Orbi Setup Help

[braz99]

I am having issues with setup and it seems like I am chasing my tail.  Here is what I have and some particulars on placement and house.

AT&T Uverse 1000 BGW210-700 > RBR40 > 2 Satellite RBS20

Setup with the BGW210 WiFi Off and the RBR set to AP mode.

House is brick exterior built in the 60's.  Long and narrow, 47x26 roughly. about 1300 sq ft

RBR placement is in the front corner bedroom.  One RBS is about 20' across the house from RBR in bedroom, One RBS is about 40' from RBR in the living room.

So here is the problem, In the living room I get very little WiFi signal.  I know what you are saying to yourself, just move the RBS closer.  Well here is what I done so far.

Testing Devices : ASUS RoG laptop for wired; 2019 Mac Book Air for WiFi.

Just to have peace of mind I tested wired speed on the back of the BGW210 and got around 850 Mbps.  I then checked wired speed on back of the RBR and got the same thing.

I then tested WiFi, I connected to just the RBR and got around 500 Mbps about 5 feet from it.  I went in the living room still connected to the RBR and got about 280 Mbps.  This distance is 40' or so with one room between the RBR and the living room.  I then turn on the RBSs and connect to the RBS in the living room.  I test the speed with the laptop in the same exact location in the living room as the test with the RBR, my speed was 50 Mbps!!!!!  Also just to add insult to injury I tested WiFi with just the BGW210 and got around the 280 Mbps as with the RBR in the living room.

So what changes when I turn the RBS on??  I need or would like to have the RBS in the living room to take advantage of the wired ports but I see no advantage to having it based on WiFi speeds.  Just trying to wrap my head around why WiFi speed with a device in the same stationary place gives two drastically different speeds.

Placement wise, I have moved the back bedroom RBS to kind of inbetween the living room RBS and the RBR and basically got the same result.  I turned on Dasiy Chain and that didn't work either.

I know ideally I should probably move the RBR to somewhere closer to the middle of the house but due to placement and other factors I can't right now.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[CrimpOn]

This is not what most people would consider a "large" space.  Since the router alone produces 280mbs in the living room, there is a good chance that putting a satellite in the living room simply creates another WiFi access point competing on the same channel as the router.  Wanting a satellite for the LAN ports is reasonable.

I would first try reducing the signal strength on the WiFi radios.  This is on the web interface, Advanced Tab->Advanced Settings->Wireless.  Try reduciing the wireless signal to something less than 100%.

[plemans]

I'm in agreement with @CrimpOn . the space you are in isn't a large space. The orbi's require a minimum  of 30 ft in between the router and the satellites. If your house is only 47ft long, a router and single satellite should over the whole area. If they're to close they'll interfere with each other and it throws off the Orbi's device and band steering. Try actually moving the 1 satellite further away and shutting off the 2nd one to see how it works. Also, when your phone is moving from router to satellite, it sometimes takes a bit before the Orbi setup switches the phone from 2.4ghz to the 5ghz channel. Being stuck on 2.4ghz slows your speeds dramatically. 

[braz99]

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@CrimpOn wrote:

This is not what most people would consider a "large" space.  Since the router alone produces 280mbs in the living room, there is a good chance that putting a satellite in the living room simply creates another WiFi access point competing on the same channel as the router.  Wanting a satellite for the LAN ports is reasonable.

I would first try reducing the signal strength on the WiFi radios.  This is on the web interface, Advanced Tab->Advanced Settings->Wireless.  Try reduciing the wireless signal to something less than 100%.

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Thanks for the help. I was thinking the same thing with the house size and the two RBS setup.  The main reason I was using 2 RBS was because it came as a package.  Also when I had a single wireless router in the back bedroom I had very poor signal in the living room.  So I figured I would put a RBS in the living room to help.

I will try reducing the power on each unit and see what happens.  I will report back tonight.

[braz99]

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@plemans wrote:

I'm in agreement with @CrimpOn . the space you are in isn't a large space. The orbi's require a minimum  of 30 ft in between the router and the satellites. If your house is only 47ft long, a router and single satellite should over the whole area. If they're to close they'll interfere with each other and it throws off the Orbi's device and band steering. Try actually moving the 1 satellite further away and shutting off the 2nd one to see how it works. Also, when your phone is moving from router to satellite, it sometimes takes a bit before the Orbi setup switches the phone from 2.4ghz to the 5ghz channel. Being stuck on 2.4ghz slows your speeds dramatically. 

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Thanks for the response!  I totally misunderstood the 30 ft thing.  I read so many post before posting I guess I got confused.  I thought the maximum distance was 30 ft not minimum distance.  That is my bad.

As for the phone, I totally get that and understand that part.  I was only testing with a laptop and checked every time that I was connected at 5ghz, but I have noticed that with my phone while I have been testing.

[braz99]

Update:

So I tried all the suggestions and did not get improved signal.  The only way I get deceit signal is with just one Orbi, the RBR on.  Anytime I add a RBS no matter where i put it in the house or where I am in the house, if i am connected to that RBS my speed is in the 50-70's mbps.  Connected to the RBR I am at 250-400 mbps depending on location.

Not sure what my next step will be since even with just the AT&T router I am getting the 250-400 mbps.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

[plemans]

If you hardwire into the orbi satellite, what speeds do you get? If you can get the full speeds with it hardwired.

when you're only getting the 50-70mbps with connection to the satellite, which band are you connected to?

[braz99]

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@plemans wrote:

If you hardwire into the orbi satellite, what speeds do you get? If you can get the full speeds with it hardwired.

when you're only getting the 50-70mbps with connection to the satellite, which band are you connected to?

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I checked the hardwired part first to make sure I had good signal.  It was in the 800's hardwired to the RBR.  So I know my signal hitting the RBR is good.

My testing laptop is connected to 5 GHz.  I check that every time before I test to make sure I am comparing apples to apples.

EDIT:  the one thing I haven't done and will have to set the Orbis back up is to hardwire into the satelite and see what speed I get just for kicks.

[plemans]

You pull full speed hardwired into the satellite?