Do the wi-fi pods have an ethernet port?

[LeoOttawa]

I have an older ASUS mesh wifi system that uses a wired-ethernet backhaul.  Do the wi-fi pods have an ethernet port?

[dks · Accepted solution]

BellPlume pods? Mine do. 

[LeoOttawa]

Yes, the Bell pods.  How is the range of the pods?  I currently have an ASUS RP-AX56 in my living room on an ethernet backhaul to extend my wifi to reach a bedroom directly above it - works great.  

[dks]

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@LeoOttawa wrote:

Yes, the Bell pods.  How is the range of the pods?  I currently have an ASUS RP-AX56 in my living room on an ethernet backhaul to extend my wifi to reach a bedroom directly above it - works great.  

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The range is excellent. The closest pod is 10 feet on the far side of a wall and the furthest 50 feet and up one floor. That tests at 80 Mb down/up for speed. No ethernet necessary. I have ethernet out of one pod to a 1 Gb unmanaged switch to distribute wi-fi to various AV devices. 

[LeoOttawa]

80 Mb/sec… I get 150+ Mb/sec with my ASUS mesh extender when measured from the bedroom upstairs.  I wonder if Bell offers Plumbe super pods.

[dks]

Because there are so many variables involved in Wi-Fi, comparisons of raw speeds are not always "apples to apples". The device I used to test may not be yours. There may be walls, beams and floors in your house that are not in mine. My personal benchmark is "Does it work for me?" In my own case, the answer is an unqualified "Yes". Your experience may well differ and I respect that.  

[LeoOttawa]

Thanks dks for your responses.  I will talk to a bell rep tomorrow about their pods.  I have wifi5 ASUS mesh routers.  If I can get the Giga Hub to work, it would save me $$ from upgrading them. 

[MG1]

Hello, wanted to check if Bell has updated their Plume Pods to be wifi 6e compatible , just to match their Giga Hub router ? 

[dks]

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@MG1 wrote:

Hello, wanted to check if Bell has updated their Plume Pods to be wifi 6e compatible , just to match their Giga Hub router ? 

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I believe that updated pods are in process but no one really knows. 

[Pete69]

We just got our pods from Bell and it says 6e on the box MG1

[Kwela]

Do the pods have an RJ45 ethernet port? 

I have no need to extend the wifi, but I would like to connect to my older Wifi 4 laptop via the 1Gb ethernet port. At present I only get max of ~120 Mbps via wifi if on 5Ghz and only 1/2 of that on 2.4.

[MG1]

They do ,  2 Ethernet ports , one 1G and the second one is 2.5G if you have 6E pods

[dks]

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@Kwela wrote:

Do the pods have an RJ45 ethernet port? 

I have no need to extend the wifi, but I would like to connect to my older Wifi 4 laptop via the 1Gb ethernet port. At present I only get max of ~120 Mbps via wifi if on 5Ghz and only 1/2 of that on 2.4.

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A good question. Those speeds are not unexpected for a WiFi 4 wireless connection, depending on distance. At the same time, if you try a wired connection you will be at the mercy of the speed of your network card or jack on the laptop. If it is 1 Gb, you should get better speeds. If it is a 100 meg card or jack, speeds will be slower than wireless. 

[Kwela]

I did check this by connecting ethernet from hub direct to laptop. I got about 550Mbps on a very brief test. This with our 1Gb down/750Mbps up connection. If pod will output ethernet at 1Gbps, then this should work. In checking this, it looks like I have to get two pods for $5.00/month. All  I need is one. Maybe buy a generic repeater?

[dks]

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@Kwela wrote:

I did check this by connecting ethernet from hub direct to laptop. I got about 550Mbps on a very brief test. This with our 1Gb down/750Mbps up connection. If pod will output ethernet at 1Gbps, then this should work. In checking this, it looks like I have to get two pods for $5.00/month. All  I need is one. Maybe buy a generic repeater?

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I can't speak to the pod rental question, but your result is what I would expect from a laptop wired to a pod. Nicely done.