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ORBI RK23 - Connect devices to Satellite

DennisN
Aspirant

ORBI RK23 - Connect devices to Satellite

Hi Community,

 

I am looking for some help on the following. I have an ORBI system with 2 satellites. The satellites are connect through CAT 6e cables. Coverage is perfect, but I encounter the following problem.

I also work with the Ring doorbell and camera system. The camera works perfect, but the doorbells are a problem as they have a RSSI between -60 and -70 As a result the doorbells fail to work quite often.

I already discussed it with the Ring support team and I found out that all the doorbells connect to the router which is in the center of the house and therefore have the lowest coverage.

What I do not understand is why the doorbells do not connect to the Satellites as they are practically next to the doorbells.

Could you help me fix this problem? Is it, for example, possible to assign a doorbell to a specific satellite or is that all automated? If the latter is the case, why does it not switch?

 

Thank you very much for your help!

 

Regards,

 

Dennis

Message 1 of 4
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: ORBI RK23 - Connect devices to Satellite


@DennisN wrote:

What I do not understand is why the doorbells do not connect to the Satellites as they are practically next to the doorbells.

Could you help me fix this problem? Is it, for example, possible to assign a doorbell to a specific satellite or is that all automated? If the latter is the case, why does it not switch?


This is a frequent question, and users have implored Netgear to provide this capability for years.  Orbi provides no method to dictate which Orbi unit a device will choose.

 

There is a theory that what happens is that this is related to electrical power.  When power is applied to the Orbi, it takes about three minutes for it to become active and the doorbell (which is already "awake and looking") sees the Orbi router WiFi before the Orbi satellites have sync'd to the router and become active. By the time satellites begin broadcasting the SSID, the doorbell has already connected and quit looking for WiFi.  (One huge difference between devices is how often they look for a stronger WiFi signal.  Phones, tablets,, and laptops seem to be constantly looking for a stronger signal.  Things that "do not move" tend to 'stick' to the the access point they find first.

 

There is an opposite theory that powering off the Orbi router does not disable the satellites.  So if the doorbell and satellites are powered up before the router, then the doorbell would choose the satellite before it ever sees the router.  If doorbells had an on/off switch, this would be fun to test. But, the only way to power off a wired doorbell is to cut power to the house.  (Battery doorbells could have the batteries removed.)

 

The only solution I am aware of is to pick up an inexpensive WiFi extender and create a new WiFi SSID specifically for the doorbell.

 

I fear this is not what you are hoping for.

Sorry.

Message 2 of 4
DennisN
Aspirant

Re: ORBI RK23 - Connect devices to Satellite

Thank you for the explanation. This is indeed something that Netgear should make available on the ORBI. Nevertheless I cannot wait for that so I took your advice and looked for Wifi extenders. But as there are quite a few of them I am wondering if you could advice me any? Thank you very much again!
Message 3 of 4
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: ORBI RK23 - Connect devices to Satellite

EX7500/7700 and 8000 work with orbi systems. 

Message 4 of 4
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