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Orbi router RBR40

Cloygirl
Aspirant

Orbi router RBR40

I have an ORBI RBR40 router in my home office in the front of my house and need to extend WiFi to inside my detached garage in the back of the property (about 90 feet through exterior walls).  I have a satellite in the middle of the house.  Is there any solution other than the very expensive ($350) RBS50Yv2 — High Performance AC3000 Outdoor WiFi Mesh Extender and Add-on Satellite?  Thanks for any help.

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 1 of 7

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CrimpOn
Guru

Re: Orbi router RBR40

Sometimes finding the optimal location for WiFi equipment is complicated.  Obviously, a location where the satellite will not connect to the router at all is unacceptable.  The Orbi 5G wifi backhaul signal is affected by whatever is in the path between router and satellite.  Things like refrigerators, AC ductwork, brick walls, heavy furniture, metal garage doors, windows with metallic film, etc. impact the signal.  I had a WiFi router located on the side of brick chimney (because it looked "ugly" on the front mantle) and half the house got lousy coverage.  Moved the router to the front, and now "voila!"

 

2.4G signals penetrate much better than 5G, so the Ring doorbell camera has an advantage there.  It could be that moving the satellite and/or camera just a little bit might improve the signal enough to make it successful.

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Message 7 of 7

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ekhalil
Master

Re: Orbi router RBR40

Will the Satellite be installed in-house or outdoor?
If outdoor, then the only outdoor Satellite is the RBS50Y.
Otherwise there are plenty of other Satellite models that you can select from for indoor use.
Message 2 of 7
Cloygirl
Aspirant

Re: Orbi router RBR40

It will be used indoors.  The information I've read on Orbi satellites states that they must be relatively near to the router.  I have one satellite in the middle of my little house (about 25 ft. away).  Thanks for your help!

Message 3 of 7
ekhalil
Master

Re: Orbi router RBR40

It’s recommended to have the Satellite between 30 to 70 ft from the Router.
Message 4 of 7
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: Orbi router RBR40


@Cloygirl wrote:

I have an ORBI RBR40 router in my home office in the front of my house and need to extend WiFi to inside my detached garage in the back of the property (about 90 feet through exterior walls).


Assuming the 90 ft. is from the house to the garage (not from the router or the existing satellite), 90 ft. is a significant distance for WiFi  (especially for 5G WiFi) and the situation is made worse if the exterior walls are substantial (like brick or metal).  There are a number of solutions, each of which has significant "pros and cons":

 

  1. The Orbi RBS50Y.  Expensive for sure, and the 90 ft. and exterior walls may degrade the signal too much.
    This does avoid the need to run any ethernet cables.  It does have a 12v power adapter that has to be plugged in, either outside close to the satellite, or inside and the low voltage cord run through the wall.
  2. Extend an ethernet cable to the garage.  There is ethernet cable intended for direct burial or exterior use.  This allows the use of the least expensive Orbi satellite (about $150) and preserves the "seamless" network.  Ethernet cable, of course, is not free.  So, the cost of buying and installing cable and satellite are factors.
  3. Extend ethernet to the house wall nearest the garage and use some product to bridge the 90 ft. gap.  A number of companies make "ethernet bridge" devices intended for just this purpose.  (Ubiquity Nano Station, TP-Link, among others.)  The least expensive Orbi satellite can be attached to the garage end of the bridge.  Depending on how the house is constructed, extending an ethernet cable to the outside wall may be a challenge.  (I have a two story house on a slab {no crawl space} and running wire is beyond my capability.)   You could do like telephone and cable installers and run the cable on the exterior of the house.  These bridge units are often PoE powered, so they need only the single cable through the wall.  So, we're looking at a cost of satelllite ($150), plug bridge ($100 to $200), plus wiring.

If there is an easy way to run an ethernet cable to the garage, this is the least costly and highest performance solution.  If not, then it begins to look like the Orbi RBS50Y might be the easiest solution, providing it works.

Message 5 of 7
Cloygirl
Aspirant

Re: Orbi router RBR40

This is getting complicated but thanks so much for your explanation.  This is only a minor issue since it relates solely to my use of a Ring WiFi video cam outside my garage facing the alley.  The WiFi signal to it from the satelliteis okay but not great (walls are frame with stucco).  I've tried moving the satellite closer to the rear of the house, but then it doesn't sync with the router.  Sigh......

Message 6 of 7
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: Orbi router RBR40

Sometimes finding the optimal location for WiFi equipment is complicated.  Obviously, a location where the satellite will not connect to the router at all is unacceptable.  The Orbi 5G wifi backhaul signal is affected by whatever is in the path between router and satellite.  Things like refrigerators, AC ductwork, brick walls, heavy furniture, metal garage doors, windows with metallic film, etc. impact the signal.  I had a WiFi router located on the side of brick chimney (because it looked "ugly" on the front mantle) and half the house got lousy coverage.  Moved the router to the front, and now "voila!"

 

2.4G signals penetrate much better than 5G, so the Ring doorbell camera has an advantage there.  It could be that moving the satellite and/or camera just a little bit might improve the signal enough to make it successful.

Message 7 of 7
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