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Forum Discussion
MUST press the physical buttons?
Please forgive me if this is has been answered before (I did search, but failed to discover the answer).
I mounted my Orbi RBS40V up in the rafters in my garage in order to get a strong backhaul signal to/from the router. This afternoon, I finally decided, "what the hell, I'll activate Alexa on this thing." Apparently it is now linked to my Amazon account, but Alexa is not listening and the Orbi "app" shows a speaker X'd out next to the green dot.
The manual shows physical buttons to control the speaker and microphone. I can find nothing in the "app" or the Orbi web interface to control them. Is climbing a ladder and pressing those buttons the ONLY way to get the Orbi voice to "voice"?
4 Replies
Most likely yes - it's about privacy... don't fall down from the ladder please!
The RBS40V is a "voice" device and, as you would expect, the idea is that you talk to it. The further away it is, the harder the poor thing will find it to understand what you are saying. Shouting up the stairs through a loft opening rather misses the point.
One way to connect the RBS40V satellite to your router is with a wired connection. No, you don't have to run a wire from the rlouter to the satellite. You can do what I do whicj is to use Powerline Ethernet. This uses a mains plug by the router to talk to the mains plug by the satellite as a substutute for an Ethernet wire.
michaelkenward wrote:The RBS40V is a "voice" device and, as you would expect, the idea is that you talk to it. The further away it is, the harder the poor thing will find it to understand what you are saying. Shouting up the stairs through a loft opening rather misses the point.
Well, I did climb the ladder to see the "top" of the RBS40. (see picture) The microphone and speaker were in fact "on", and I had simply not been saying "Alexa" loudly or clearly enough. Or, the speaker volume was so low that I could not hear the Alexa tone. What I wanted was to be able to control the speaker and microphone through the Orbi "app" or the Orbi web interface, rather than having to physically press the button. (oh, well. exercise is good)
p.s. The RBS40V is mounted "up there" in order to get a more direct radio path to the Orbi router which is 30 ft. away and one floor up. The backhaul rate is 866/650 and the RSSI -59, which is better than my other satellite (RBS50). I didn't buy it for the "voice", but because Amazon was selling them for $99. That other wooden bracket supported my old R7000 which was totally unreliable in Bridge Mode. The RBS40V is rock solid. And, I prefer my blutooth headphones when exercising over the "voice".
