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Forum Discussion

hvivek's avatar
hvivek
Tutor
May 16, 2020

Can Orbi RBK50 perform well on all 3 floors of a 2400 sq. ft. home?

Hi,

I plan to purchase a mesh router. Before that I need to finalize on the model. The RBK50 specs state that it caters to 5000 sq ft homes. I have a 2400 sq. ft home with 3 floors and concrete walls. I don't have ethernet cabling on any of the rooms. My question is can I go for RBK50 that comes with 1 satellite to cater to my home that has 3 floors? Will I get great performance on floor 1? I plan to keep the base on floor 3 and satellite on floor 2 (I need to keep the base on floor 3 as ISP cable enters home there).

 

Thanks in advance for your response.

2 Replies

  • CrimpOn's avatar
    CrimpOn
    Guru - Experienced User
    May 16, 2020

    Answer: "maybe, but I have concerns".

     

    Especially about the walls and floor.  Are only the exterior walls concrete?  What are the walls between floors made of?

     

    5,000 sq. ft. is a theoretical number calculated by assuming the router and satellite are on one floor with very little to impede the radio signals and the units are as far apart as they can be and still get a "good" connection between them.

    Orbi's have omnidirectional antennas. Very strong in the horizontal plane and not so strong vertically.  The 5G signal attenuates more than the 2.4G signal, so let's assume that a 5G signal will be "really good" at a distance of 35ft. from the unit.  The area of a circle with radius 35ft is about 3,800 sq. ft.   If the satellite is placed 35 ft. from the router, it will also cover an area of about 3,800 sq. ft. but about 40% of that area will overlap with the router.  So, the additional area covered is about 1,500 sq. ft.  So, now we have "great" coverage of just over 5,000 sq. ft. HOWEVER a lot of that area is probably not in the house.

     

    If the router is on one side of the 3rd floor and the satellite is not directly under it, then floors 3 and 2 should be "great".  How much of floor 1 will have great coverage is a mystery.

     

    Many forum participants report covering more than 2,400 sq. ft. with their Orbi's.  My RBK50 (router + satellite) covers a 2,100 sq. ft. house two story house just great, and even blankets the front and back patios.

     

    Oh, geez.  Not much help.  My only advice is to be sure you can return it.