NETGEAR Announces DIY Orbi Extender

[thiggins]

NETGEAR's new EX8000 Nighthawk X6S AC3000 Tri-band Wi-Fi Range Extender makes the technology used in the company's best-selling Orbi family of Wi-Fi Sytstems available to those of us who can't or don't want to swap out our current routers.

The EX8000 creates a single SSID extended network complete with bi-directional band steering and 802.11k fast roaming support.

The "tri-band" part of the EX8000 consists of a dual-band two-stream AC1300 radio and additional four-stream 5 GHz high-band AC1700 radio. In Orbi, the 5 GHz high-band radio is dedicated to backhaul connection between router and satellite.

But while the EX8000 will prefer to use its 4x4 radio to connect back to the router being extended, it can use either of the other 2x2 radios to make the connection. And, also unlike Orbi, if the 2x2 5 GHz radio is busy with backhaul duties, the 4x4 high-band radio is available for client connection.

The EX8000 will attain maximum backhaul bandwidth when used with four-stream AC5300/5400 tri-band routers. But the product's four-stream design will provide better backhaul performance than other extenders, even when used with two and three stream routers.

The Nighthawk X6S Extender can also be used as a tri-band access point if you are lucky enough to have Ethernet where you want to have better Wi-Fi.

Other specs include a four-port gigabit Ethernet switch, USB 2.0 port supporting ReadyShare storage and printer sharing and MU-MIMO support.

The EX8000 can be pre-ordered now and ships on Sept 8. U.S. MSRP is $229.99.

 

[pege63]

Netgear EX8000 at last a TRI-band extender with FastLane3 Technology, MU-MIMO and Smart Connect intelligence.

AC3200 equals 400Mbps at 2.4GHz 802.11n + 866Mbps at 5GHz 802.11ac + 1733Mbps at 5GHz 802.11ac.

 

[pete y testing]

just to clear 2 things up as its not evident in the explanation , the backhaul is not exactly the same as the orbi as its not dedicated unless you choose to use the high 5 gig band of your main router only for connecting to this extender , the band steering and fast roaming support are only within its self as it has no communication with the primary router when it comes to these features

yes its a big step up from a standard extender / repeater but its not exactly an orbi diy

 

[RogerSC]

Love to hear user's experiences with this thing. My experiences with extenders promising faster speed than 1/2 of main router speed has been pretty miserable. They're usually unstable, or the speed doesn't turn out to be what was promised, or both. Be really nice to see a good extender out there that delivers what it promises.

 

[pete y testing]

link to web page

https://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/wifi-range-extenders/EX8000.aspx

fastlane technology has been around for a while now and does indeed sort out the 50% duty cycle older repeaters and extenders had to deal with

see

https://kb.netgear.com/24662/What-is-FastLane-Technology-and-how-do-I-configure-it

the ex8000 takes it one step further in providing as second band than can be used as backhaul and still provide both 2.4 and 5 gig to the front haul

802.11k fast roaming support.

also note your client devices must have the same 802.11k standard to take advantage of this feature as stated in the home page

 

[pege63]

yes its a big step up from a standard extender / repeater but its not exactly an orbi diy

So wath are they mean when they write "Like the Orbi router, the EX8000 also uses the IPQ4019 SoC in the dual-band dual-concurrent configuration - 2x2 2.4 GHz + 2x2 5 GHz, along with a 4x4 5 GHz QCA9984 PCIe radio, using the 4x4 dedicated backhaul link to the consumer's primary router. The 802.11k fast roaming protocol is also supported, this allows supported client devices to move from the router to the range extender without dropping the connection".

Netgear is introducing the Nighthawk X6S EX8000 range extender based on the same platform as that of the high-end Orbi router.

So if one has a Netgear R7800 and set the ISP gateway in bridge mode, could he use all the EX8000 features full out, or must it be a Tri-band router?

 

[thiggins]

So if one has a Netgear R7800 and set the ISP gateway in bridge mode, could he use all the EX8000 features full out, or must it be a Tri-band router?

Using the EX8000 with a dual-band router means you share one of the radios on the base router for backhaul.

If the base router has a third radio, then you can use the high-band radio for backhaul with the EX8000. Low band 5 and 2.4 would be for client connect.

Note the base router would have four-stream radios for client connect. But Ex8000 has only two-stream.

 

[pete y testing]

If the base router has a third radio, then you can use the high-band radio for backhaul with the EX8000. Low band 5 and 2.4 would be for client connect.

so sort of justifies why anyone would buy a tri band router , however would you like to sacrifice the fast high band 5 gig of the main just to dedicate it to the ex8000 , its prob more a good use of the low 5 gig band that no one tends to use

So if one has a Netgear R7800

the r7800 would work but you would be sharing the 5 gig with all your other 5 gig devices and thus it has to compete for bandwidth and air time with those 5 gig clients , orbi on the other hand has a specific dedicated 5 gig backhaul and thus its 1733M is used only for the backhaul , so its the closest thing to an orbi without actually having an orbi but it does have some limitations

 

[pege63]

the r7800 would work but you would be sharing the 5 gig with all your other 5 gig devices and thus it has to compete for bandwidth and air time with those 5 gig clients , orbi on the other hand has a specific dedicated 5 gig backhaul and thus its 1733M is used only for the backhaul , so its the closest thing to an orbi without actually having an orbi but it does have some limitations

One can never be really happy for anything always a catch, buy they could build in this dedicated 5GHz band in regular router so it could end up with EX8000 or Orbi router would be perfect for both of them having the dedicated bachaul band?

 

[Trebuin]

With this, you can at least chose which channel/band you want to use as the backhaul. It demonstrates using the higher speed band as the backhaul & then using the slower speed band & 2.4GHz bands between the extended devices. In most our cases, the connected devices will bottleneck the a slower shared band vs the backhaul.

The lower channels are 866 while the upper has 1733 assigned to it.

 

[pete y testing]

The lower channels are 866 while the upper has 1733 assigned to it.

so to avoid bottlenecks you would need a tri band router with at least 1733M and thats prob going to mean a 2156M tri band like the r8500 which you would dedicate the high 5 gig band to the ex8000 backhaul , like i said prob one good reason to buy a tri band router

 

[pege63]

The dedicated wifi link/backhaul of Nighthawk X6S automatically configures as a 2x2 or 4x4 depending on which channel your router is configured.

If your router is operating in the low 5GHz band, the backhaul will be a 2x2 and if your router is operating in high 5GHz band, the backhaul will be 4x4.

From the router's perspective X6S is a client on the 5GHz.

If there are many slow clients on dual band router's 5GHz band, it could be fighting for bandwidth but the entire band is still available for the extender's backhaul.

The backhaul connection from extender will automatically be on the same channel as your router and usually chosen at the time of installation of the extender.

 

[pete y testing]

From the router's perspective X6S is a client on the 5G.

correct

If there are many slow clients on the router's 5G band, it could be fighting for bandwidth but the entire band is still available for the extender's backhaul.

that comment doesnt make any sense

The backhaul connection from extender will automatically be on the same channel as your router

yes because its acting like a client

and usually chosen at the time of installation of the extender.

yes just replicates the wifi from the router

 

[Trebuin]

so to avoid bottlenecks you would need a tri band router with at least 1733M and thats prob going to mean a 2156M tri band like the r8500 which you would dedicate the high 5 gig band to the ex8000 backhaul , like i said prob one good reason to buy a tri band router

I actually do have a tri band primary router...both the backhaul 5G & the network 5G are 1300Mbps that drops to about 780Mbps but the time my current repeater picks it up. My lowland speeds are a tad slower at around 650. Given that, I have a server set up on the primary router that benefits from the higher speed, but I'm not sure which bottleneck would be worse in the end with a triband repeater.

 

[pete y testing]

the ssetup you have above is prob fine and would achieve about the same results , this fastlane thing is basically what you are doing now anyway

 

[Razor512]

I wonder, why can't they just allow both of the 5GHz radios have full access to all available channels in the range. Any chance Netgeat will allow that so that people can choose which channels they want to use?

 

[pete y testing]

Any chance Netgeat will allow that so that people can choose which channels they want to use?

no as it has to be region specific according to the transmission rules

 

[pege63]

I wonder, why can't they just allow both of the 5GHz radios have full access to all available channels in the range. Any chance Netgeat will allow that so that people can choose which channels they want to use?

There is no special dedicated wifi backhaul CH on the X6S, you have to choose the CH by yourself (CH 100-144) on the router.
By default all Nighthawk Routers use high 5G band.

 

[pege63]

I think Netgear could made this Extender with 2 x 5GHz tri-band with 1733Gbps.
So, if you already have a tri-band router with 2 x 5 GHz router at 2.2 Gbps, you did not have to sacrifice that one band to just the 866 Mbps.

Or make one tri-band router with 1 x 2,4GHz 400/600/800/Mbps and 2 x 5GHz 1733Gbps to match the EXT 8000 at least.

 

[Razor512]

There is no special dedicated wifi backhaul CH on the X6S, you have to choose the CH by yourself (CH 100-144) on the router.
By default all Nighthawk Routers use high 5G band.

It is more to do with things that I have noticed with triple band products in general, 1 radio will be restricted to the lower channels while the other radio will be limited to the upper channels. Why not allow both radios to have access to the same channels?