
Orbi Wi-Fi 6 is a tri-band Wi-Fi system built with the fast Wi-Fi 6 technology to provide an ultimate Smart home experience with Wi-Fi coverage and connection capacity beyond belief. Keep all your Wi-Fi connections strong, in every room, all the time with enough bandwidth for all your devices, multiple 4K or 8K UHD streaming video, music for your Wi-Fi connected speakers, fast online gameplay, smart lights, Wi-Fi security devices and more.
A: No, this only supports up to 80MHz. Netgear does not come out and say this but you can tell from the specs. WiFi 6 supports up to 1200 Mbps per stream but that is only on a 160MHz channel. When WiFi 6 is restricted to 80MHz, the max is up to 600mbps per stream. Since they only claim 2400 Mbps combined on the 4 stream 5 GHz backhaul and 1200 on the 2 stream 5GHz fronthaul, it must be on 80MHz.
Q: Does the orbi work with the nighthawk routers?
A: It actually replaces the Nighthawk altogether. I just replaced my Nighthawk X6 with this Orbi setup and it’s so much better on the Wi-Fi. Works especially well in congested areas where your neighbors are really close and everyone has Wi-Fi.
A: This is a tough one to answer unless someone upgraded from one to the other. I only have the 4200. But the 4200 is essentially the new version of the 3000, which has been sort of the Orbi workhorse. The main difference being WiFi 6. Ordinarily you wouldn’t see any benefit from WiFi 6 unless you have one of the few new devices that are WiFi 6 compatible. In this case though, even if your devices are only WiFi 5 you can get faster speeds because at least the satellite is connecting to the main router using WiFi 6. Because there is less dropoff from router to satellite you should see significantly faster speeds. Its more noticeable the more internet you have coming into your house or if you think you will have trouble with coverage (like multiple floors/walls). So bottom line, the 3000 will most likely work well for you. But if you are worried about wifi coverage over distance or through obstacles or if you have gig speed internet coming into your house and want to “future proof” as new WiFi 6 devices come out that will connect at about 20% faster speeds, then go for the 4200.
A: that depends on how internet is brought into your home. If your internet service is brought into your home via coax cable, you will need your Verizon modem. However, if it is brought in directly via an ethernet cable, then the router (not the nodes) could replace your fios modem. It may require Verizon to enable an outside modem to connect to their network, but should be a matter of plugging in the orbi directly to that incoming ethernet cable to work
Q: How do I get this thing off of 5G band.
A: By default both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands are activated with the same wifi SSID name. The attaching devices will choose which network band to use based on their own criteria, performance etc.. You can disable the individual bands by using the web browser interface to the normal router address 192.168.1.1 entered on the browser address line. At the login window, enter admin as the username (it's always admin) and your router access password. Select Wireless on the left side and you will see the wifi band switches. You can disable the individual bands here. Most attaching devices have both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz capability but beware that many older attaching devices may only have 2.4Ghz capability and will lose connectivity if that band is disabled. .
A: If by "plug in" you mean, plug into a wall socket for power, then, yes, they both must plug in. If you're asking about "plug in" and mean plug into your modem, then no -- only the wifi router plugs into the modem. The other device (satellite) needs to get power from a wall socket but gets its internet signal from wifi from the router. The pair of devices worked very well for my wife & I in our house, but I ended up deciding I needed a second satellite (and couldn't buy just a single satellite to add to my router + satellite pair I'd gotten from BestBuy, so I opted to buy it elsewhere). Loving the speed from my three-unit mesh, though -- downloads usually around 400-450 mps for cable-based 400 mps service!!)
A: Yes it’s WiFi 6. But even with older devices, I’ve seen a noticeable difference in range and speed!
A: Additional satellites aren’t available yet to buy individually. You would have to buy an entire system right now to get an additional satellite.