RBS50Y connecting to a weak signal

[andrewsanderson]

I have recently added a second RBS50Y to try and get a good signal to an outbuilding

The plan was to have this connection Kitchen RBS50 (1)>Garage RBS50Y (2)> Games Room RBS50Y (3) >games room RBS50 (4)

Unfortunately, the network is connecting Kitchen RBS50 >Garage & Games Room RBS50Y which gives a poor signal to the second RBS50Y

I had to factory reset the second RBS50Y as it didn't realise that it was an outdoor satellite (didn't have the sync / light off options when you entered the IP address or accessed via the app.) and was showing no 5G channels

I've attached an image showing placement of the satellites and a screen shot of the connections. Any ideas of how to change the way the network is connecting ?

[andrewsanderson]

Update:

I've reset and re-sync'd RBS50Y 3. I've switched off the kitchen orbi which means that RBS50Y 2 has a poor connection to another satellite in the house. RBS50Y 3 briefly connected with a poor signal to the router but then failed and wont connect to RBS50Y 2 which is the nearest orbi.

[andrewsanderson]

I've swapped positions of the two RBS50Y and the satellite now on the garage connects to the kitchen orbi fine. The orbi now on the games room now connects to my office which is mid-way across the front of the house whereas the previous RBS50Y connected to the kitchen orbi.

All of this is making me think that I can't connect two RBR50Y directly together. 

I've put an RBS50 inside the garage and rather than connect to the RBS50Y outside the garage it is connecting to the Kitchen orbi which is further away and has an additional wall between the two devices.

Am I trying to achieve something that is beyond the RBS50Y ? Is it part of the mesh network but acts only as an access point for wifi or can it form part of a wider meshed network ? 

[andrewsanderson]

Factory reset the RBR50 and rebuilt the network today and the issue is still there. I've dropped the power of the wifi signals and that improved the connection to the RBS50Y but connection to the orbi inside the games room is still flaky and only uses the 2.4 wifi. I've dropped the power of the 2.4 further which forced the orbi to use 5g but the signal is poor.

Looks like I need to look at an alternative manufacturer and start again

[schumaku]

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@andrewsanderson wrote:

Looks like I need to look at an alternative manufacturer and start again

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The problem isn't the manufacturer - the problem is the never ending dream everything has to be wireless at any price. Even if you go for a very expensive leading edge WiFi 7 Mesh system (from any vendor), you will hit the limitations of the "physical" (wireless) connectivity. No matter how many thousands of USD you are investing in technology my friend.

Consider to install a good network cabling between the points 1, 2, and 4. (I don't think you need to cover 3 this because it appears to be mostly outdoors). Try to stay below 90 or 95 meters plus some patch cords, so you remain in the 100 m max length for any copper Ethernet link. This can give you up to 10 GbE coverage on your new wired backhaul with ease, the ability to mount some PoE++ switch(es) to drive decent Wireless Access Points, or even deploy such a modern and sexy WiFi 7 Mesh system like the Orbi 970.

[andrewsanderson]

@schumaku

Thanks for the reply.

We have a wired connection currently and its route is : Around the outside of the house, under a path, through the garage, under the patio, under another path and into the games room.

My fear is that the cat5 will degrade over time and I will loose the connection. I was hoping that having the external satellites would give me a meshed connection to the building. I probably over expected the meshing to work out that the connection was stronger from the RBS50Y - as all of the simplified mesh diagrams show will happen.

I'm now thinking of connecting a point to point transmitter/receiver to the back of an orbi in the house and then taking an ethernet cable from the games room to the AP in there

[FURRYe38]

CAT5 was officially only designed for up to 100Mpbs. CAT5e supported 1000Mpbs. If your running cabling outside in a un controlled environment, then it's recommended to use CAT6A STP cabling. Not UTP. STP is designed for use outside and would last longer if buried or put thru some piping. 

[andrewsanderson]

@FURRYe38 The cable was installed as a temporary measure so that we could stream tv in the outbuilding. It doesn't need to be super fast. But like lots of these temporary measures, 9 years later it is still in use. What I'm looking to do now is to create a solution where there isn't a cable exposed to the outside environment

[FURRYe38]

Buried cable.

Or if the two buildings are on same power circuit, might check into some power line adapters. 

[andrewsanderson]

Power line adaptors don't work. I tried these in the past. Mains is fed from the main fuse board to a second in the kitchen which feeds a board in the garage which then feeds a board in the games room. Not sure if it was an issue with the distance or the hops between the buildings but the performance was really badly impacted. Buried cable would work and would be the ideal option but would mean digging up the drive or a concrete pad that was laid when the previous farm buildings were on the property (read thick and hard as iron)

[FURRYe38]

There are construction equipment that can drill under ground and install pipping. Something to call and ask about as a alternative suggestion for burying cable. 

[andrewsanderson]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've just looked at prices online and it says between $10 and $250 / foot, typically $100. We are on limestone here quite close to the surface so 60 feet at the typical price (there is a lot of rock just below the surface) seems excessive for a cable connecting a single device. I think if that was my only other option I'd spend another day routing a cable along its current path 

[FURRYe38]

Good Luck.

[andrewsanderson]

A few free days and I now have a working solution. I have an orbi inside the house, behind point A with an ethernet connection into a point to point wifi link (A). I then have a cable from point B - the other end of the wifi link into the games room. This connects into an orbi at point C which then has a wired connection into my TV device but also gives wifi in the games room. It isn't the solution that I was after and I hoped that the RBS50Y's would work rather than the wifi link but it works. The orbi at point C thinks that it has a wired connection to the orbi at point A.

[FURRYe38]

Glad you got it working. Please mark your thread as solved so others will know. Be sure to save off a back up configuration to file for safe keeping. Saves time if a reset is needed.
https://kb.netgear.com/000062080/How-do-I-back-up-the-configuration-settings-on-my-Orbi-WiFi-System
Enjoy. 📡