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Hub and one satellite enough for my house?

Brenkj
Aspirant

Hub and one satellite enough for my house?

My house is 3 stories - the 1st and 2nd floors are about 2,250 sq. ft. each, and the 3rd floor is about 500 sq ft. I'm trying to figure out whether the RBK50 with a hub and one satelitte will be adequate for my house.   The hub would go in the northwest corner of the first floor (near the gateway), and the satellite would go on the south side of the second floor.   I want wifi coverage for the third floor, but I don't need it to be awesome because we don't spend a whole lot of time up there.   I guess my two questions are:   (1) Will the RBK50 package be enough?   (2)  If it turns out I need a little more coverage, can I buy one more satellite by itself and still have the whole system work well together?

 

Thanks.

Message 1 of 6
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Hub and one satellite enough for my house?


My house is 3 stories - the 1st and 2nd floors are about 2,250 sq. ft. each, and the 3rd floor is about 500 sq ft. I'm trying to figure out whether the RBK50 with a hub and one satelitte will be adequate for my house.   The hub would go in the northwest corner of the first floor (near the gateway), and the satellite would go on the south side of the second floor.   I want wifi coverage for the third floor, but I don't need it to be awesome because we don't spend a whole lot of time up there.   I guess my two questions are:   

(1) Will the RBK50 package be enough? 30 feet is recommended in between base router and satellite(s) to begin with depending upon building materials.  I have a 5000sqft home. Two stories, main and basement, addition, main and 2nd story. Router base is at one end of the home uppstairs and the 1 satellite is at the opposite end on the main floor. 40 feet away from the base. Have had great coverage and performance with just the one satellite. 

 

(2)  If it turns out I need a little more coverage, can I buy one more satellite by itself and still have the whole system work well together? Yes

 

 


What is the Mfr and model# of the ISP modem your currently using? 

Message 2 of 6
Chuck_M
Mentor

Re: Hub and one satellite enough for my house?

Short answer is that the Orbi is scalable.

 

If you drop an RBK50 in there (1 x RBR50 router and 1 x RBS50 satellite) and find it isnt enough, you can add one or more satellites.

 

I would put the satellite in the CENTER of the second floor... that will maximize coverage all the way around.

Message 3 of 6
Brenkj
Aspirant

Re: Hub and one satellite enough for my house?

Thanks for the responses.   Does it matter if the satellite has a rough line of sight to the hub?   If I place the satellite on the southern end of the 2nd floor, there will be a semi-line-of-sight up the stairway.   If I put it in the center of the 2nd floor, not so much.    Thanks.

Message 4 of 6
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Hub and one satellite enough for my house?

Can be either setting. Also depends if you want to use rough linear line out from the router with the satellie(s), if you have two or more satellites, you may want to enable Daisy Chain so they can piggy back of each other. For 1 satellite, Daisy Chain would not be needed. 


@Brenkj wrote:

Thanks for the responses.   Does it matter if the satellite has a rough line of sight to the hub?   If I place the satellite on the southern end of the 2nd floor, there will be a semi-line-of-sight up the stairway.   If I put it in the center of the 2nd floor, not so much.    Thanks.


 

Message 5 of 6
ekhalil
Master

Re: Hub and one satellite enough for my house?


@Brenkj wrote:

........... Does it matter if the satellite has a rough line of sight to the hub?   If I place the satellite on the southern end of the 2nd floor, there will be a semi-line-of-sight up the stairway.   If I put it in the center of the 2nd floor, not so much.  


The router and satellite use wifi backhaul to communicate and for wifi you don't need line of sight between the nodes. What matters -if you don't have line of sight- is the building materials and radio interferences from the surroundings.

You should be fine if you have semi line of sight.

Message 6 of 6
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