparing a Prius to a Ferrari. No comparison.

[st_shaw]

You still didn't say where your Orbi was located when you did your testing outside.  But, if you had your Orbi inside your brick house, then you illustrated my point perfectly.  If the satellite was inside your brick walls, then you should expect your outside coverage to be very poor. That's due to your brick walls. (In other words, due to something other than your Orbi.)

The point of the outdoor Orbi is that you place the outdoor satellite outside.  That way the client devices have clear line of sight to the outdoor satellite, and do not need to penetrate exterior walls to reach the satellite. (The outdoor satellite can better penetrate the exterior walls to reach the router inside.)

I have an Orbi sysem at one location and a set of Ubiquiti APs at another, so I am very familiar with the pros and cons of both. If you have Ethernet throughout your house then mesh WiFi (including Orb) is an inferior choice compared to wired APs.

[lowepg]

I placed the test orbi OUTSIDE for testing.

It was an indoor satelite- but I set it up just for testing. Sorry if I wasnt clear on that!

[st_shaw]

Thanks.  That wasn't clear to me.

WIth the satellite outside, you really should have gotten great coverage outside, unless something went wrong--like your client remaining connected to an inside satellite, neighbors' APs affecting your signal, or poor backhaul link between the satellite outside and the router inside.

I can consistently get a usable signal 500' away from my house with Orbi, but I agree that my results may not be typical, because there are no neighbors within WiFi range of my Orbi, so there is very little interference.

[DavidShawP]

If the satellite outside is wirelessly connected to the base, then it's going to suffer from the brick blocking the backhaul channel just the same.  You really need your outdoor satellite to be wired.  

I have Ring cameras outside my brick home (5700 sq ft), and I ended up putting a satellite just next to them to get good streaming video from them.  My RBR50 and two RBS50 works great, but when I had only one RBR50 I couldn't get the whole indoors and the outdoor cameras to work well.