Re: Wireless bridges in an Orbi setup

braden · ‎2017-09-18

I'm moving into a larger house. I've been spoiled the last few years network-wise, as my current house is wired with ethernet cable. The new one will not be; so, I'm looking for a good wifi solution and currently I'm leaning toward an Orbi setup.

I do have a fair number of wired devices; and these will be in particular rooms in the new house. Where that coincides with the location of an Orbi unit, great. Where it does not, I'll have two options: either a conventional wireless bridge or an additional Orbi satellite.

The property is ~3700 sq ft, two levels. The Internet connection (FiOS) will be coming in on one end of the house. At this point, I'm wondering if I'd be better off starting with the one satellite unit (RBK50) or the two satellite one (RBK53). (I realize I can get another satellite later; but it would be a bit cheaper to go ahead and get the RBK53 if I'm going to need it anyway.)

My question is this: disregarding the additional wifi coverage, is there any reason to prefer an Orbi satellite to a conventional wireless bridge for wired devices?

Posed a slightly different way, if I'm sure I'm going to need at least one bridge for wired devices in a particular room, should I go ahead and get the RBK53 even if I don't know that I'll need the additional satellite for wifi coverage? Or should I just get the RBK50 and a conventional wireless bridge?

st_shaw · ‎2017-09-18

I would recommend using an additional satellite, instead of trying to use a wireless bridge with Orbi. Orbi uses a lot of spectrum, and it could be difficult to avoid interference between Orbi and a bridge, unless the bridge was 2.4 GHz only.

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aaz · ‎2017-09-18

Don't know if your able to get to Costco in US, they had the best deal on the three unit Orbi. I know some people are posting having major issues but it's actually worked out well for me except for using UPnP which I had to turn off.

The Two unit router should likely cover your house just fine in Wifi, but having that extra unit for a wireless bridge is definitly good and I am sure you know how useful it can be. It would definitly cost a lot more later to add a satellite, and the 4 band backhaul that the Orbi satellite provides is unparralled - it's almost like having the unit's wired.

st_shaw · ‎2017-09-18

I would recommend using an additional satellite, instead of trying to use a wireless bridge with Orbi. Orbi uses a lot of spectrum, and it could be difficult to avoid interference between Orbi and a bridge, unless the bridge was 2.4 GHz only.

braden · ‎2017-09-18

Thanks for the heads-up re: CostCo. I do have a membership; and the price there for the RBK53 makes this decision a no-brainer.

martyfp · ‎2017-09-19

I have a similar situation and looking for a solution for wired devices in my home-office. I too had considered putting an orbi-sat in the office for this.

However, my office is directly upstairs from the Router and I thought too close to put an additional satellite. In fact, I tried to put my single sat in the office and things became very unstable, I think the closeness cause too much wifi overlap. My Sat is now safely back in the other corner of the house.

braden · ‎2017-09-19

@martyfp wrote:
I have a similar situation and looking for a solution for wired devices in my home-office. I too had considered putting an orbi-sat in the office for this.

However, my office is directly upstairs from the Router and I thought too close to put an additional satellite. In fact, I tried to put my single sat in the office and things became very unstable, I think the closeness cause too much wifi overlap. My Sat is now safely back in the other corner of the house.

Interesting.

Are you now using a conventional bridge? (Which one? Are you happy with its performance?)

At the current CostCo price (just about $100 more than Amazon's price for the RBK50), it's still worth getting the additional satellite "just in case". If it doesn't work out, I'll shop for a bridge.

st_shaw · ‎2017-09-19

@martyfp wrote:

However, my office is directly upstairs from the Router and I thought too close to put an additional satellite. In fact, I tried to put my single sat in the office and things became very unstable, I think the closeness cause too much wifi overlap. My Sat is now safely back in the other corner of the house.

The 2.0 firmware brought back the ability to adjust the radio output power. That might help in your situation with too much WiFi.

aaz · ‎2017-09-19

I'll just suggest you leave most of the default settings before you go adjusting things. It seems that Netgear does not test very well for stability and but customizing, you probably get further and further from what they have tested. Also if you have stabiltiy issues first thing to try turning off is UPnP as that did it for me, and I have been running it rock solid for the past several weeks.

martyfp · ‎2017-09-20

Currently, I have a rather rubbish N wifi access point configured as a bridge. This works OK for the printer but is somewhat slow and clanky. I would like to be able to plug a couple of NAS devices into it but it is a bit slow for that. I would like an AC device to replace it..

I have considered getting something like a N7000 and configuring as an ethernet bridge. For me though, this is a case of *want* rather than *need* so I have not looked much more into it yet.

I have not tried reducing the wifi-power in 2.0 to see if it enables me to use a SAT in this location. I did try reducing the 2.4GHz power to see if it helped with keeping devices on 5GHz but all hell broke loose so I quickly put it back !

braden · ‎2017-09-20

@martyfp wrote:
Currently, I have a rather rubbish N wifi access point configured as a bridge. This works OK for the printer but is somewhat slow and clanky. I would like to be able to plug a couple of NAS devices into it but it is a bit slow for that. I would like an AC device to replace it..

I have considered getting something like a N7000 and configuring as an ethernet bridge. For me though, this is a case of *want* rather than *need* so I have not looked much more into it yet.

I have not tried reducing the wifi-power in 2.0 to see if it enables me to use a SAT in this location. I did try reducing the 2.4GHz power to see if it helped with keeping devices on 5GHz but all hell broke loose so I quickly put it back !

I do have a NAS; so, that's a major consideration. I also want to ensure gaming devices have the best possible link quality.

Any chance it's possible to disable the radio transmission/reception except for the backhaul link to the router on an Orbi satellite?

Failing that, I'm wondering if it's possible to do the same with the new EX8000.

braden · ‎2017-09-20

@braden wrote:
Any chance it's possible to disable the radio transmission/reception except for the backhaul link to the router on an Orbi satellite?

Failing that, I'm wondering if it's possible to do the same with the new EX8000.

Okay, nevermind about the EX8000; looks like its dedicated connection to the router won't work with Orbi's.

martyfp · ‎2017-09-20

@braden wrote:
Any chance it's possible to disable the radio transmission/reception except for the backhaul link to the router on an Orbi satellite?

That would be fantastic. Would definitely buy another Sat if it was possible (sadly, I don't think it is currently).