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Re: Location of satellite

PlatinumGoat
Apprentice

Location of satellite

Hi Everyone,

 

I purchased the Orbi RBK50 set recently and would like to seek your advice regarding the placement of the satellite. I live in a small 1,200 square feet apartment. My source of internet is from Bedroom 1. I currently position my satellite in the Living room which had little or no wifi signal with my previous router (D-Link 868L) which was placed in Bedroom 1. Even with the powerful RBR50 router, I can only get intermitent wifi and very frequent disconnections in the Living room wthout the satellite. I can get the full ISP speed in both Bedrooms 1 & 2 with the RBR50 and 868L.

However, even with the satellite, Bedroom 3 can only achieve slightly less than half the ISP speed.

When devices connect to 5g in the living room with the satellite, I could achieve 100% of the ISP speed.

The only major trouble spot is in Bedroom 3.

Can anyone advice if my placement of the satellite is correct?

Thanks.

Model: RBK50| Orbi AC3000 High-Performance Tri-Band WiFi System
Message 1 of 12
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Location of satellite

A more central location of the main router maybe more of a suggestion then place the satellite where needed. Usually placement of the router on the main floor and centrally in the home is best.

 

My 5000sq ft house has 40ft between the router and satellite for my configuration..

 

Message 2 of 12
RocketSquirrel
Luminary

Re: Location of satellite

The RBK50 is a pretty powerful system. Disconnects are likely to be a firmware problem. Update to the latest 2.1.3.4 firmware and see whether that helps.

Message 3 of 12
nkd
Apprentice
Apprentice

Re: Location of satellite

Can you clarify slightly less than ISP speed? Over a wireless connection, connecting to satellite you wont be getting 100% of the speed. I think its perfectly fine you are not getting full speeds. I am on 1gig connection I can only get full speed hard wired in. But I suspect you have a slower connection but over wireless connecting to satellite, a little speed loss is pretty acceptable I would say.

Message 4 of 12
PlatinumGoat
Apprentice

Re: Location of satellite

Hi, nkd

I said I could only achieve less than 50% of the ISP speed in bedroom 3. Seems that my device is still connected to bedroom 1 when I move to bedroom 3, hence the poorer performance. However, if I turn wifi off and on and connect to the satellite in the living room, I could achieve almost 100% of the ISP speed. I think the problem is, even with fast roaming, beamforming on, the satellite still fail to connect when my device is nearer to it. Same issue with Velop.

Message 5 of 12
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Location of satellite

Some wireless devices don't perform as well or do not have the same capabilities as ethernet wired connections so depending upon your wireless device, you may not see same speed results as wired connections.

 

I would recommend updating FW to beta and run some tests.

 

For my i get my 200/10 spec on both wired and wireless. I presume my iphone is cabpable of handling that much.

 

Message 6 of 12
nkd
Apprentice
Apprentice

Re: Location of satellite

OH, I was going by your original post where it says you were getting slightly less than full speed. May be I missed the 50% part lol..

 

You may want to place the satellite closer to room 3 to see how it does. I believe ORBIs have pretty good dedicated channel so they can handle the connection better. 

Message 7 of 12
PlatinumGoat
Apprentice

Re: Location of satellite

I think most, if not all wifi systems like orbi and velop (I tried them both), fail to quickly detect the nearest point of connection when roaming and resulting in  apparent speed declines.

If wifi systems can more cleverly detect the nearest connection node or satellite or router, things would  be much better. Right now, the only solution is to disable and re-enable to get the correct connection-ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE my previous setup. Router - wireless extender.

Message 8 of 12
PlatinumGoat
Apprentice

Re: Location of satellite

If I place the satellite nearer, it would crash the entire system! I tried. Thanks.

Message 9 of 12
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Location of satellite

What is the distance between router and Satellite?

 

Mines about 40 feet and have great operation.

Message 10 of 12
PlatinumGoat
Apprentice

Re: Location of satellite

Mine is about 30 feet away with walls in between. If you say yours is performing greatly, did you try to do speed tests while roaming between units? I just think that the "switching" mechanism isn't fast enough. If I managed to connect to the nearest unit, things are great too!

Message 11 of 12
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Location of satellite

Yes, I had to do a before and after installation test with mine. Tested my prior router in place then tested with the Orbi router in place. Range, coverage, operation and Performance was way better then the NG XR500 single router I had in place. Which is no slouch.

 

Message 12 of 12
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