Orbi router with satellite and then add a modem

[Old-fart]

Hello everyone,

my name is Greg, I'm 87 years old and brand new to your community. My wife (of 68 years) and I are not techy so need your help. 

We had a CM500 Netgear modem and a Asus RT-AC56Rrouter but someone broke in to our home and stole them. 

I was thinking of getting the newer models of a router and a modem. Saw the Orbi mini router with a satellite at Costco. Price was good. And what new modem would you pair it with? I'd like to keep modem price at $150 max. 

If you professionals have other other ideas for us, let us know. Our home is 2200 square feet, one level. Our old stolen units worked good but wifi to living room could be spotty at times. We only have one cable hook up in my office. So there's office, kitchen and then living room. Maybe kitchen causes the spotty 

I appreciate any and all help. Not sure if allowed to ask this but Costco also had a tp router and separate modem. Orbi beat all router and modems?

Have a nice weekend everyone. 

Greg

Edit: we have cableone for Internet. 

[FURRYe38]

I recommend a Arris SB6183 or Motorola MB7420. You can find these on amazon or walmart sometimes. Bestbuy or Frys if you have these local stores. 

I would recommend the RBK40 series just one base router and satellie. Your home size is fairly average and no need to 3 wireless APs. I believe just a router and maybe 1 satellite is needed. If you want just a router, I recommend a NG R7800

[Old-fart]

Sorry for late response. 

Thank you for your suggestions. We were planning on the 2 pack Orbi, mini router and satellite. Because it is tri band and speedy, should we get a really fast modem for when we decide to up our plan with Cableone. As long time customers, they always send out offers. We've always ignored but with newer system all around, maybe time to upgrade. 

I saw many Motorola modems on Amazon. Lots of Arris and Netgear too. 

What do we want to look for from a modem? Cable one said we should get Docsis 3 or 3.1

[FURRYe38]

What is your ISP speed you pay for UP and Down? The Arris SB6182 or Motorola MB7420 are DOCSIS 3.0 and will handle up to 600Mb on the DOWN. ALso check to see what your ISP supports. Most ISP do support these modems. 

[Old-fart]

What are your thoughts on the CM 600. One of our neighbors said we should ask you when we were at church breakfast this morning. 

[FURRYe38]

I haven't used the 600. I have a CM1000/Arris 6183 and Motorola MB7420 and works well. 

The main thing is to keep with a broadcom based chipset modem. There are some modems that are intel based that currently have problems:

http://www.badmodems.com

Again also check with your ISP to see that they officially support. 

[Old-fart]

We have the power plan 200 and 6. 

[Old-fart]

I'd like to ask a different question.

when the new modem and the Orbi, rbk22, arrive for me to install. Do I power up modem, then call cableone to activate and after hanging up with them, add the Orbi? 

I assumed I had to call them. Couldn't find anything if we could do online. 

I know the ssid we used. 

Thank you. 

On the the positive side, because of how stupid I've felt having to ask for help, I've signed up for the senior free computer classes at our library. Realized I need to learn. 😀😀

[FURRYe38]

Any one of the modems mentioned will work fine.

Yes, have the modem connected and ON. Then call up C1. I'm on C1 as well. After the modem is activated and you have good speeds with a wired PC connected to it. Power OFF the modem and connect the Orbi router to it. Power ON the modem, Then power ON the Orbi router and have a wired PC connected to it and walk thru the setup wizard at 192.166.1.1 in a web browser. Write down all the information for safe keeping later. 

[Old-fart]

Wired PC required for last part?

[FURRYe38]

Not required however makes it easier vs wireless...

[Old-fart]

Thanks for all your help and patience Furry.

I sincerely appreciate it.

Greg

[FURRYe38]

Let us know how it turns out.

Good Luck.

[Old-fart]

Furry,

set up was simple for modem. Cableone instructed me how to set up Orbi after he hung up so followed their directions. Getting mailed one working was easy. Getting just the one satellite that came with Orbi was tougher. Wouldn't synchronize. We would hit both buttons at once, nothing. After 30 minutes of trying and trying and etc, etc, final connected. Should there be a color on top 24/7? It's just dark on top. 

Now, Orbi and satellite are about 80 feet apart. Satellite and living room on other side is 15 feet. 

While my netgear Orbi app shows high speeds, our iPads are slower than ones we replaced. 

When connecting our dish receiver to wifi, we searched via receiver set up, 4 same ssid show up. All of different speeds.

On our iPads, just one. Androids too. On desktop, it shows 2 same ssid. Of the multi ones, we didn't know which name to choose. 

I could use help on settings we should change from default. I know some of the stuff (traffic, speed test, guest mode, etc) we see on modem and router. But more advanced, I do not. Like there is none, WPA and WPA2. It's set on first WPA (after none) . We'd like to have settings like you pro's would have. 

Finally, regarding modem, it said in a manual we found online about security settings and mcafee protection. I couldn't find anything. Wrong or old manual? 

Ok, hope I've covered enough and not confuse you either. 

Thank you

[FURRYe38]

Did you set up a new SSID name and PW on the orbi router that is unique? Can be anything and something you can recognize. If you need to walk thru the setup wizard on the router with a connected PC and browser...

Yes the top LED once BLUE, should turn OFF, this means all is connected. 

30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials. So 15 feet is too close for a satellite. 

Yes, please use WPA2 and AES as a starting point to get the wifi secure. This is done on the router...

[Old-fart]

They are about 80 feet apart. Sorry. I meant the satellite is set 15 feet from living room.

My old router would show 2.4 and 5. We could select which channel for each device. I'm assuming Orbi selects for me for each device?

2.4 says "auto and 5 is on channel 48" I also have this that isn't enabled yet: Enable Implicit BEAMFORMING - Boosts WiFi speed, reliability, & range for all mobile devices

I'm real good at getting around the settings, basic and advanced. What changes should I make or you would make to yours to get most out of it?

Thank you.

Hope your weekend is good.

[Old-fart]

Yes, we gave ourselevs a unique name and password.

[FURRYe38]

You will only see one SSID name for 2.4 and 5Ghz frequencies. This is how Orbi works. Yes the Orbi will automatically select best frequency to use for your devcies. 

Leave the Channel settings as they are for now and see how the system runs. I would enable Beamforming and Disable MIMO. 

What FW version is your system running currently? v.210? If it is, enable Diasy Chain. THere is a small problem with this feature working in opposite setting in this version of FW. If your system isn't updated, keep Daisy Chain disabled for now. 

[Old-fart]

It shows daisy enabled.

Ok, enabled beam, disabled mimo.

Firmware Version

V2.2.1.210

[FURRYe38]

Ok, let the system run and see how it works for you. 

[Old-fart]

Will do and report back in a few days

Thx

[FURRYe38]

[Old-fart]

Working great Furry. 

Only issue is one desktop on a DLink wifi adapter, many years old, that can only get 2.4 channel is half the speed as everything else. And satellite is just on other side of wall. 

Could it be the adapter? 

Have a great day. 

[FURRYe38]

Whats the model# of the adapter? 

Might need something newer, like a DWA-192...

[Old-fart]

DWA 130. Its old. I need to buy a new one. 

Why do speed test sites give such such differing results? We checked our speed on 3 different sites earlier. One gave us 8.4 download, other gave us 18.7 and last one had us at 119.3. 

That one was XFinity site.