Desktop - Wire to Orbi 750 Satellite or Use Desktop's Network Adapter?
Currently, we have Xfinity -> Xfinity Modem -> Orbi Router->Desktop via wire. Other stuff in the houses uses the WiFi, but the desktop is wired. Everything works well.
Soon, we'll be switching to fiber optic to the house. The point at which the fiber optic enters the house will be far from where the desktop is located. So the desktop will be connecting to the internet wirelessly.
What's better for speed of connection, to wire the desktop to an Orbi satellite and turn off the desktop's WiFi adapter? Or skip the satellite and just use the desktop's adapter?
Looking at my device manager, it looks like I have the Intel WiFi 6 AX201 160MHz network adapter. It's advertised speed is 2.4Gbps, which is only half as fast as the advertised 4.2Gbps of the Orbi. Does that mean connecting to the satellite via wire will make the desktop's internet connection two times faster than if it was just using its internal network adapter?
Soon, we'll be switching to fiber optic to the house. The point at which the fiber optic enters the house will be far from where the desktop is located. So the desktop will be connecting to the internet wirelessly.
Can you please describe what is behind the fiber entrance being "far from" the Xfinity entrance? You (the customer) told them "put it there, please"? The fiber company said, "we're installing it in this place and you can just 'deal with it'"? (My city has allowed a fiber company to compete with Spectrum and it is painfully obvious that telephone and cable enter all the houses in my subdivision from the rear, while the fiber has been placed down the street (front of houses). Am I likely to face your situation?
Looking at my device manager, it looks like I have the Intel WiFi 6 AX201 160MHz network adapter. It's advertised speed is 2.4Gbps, which is only half as fast as the advertised 4.2Gbps of the Orbi
This is a difficult topic:
That advertised speed of 2.4Gbps applies
Under perfect conditions, and
When using 160MHz wide WiFi channels. The maximum channel width on the Orbi 750 is 80 MHz. 2.4Gbps over WiFi simply cannot happen.
The advertised speed of the Orbi system is a marketing fantasy created by adding together all of the router radios maximum theoretical transmission rate. See the Product Data Sheet on page 4: https://www.netgear.com/images/datasheet/orbi/RBK752.pdf The maximum theoretical connection rate to a single 5G WiFi device under ideal conditions (i.e. very close to the router) with a 2x2 MIMO connection is 1.2Gbps.
What's better for speed of connection, to wire the desktop to an Orbi satellite and turn off the desktop's WiFi adapter? Or skip the satellite and just use the desktop's adapter?
If the desktop is "Far" from the router, a wired connection to a satellite will be superior to a WiFi connection to a distant WiFi access point (the router). A better solution would be to install an Ethernet cable to wherever the router is moved. (but installing Ethernet is often impractical - it certainly is in my house.)
Re: Desktop - Wire to Orbi 750 Satellite or Use Desktop's Network Adapter?
@CrimpOnThey sort of put the drop where I asked. I asked that they put the drop near the point at which the Xifnity cable and old phone lines enter the house. All the utility stuff is in the same area. I also asked that they be sure the wires can get to the crawlsapce from where they put the drop. The drop installer did put the box on the exterior of the house near the other utilities, but he put it to the garage, which is on a slab (naturally, I guess) and so from that wall you cannot access the crawlspace. It was a slight miscommunication.
The Xfinity wire runs about 50feet under the crawlspace to a point just under the office in the house, where the wire comes up between the joists, into the wall and that's where the Xfinity modem plugs in. Ideally, I'd have the fiber go all the way to the office as well, but I don't think the installer, when they return to finish up, will run cable through the crawlspace or, if they do, I"m not sure they'll use conduit.
Re: Desktop - Wire to Orbi 750 Satellite or Use Desktop's Network Adapter?
Bummer. When he comes out, act very sad "oh dear, how am I going to get it over to the OFFICE?? I am SO SCREWED. Poor Me" (and offer him money to extend the drop to the office.)
I don't think the installer, when they return to finish up, will run cable through the crawlspace or, if they do, I"m not sure they'll use conduit.
When my son in North Carolina had fiber installed (in a 1920's vintage house), the installers placed the outside termination against the wall outside the "cellar" portion toward the back of the house, and then ran it through the wall, and back across the house through the crawl space to the front, and up through the floor. Did not install conduit. His fiber works great.
Re: Desktop - Wire to Orbi 750 Satellite or Use Desktop's Network Adapter?
@CrimpOnYou were right. The installer took his time to route the fiber under the crawlspace and up through the wall, into the office. It was a lot less complicated than I had thought it'd be. The fiber wire he used is rated to be outside, so it runs along the siding for about 18" on the outside of the house before entering the crawlspace.
The only strange thing, is that he didn't use any conduit in the crawlspace and didn't seem worried about the wire breaking. He just said he'd just come back and re-run the wire if it broke. Sort of reminded me of how Comcast "buries" their cable just a couple inches underground and it's so shallow it gets broke by lawn aerators. They just come out and rerun the wire, like it's cheaper for the company to fix the wires that get cut than it is to bury the wires deep enough in the first place that they do not get cut by shallow cutting.
