Thanks, and yes, I do indeed know this, I have done my own networking both at home and at my retail store for the last 20 years and while I am perfectly happy to connect just about everything wirelessly there, at my business I still use more of a wired network. I bought a Cisco 24-port business grade switch some years back which also includes 12 POE ports should I ever want to switch to a Voip phone systems where the deskphones require both connectivity and power. It’s very noisy with a loud fan, but it’s tucked away in a little room upstairs where I keep my modem, switch, our current old Nortel phone system KSU as well as the PC which acts as our file server and which will soon get replaced with a Synology DS918+ 4-bay NAS unit.
From: viphone@googlegroups.com <viphone@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Arlene Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2018 1:04 PM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: New mesh router and my thoughts on switching WiFi It sounds like you chose a great router. You may already know this, however, that one port you said is free at the moment, well, if you need to turn that into more than one, just buy a good switch with the number of additional ports you might need. Happy networking, and if you have any questions just ask. Wayne ----- Original Message ----- From: Sieghard Weitzel<mailto:siegh...@live.ca> To: viphone@googlegroups.com<mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com> Sent: Friday, October 19, 2018 11:23 PM Subject: New mesh router and my thoughts on switching WiFi Hi, I thought I briefly share this experience. I recently bought two Netgear Orbi mesh routers, one Home edition and one Pro/Business edition for my retail store. Nowadays having a robust WiFi network is essential especially if you have some home automation devices and are moving towards more home automation. Things like the ring Video Doorbell or Skybell HD Video Doorbell are installed outside the house and even in a relatively normal sized home the WiFi signal outside the fron tdoor may not be the best if the router is located in the office on the other end of the house as it is the case for our house. Of course at my retail store the problem is worse since it is quite a bit larger, it has two floors and the outside of the wall in back has metal siding which doesn’t help the signal. I had a traditional WiFi extender before and while it is set up upstairs right against the outside wall and the Ring Video Doorbell is basically just below it and maybe 10 feet over, we had nothing but issues and even standing outside with my phone I often only showed 1 bar on the WiFi. So, 2 days ago the Netgear Orbi home came, I purchased the version which comes with 1 satellite and in the description it says that this package should be good for a home up to 5000 sqft. Our house is significantly smaller, but I set up the main unit near the modem where our fibre connection terminates which is in the office at the very back of the house and it’s about in the middle when you look at the house from left to right. The satellite I put in the kitchen which overlooks the entry hall, it’s probably about 35 or so feet from the main unit and all the way on one side of the house. This unit is also only maybe 10 feet away from our entertainment stand with the TV, our Apple TV and my wife’s TV box for getting The Filipino Channel. It is also super close to the front door where our video doorbell is and just outside the wall is our deck off the kitchen. After I finally figured out how to configure the routers we are now getting 3 out of 3 bars everywhere in the house as well as outside both on the deck, in front and in the backyard and suddenly it is actually quite quick and easy to answer the Ring Video Doorbell which before often would just sit there saying “Loading”. I had a Netgear Nighthawk X6 AC3200 router before which is a very high-end unit with 6 antennas, but it doesn’t even come close to the performance of the Netgear Orbi. The Orbi has an app which is quite accessible and the web interface where you can do quite a lot more is also very accessible from what I have seen so far. The main unit has 4 ports, one is your Internet connection where you connect it to your ADSL, cable or fibre modem and there are 3 ports to hook up devices. I am using one for our Philips Hue bridge, another to plug in one of my Sonos players and I am currently not using the third, at some point I plan to get a NAS unit for at home and then I’ll need it for that. The satellite unit which looks identical has also 4 ports, all are ethernet ports where you can plug stuff in if you want. Here at home I use WiFi for pretty much everything, my laptop, printer as well as the Apple TV and my wife’s Filipino channel set top box. These could all be plugged in, but much easier without cables. All our other stuff needs to be wireless anyways, but I did find out how much of a pain it is to change WiFi networks, here is what we all had to reconnect to the new WiFi network: 4 Amazon Echo speakers Honeywell Lyric T5 thermostat Ring Video Doorbell Apple TV Filipino Channel Set top box My iPhone, my wife’s iPhone and the laptop (those were easy) HP Officejet Printer 2 Nest Protect smoke alarms Withings/Nokia Body Plus smartscale Sonos and Philips Hue just worked as they are wired I should get the Netgear Orbi Pro next week, then I can have some more fun doing the same thing at my store although here most of the computers are wired as is the larger Officejet printer, but we do have 5 Dropam (now Nestcam) 2 WiFi thermostats, a Skybell HD which by the way even on the current WiFi works way bettter than the Ring Pro we had before. Then there are 4 of the Meross smart wall switches I just purchased and which work great with a super-accessible app and setup process as well as two Amazon Echo speakers. I really look forward for these Netgear Orbi mesh routers to work well for a long time to come since it’s not only because of how much work it is to get everything connected but also since they are pretty pricy devices. Best regards and happy networking, Siegharrd -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: mk...@ucla.edu<mailto:mk...@ucla.edu>. 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