ORBI, How many satellites?

[ronnie9ball]

Scenario:

I have a classroom that has up to 20 computers for students to use.  The building is old and company policy dictates there will be no modifications made, including adding network cabling.  I need to have the ability to transfer very large files (20+ GB Virtual Hard Drive files) around the classroom on multiple computers simultaneously.

My Dream: 

Have a fast wireless mesh networking system where wifi router and satellites talk to each over the air.  All computers are wired into the router and satellites. There are enough ports available to connect all computers while not having any wires laying on the floor across walkways.

If I could connect four ORBI satellites to one ORBI router, I would have enough ports.  However, to keep wires from being run on the floor across walkways, I would need 8 ORBI satellites.

Questions:

Are any of the ORBI solutions up to the task?  How many ORBI satellites can I connect to one ORBI router?

[st_shaw · Accepted solution]

Orbi is not the right solution. A single classroom is a small area. Twenty computers is not many. Buy 3 to 5 APs, like the ubiquity AC-PRO or AC-HD, put each on a different 5GHz channel, and connect a few PCs to each AP. You will have many times the throughput. With Orbi all PCs would share the single 5GHz backhaul.  

[rhester72]

Oof.  Cut the number of satellites and add unmanaged switches hanging off them instead.

Rodney

[ronnie9ball]

rhester72,

Keep in mind, I have walkways that cannot have cable lying in them. Adding unmanaged switches doesn't fulfill the requirment of eliminating cabling.  So back to the original quesiton: How many satellites can be connected to an ORBI router?

Thanks,

Ron

[st_shaw · Accepted solution]

Orbi is not the right solution. A single classroom is a small area. Twenty computers is not many. Buy 3 to 5 APs, like the ubiquity AC-PRO or AC-HD, put each on a different 5GHz channel, and connect a few PCs to each AP. You will have many times the throughput. With Orbi all PCs would share the single 5GHz backhaul.