Customer Ratings & Reviews

The Orbi Wi-Fi mesh system has always been my favorite of the systems that I have used in the past. I had the original Orbi system, and I loved and when I replaced it with another brand, I was never as happy. There were always little things that bugged me and now I can happily say that I have been given the opportunity to use the Orbi system once again. This system is very expensive and if you are looking for the latest and greatest that you can get, this is the one for sure, however, there are a few things to consider if you choose this system. The biggest disappointment with this system is that most of the advanced features are trial only and then you must pay for them. Security and parental controls are separate and cost extra. Tech support is free, but only until the 90-day mark, then you must fork out cash. You are given a full year hardware warranty, but if you need technical support, well…. The Orbi app has been good enough for me. I have not had any errors or problems with it. Setting up the devices was as simple as can be (or perhaps I have done this a few times to its easy now), but I removed my old mesh system, launched the app, and plugged in the Orbi’s as the app instructed me to. It walked me thru the entire process and after it was all said and done, about 30 minutes had passed by and my new system was up and running. I used my identical SSID and Passkey so every one of my (75) devices were able to easily connect without any intervention. My wife and kids did not even notice. They did notice the new Orbi’s and commented on how big and good looking they were though, so they are rather large, but they do look stylish. Each device has 4 Ethernet ports on them, with one being a 2.5GB connection and the Router has a 10GB uplink. My home connection is no where near that speed, but someday it could be and its nice to have that if needed. Back to the Orbi app, there is one of my favorite features, you can set up a separate IoT network for those devices that may not be able to use the 5GhZ network or if they can only do WPA/WPA2 security. Before this, I had to create a separate network using a different router for this purpose. Now I can retire that router and just use the Orbi system to accomplish the same thing. It is a good idea to segment out your IoT devices since security on them may not be as strong as you expect and may allow a way in for attackers. The rest of the settings and configurations found in the app are pretty much standard that you can find in most quality systems. Speed wise, these have had no problems keeping up with my demanding household. As I mentioned earlier, we have over 75 connected devices and the majority of them are connected nearly all the time. My speed tests have been what my advertised speeds from my cable company are and we have been very happy. The Orbi satellites have not dropped connections to each other, and they have provided a nice blanket of coverage that encompasses my house and front and back yard. If you are looking for a top of the line Wi-Fi mesh system and have the extra money, then I highly recommend you get these units, if not, then Orbi does make some less expensive models that are not the latest and greatest, but they work pretty darn well also.

I’ve always been interested in this advent of mesh networks but never could convince myself to take the plunge given that these systems don’t come on the cheap side. Yet, cue the new Orbi system from Netgear. I switched to their hardware around a year or two ago because I got tired of dealing with my ISP’s run of the mill gear, so I picked up Netgear’s highest end modem and a RAX50 router. Fast forward to now and they’ve recently released this new Wi-Fi 6 Mesh system. Setup was a breeze. I placed my Router next to the modem, and one of the satellites in my dining are as it’s near the furthest point in the house. It took about 10-15 minutes from downloading the Orbi app (do this before you disconnect anything on your current setup) to being able to get everything connected again. It really is a simple process. If you need finer control, once setup, you can always go to the Router’s webpage to make more detailed changes than what’s available in the app. I can honestly say, if you’re serious about having full home coverage, mesh is by far and large the way to go. I’m currently only using the Router hub and one of the Satellites till I figure out where I want to install the 3rd. It’s a bit overkill for my home in all honesty, but this is something I’m not going to have to replace or upgrade for years. It supports up to 10 Gigabit coming in. It features a 2.5Gbps ethernet port for devices on your network that may be able to take advantage. My desktop pc does feature one of these ports, however I can’t even come close to saturating it. There are 3 other 10/100/1000 ports on the main router. On the Satellites there’s 1 2.5 Gigabit and 3 Gigabit Ethernet ports. With my old Netgear setup out in my kitchen a good 30 feet away I could get reception just fine, but the speeds would start to drop quickly. I believe in some areas of the house I would see speed reductions of below 600Mbps over Wi-Fi 6. Still more than what I get from my service provider, but a steep decline. With this new setup, there was only once place in my house that dropped below 1Gbps, and I believe it was around 920 Mbps, still plenty fast especially for those with gigabit connections. What I really like most about this setup is that it has multiple bands, but best of all, it’s got a separate band you can setup specifically for all your IoT devices. Things such a Wireless Security system, Thermostats, Smart Speakers etc. It is off by default, but once you enable it, it really helps to segregate things on the network. I would like to see more companies provide an option like this. Speed wise, one thing I noticed is that my pings dropped about half. In gaming I don’t really notice much of a difference. Until I get a better option for a service provider, I’m left with pretty lackluster performance. I’m not certain if it was a setting, but on my old setup, doing speed tests to some places, my pings would be in the mid to upper 40’s. With the Orbi I’m down to the mid 20’s. Again, that could have been due to some changes I made but with the Orbi already running better out of the box, I’m certainly impressed. I’ve got several devices in the house running over Wi-Fi, Two phones, a table, a Surface Pro 8, a PS5 and several other IoT devices and so far, no hiccups at all. Everything just powers through without an issue. I did notice that my PS5 on the 5Ghz channel is performing very well now, I’m seeing downloads near what my total bandwidth is. Uploads are better, but still around half, but I think that’s an issue with the console and their network infrastructure. One of the photos I’ve included in the review show what my speeds are from the Speed Test in the app ranging from the areas of my house. If you’re looking for a setup that you don’t have to replace for 5 years or so and want the best, look no further than the Netgear Orbi. There’s a good reason Netgear is a household name and the quality of the product shows this.

Still in the first week of usage, but I will lay the groundwork: Needed a mesh system that would cover over 7,000 sqft of space while reliably running a local server streaming 4K video, several smart cams, and a large Sonos speaker system. Overall we needed the ability to support over 50 devices, many of them high bandwidth. We had an older Wifi5 Orbi mesh system that worked great for years, but needed to expand the range and it became impossible to find satellites still compatible with this system, so we opted to "upgrade" to a newer Wifi6 system that could be more easily expanded. At first we tried a competitor's Wifi6 system due to its modularity and ability to easily add more nodes. It was a disaster. We had the competitor's system for about six months and it never worked properly, even after resetting and RMAing several nodes - devices constantly being dropped for seemingly no reason, nodes going offline, smart cameras going offline constantly, and the Sonos system would never work reliably - speakers constantly coming in and out no matter what we did to customize the band and node the speakers were assigned to. Hours of internet research, tech support, we tried everything. And the straw that broke the camel's back, our work-from-home PCs being dropped by the nodes which resulted in our conference calls dropping and our PCs being booted out of our work VPNs with regularity. Very frustrating. Finally got tired of trying to make it work and decided to ditch the competitor's system and go back to the Orbi system we'd liked for years. We opted for this Orbi 960 set, and after just four days of use the experience is much improved. The Sonos system works reliably, and we don't have the random signal drops to devices. Work VPN connections are reliable. Setup was a relative breeze. The main unit is setup via the Orbi app, and then all you have to do is plug the satellites in and the mesh system sets itself up without any input required from the user. Painless. Using the same SSID and password as the old system, almost everything in the house connected to the new Orbi system without issue. A few wireless devices needed to be power cycled to get them to connect to the new network, but other than that we didn't have to reset or change the settings in any of the 50+ wireless devices in the house. Total Orbi mesh network install time, including unboxing, reading the directions, updating unit firmware, power cycling stubborn wireless devices, and custom port forwarding via the Orbi web client: 45 minutes. Whereas installation and troubleshooting time over six months on the competitor's WiFI system amounted to DOZENS of hours, and it still never worked properly. Wifi speeds with the Orbi 960 are insane. Even in what I would consider the fringes of the coverage area my phone is able to get speeds of 200+ down/200+ up. Standing next to the primary Orbi unit my S23 Ultra can achieve 800+ down/800+ up on a 1Gb internet connection. With the competitor's system our wireless devices could barely achieve 100/100 standing right next to the primary node. Overall this Orbi system so far worked as reliably as our old WiFi 5 Orbi system while substantially improving speed and range. Wish we would have done this first and not tried to go with the other brand for six months, what a nightmare that was. The Orbi 960 system - while far more expensive - is more reliable, has better coverage, is easier to setup, and far less finnicky that the other brand.

Yes, you will be able to pull at least 1.2 gbps via wifi 6 on these, which is great! If you're expecting to plug this into an internet connection greater than 4.8 gbps, you will be disappointed. I have a 5 gig connection, this router is capped at 3.1 gbps up, no matter what, The download rarely goes above 4.8 gbps. When I connect directly into my fiber hardware with a computer, I get 5.2/5.2 gbps. This test shows that it is indeed the router, not my internet connection. I tried to work with Netgear to see what the issue was, no luck. Even worse, after 30 days, they try to sell you support. If you are somebody who is looking at this, it's because you want performance, and you're a hardcore user. Save your money and go with a ubiquity setup, you will be much happier. If I could return this, I would. $1600 is a lot for something that does not perform as advertised.

I have been using Linksys Velop mesh system for few years now. It has been a good system but the wifi speeds and coverage were not all that great. I have 400 Mbps plan and the fastes wifi speeds that I was able to get with old velop system were ~200-225 Mbps. With new Orbi system, I am able to get ~375-425 Mbps speeds throughout my house (a colonial split with 4 levels). To me that's right there this system is worth the money. Here are some more details: System comes with 3 devices. One of them is the main router while the other two are satellites. The router has a 10 Gbps WAN port and connects to your internet modem. The satellites have 2.5 Gbps ethernet port as well as 3 ethernet ports that will allow you to connect old devices that might not have wifi adapter OR might have old wifi adapters. The setup was super simple. You download the Orbi app from the app store and it guides you through the setup. It took me 10-15 mins to complete the setup. I kept my SSID and password same as previous system that allows all my devices to connect with the new router. The netgear armor 3 months subscription is provided but you need to pay after that. I used to have Bitdefender Box 2 and their annual subscription which luckily was about to end. So, I am going to switch to armor subscription. For me, not having another device (Bitdefender Box) to worry about is a plus. Overall, it is a powerful mesh system which is a bit expensive but for the speed and coverage I think it is worth the money. Also, it has a number of features/specs that make it future proof. So, I think you won't need another router/mesh system for at least 5 years. So, 1500$ over next 5 years might not be a big spend.

Improved my wireless connection and my internet connection is more stable.

Verdict: We needed extended WiFi coverage with fast speed… The Netgear Orbi Quad-Band WiFi 6E mesh system delivered everything we were looking for, and more. Initial impressions. The system comes with three Orbi units and plugs, and a cat 5 cable. There is also a quick reference pamphlet that directs customers to download the Orbi app. Each Orbi unit looks like other Orbis but they are taller and heavier. Setup. The Orbi app aims to guide users through setting up the WiFi system. Perhaps it was smooth for other users, but I had to restart the setup three times before I was able to complete it successfully. During setup, I was able to customize the name of the network and set a new password. Once the WiFi was setup, I was able to customize the network fairly easily. Total setup took me about 40 minutes due to the first two failed attempts. App. The app is quite good. You can see all connected devices by name, check internet speed, setup a guest network, setup a dedicated Internet of Things network, setup some parental controls (most useful features require an upgrade), and access advanced settings (i.e. setup static IPs). Some of the more powerful features of the app are provided with a 30-day trial, and then require a subscription, which is quite unfortunate. Speed & range. I expected faster speeds, but it turns out to be MUCH faster than expected. With my previous WiFi, I averaged 200 Mbps over WiFi, down from a 1 Gigabyte fiber line. Now I hit 946 Mbps up and 765 Mbps down over WiFi, pretty much everywhere in the house. I tested the range with a signal strength app at various locations in the house and outside. Signal strength is perfect everywhere in the house. I tested signal strength about 100 feet outside of the house, and signal strength was exceptional, with speeds of 200 Mbps up and down. Before receiving this Orbi system, I expected that I would have to add a fourth satellite to the system, but it turns out that it’s perfect as it is. WiFi service has been perfect so far with no drops. Things I like: - Exceptional coverage, indoors and outdoors - Phenomenal speeds over WiFi, and in all areas of coverage - You can add additional satellites to create a bigger home mesh system - The app is fairly good, but it’s restricted by the subscription requirement - Dependable service thus far Things I don’t like: - Setup wasn’t smooth for me, but I worked through it and it’s fine now - The decision to restrict powerful features to a subscription is a mistake in my opinion. This system is at the top of the price range for consumer WiFi systems. As a premium option, it should include all features. Moreover, powerful apps add tremendous value for customers, so including the best security features in the app for free would encourage more customers to choose this system over others. Instead, many other systems include excellent security features for free. Overall, this WiFi system is fantastic and almost perfect for us. It would be perfect if it included all the security features without the need for a subscription. I would give this system 4.5 stars instead of 5 stars because of the subscription requirement, but since I have to pick between 4 and 5 stars, I am rounding up because of the exceptional speed and range.

I have always had issues when trying to create an internal network that would cover my entire home. I live in a 2 story home with a moderate footprint and have always had issues with a few dead spots within my home regardless of where I placed my prior 3 routers/satellites. It seemed that by rearranging to cover a dead spot it created new dead spots, quite the annoyance. Fast forward to setting up this 3 piece satellite mammoth of coverage. No problems since, and for a variety of reasons. The primary reason I like this set up is because of how amazing the companion app is, it has more features than I have ever seen for a broadband/wifi company. I can create user profiles, toggle usage, monitor connected devices and even track security measures. This has helped with "screen time" for my 1st grade son who is pretty adamant on his streaming services. Gaming is another area where I trust the provided wifi just as much as I would with a hard connection. The physical set up of this set is a breeze too, assuming you already have the app installed it is quite easy to progress and find the sweet spot for the footprint of your home. The 3 unites are said to cover up to 9000 sq feet while supporting up to 10.8 gigs of speed. This system truly does set forth a nice benchmark for the future of connected devices. The design of these units is solid too, they aren't cheaply made either which give me more confidence when placing these around my home. To summarize, all in all this wifi 3 piece satellite system has performed greater than I had thought it would. It covers ample square footage while providing a great companion app experience as well. If you need strong wifi coverage in a large (9000Sq Ft) foot print, this is the set for you.

Wow this system is amazing BUT beware the satellites will slow considerably in certain spots. I had to move and test many many many times to get it setup optimally. They say it can handle a 10,000 sq ft home--yeah right. 3 piece system will cover maybe 1600-1800 sq ft home. I couldnt move satelite more than 20 ft away from router to maintain good signal but it did eventually clock 490 MPS off sat compared to 560 MbPS at the router (wired or wireless). I have 500 MbPS service but it actually clocks at 560-570 MbPS. The setup is easy and wow is it fast!

Had to take a second mortgage to purchase - but I purchased the 3 pk and it’s amazing. Covers all 4000 sq ft of my 3 floor house (1 on ea floor). Get rock solid speeds - good signal strength everywhere. Love that I can plug in to the satellite when I’m close with my device. Only downside is the cost, but the tech future proof for several years if it lasts.

I've been using the Orbi model for many years now, and the new Wifi 6E model is just another step up in the right direction. I have a huge home with 4 floors, and I don't have any issue what-so-ever in any corner of my house. The main unit is in the basement where all the external wiring comes into the house, then I have one satellite on the 2nd floor, and the 3rd is in the attic. I don't even have one between the basement and the 2nd floor and my signal and transfer speeds are incredible! They are also super stable and reconnect quickly even after a power outage without me having to poke at them. Once they are setup, you should never need to touch them again. A+ product!

I’ve tested/used/reviewed a number of Router & Mesh setups in my life, so when presented with a chance to review the new Orbi WiFi 6E Mesh setup, I jumped at the opportunity. ​​TL;DR for my frequent readers and details below. Pros: Fast / Great Performance Coverage Both Router and AP mode Dedicated Mesh Link ports (2.5Gb/s) 10Gb/s ISP link (I can’t even get a Gigabit link where I live!) Web Interface as well as App control These run pretty darn cool to the touch at the top; the satellite is even cooler. Cons: App issues vary between Android & IOS Tech support is now a paid-for service Parental Controls are a (separate) paid-for service Security Software (trial) tends to block normal games/apps (Roblox/IOS App store) Meh: Huge Cost Fast Web Interface timeout / password box can’t be auto-filled Setup was a breeze and these things are huge (see pic, crowler for scale). Follow along with the App and don’t think you know more or try to advance before it’s time, you may have issues; patience. I set this up as a router before cutting the house over and got a feel for the controls and features with a handful of devices and computers. I quickly found that attempting to use many of the basic features in the App got me “Unknown Error” all over the place and it was different for the IOS App vs the Android one. For example: My S10+ got “Unknown Errors” looking at the client list, where the Pad Mini 6 was fine in that menu - but got “Unknown Errors” trying to activate my 30 day trial of the security software. Then, I couldn’t get into it anywhere to see what the heck I signed on for, or what I could do to administer it. Want tech support after 90 days? You have to pay. Want Parental Controls after 30 days? Pay. In all seriousness, for this being a $1k+ system at launch that requires a subscription for features offered for free by other WiFi vendors, such as simple parental controls is utterly ridiculous. This is a mega expensive system that deserves these features included; want to charge for these services for a $200 router? I don’t like that idea, but that’s the right price point to do so. Now, with so many App issues, I found myself in the Web GUI and found AP mode! AP (Access Point) Mode is where you use your old router and just use these for the WiFi Coverage. This is a perfect fit for me, because I like my existing router and its parental controls (no cost) so I could continue to use my old router for those features & leverage the Orbi for its Mesh capability throughout the house. I disabled the WiFi functionality on my existing router, kicked the Orbi into AP mode, renamed it to the old SSID, set the same password and off I went; I did it so quickly, that nobody noticed the cutover and all of my smart home devices just kept on going. I noticed that when moving to AP mode from Router mode, a number of router-only features were disabled in the Web Interface, as well as the App - which is totally expected. I didn’t notice any change in performance gain/loss between Router & AP mode, so I’ll stop talking about Router mode moving forward. Performance: I’m on a 400Mb/s link with my ISP. I’ve always had good speeds, but this is consistently 20Mb/s faster than I’ve seen before (see pic); WiFI and Wired are the same speeds for me now, so I don’t even wire up to play online games anymore. The wired ports on the back of the Satellites are live. I hooked a wired computer up to the satellite as a test and when running a fast dot com test, I saw speeds that I’d expect for a wired-to-the-router computer, not one connected to a Mesh Satellite. Coverage: Coverage is great. I’m able to pull down 45MB/s about a half-acre away across the yard (see pic). I have one satellite across the house and after rebooting devices on that side, I see the wireless devices pick up that satellite. I do still have a device or two that floats that way for no reason, but it doesn’t impact the stream. I’m torn on the rating here. Performance wise, 5 stars. Pay-for services, take away 1.25, the App issues - albeit likely fixed in future updates, take away another .5. By that - I’d be a 3.75, so I guess I’ll round up to 4. Do I recommend this? Sure, if you have a ton of cash to throw at it. And I recommend AP mode over Router mode as having to pay for services others include by default is just silly.

As the Internet transitions from consumptive media to an immersive media (thanks Meta and VR) and a global pandemic continues to drive more people to a permanent work-from-zoom-video model, modern computing requires more bandwidth than ever. For consumers that have access to 1GB+ Internet connectivity but do not want to invest in running ethernet cable throughout their home, Mesh networking is one of the best options available to give your wireless devices the bandwidth they need to power your digital expression at speeds previously only available via physical cabling (thank you Wifi 6E). Bonus features for this Orbi include a 10GB ethernet WAN port and a 2.5GB LAN port most useful for home NAS solutions. The only downside to the Orbi is that they are physically huge devices that won't blend into the background of whatever room they are placed in. In the attached photo AT&T 1GB fiber is the internet connectivity in use. The AT&T solution is already cumbersome as they have not completed the hardware transition to a single modem for fiber connectivity, requiring consumers to place 3 black boxes (1 not shown in the photo) to enable AT&T phone, internet and cable TV. You can see that the Orbi is much larger than the AT&T modem on the left. The white and grey color of the Orbi is bit of an eye sore, especially in smaller rooms where the two satellite units are placed. But the aesthetic trade off is a small price to pay for this bandwidth offered by the solution. Prior to the Orbi I was using a different mesh network and while those boxes were minuscule compared to the Orbi, the wireless signal range never lived up to my expectations. With the 1GB fiber connection to the Internet I had hoped to see at least 500MB over Wifi per device but in a majority of the rooms in the house never moved beyond 125MB. With the Orbi's, Wifi dead-zones have been eliminated even though the satellites are placed in the same position as the previous ones and every device is setting upwards of 500MB. Impressive!

I like Netgear products, I have relied on a Nighthawk and told all my friends and family to buy one. But I have a very difficult time recommending this Orbi WiFi 6e. The router and two satellites provide an enormous amount of wireless coverage if you don’t mind their large size. For a Satellite that is really far from the router you can run cat 6 cabling between them to create a wired backhaul. Note that only one satellite can be backhauled connected via a cable. The wireless throughput when connected to the router or satellite was on par with other high end tri-band Wi-Fi 6 routers that I have used. Netgear includes some fundamental firewall and router configuration options and network monitoring capabilities via a web browser and a mobile Orbi app. The router does perform auto updates to the firmware which is a requirement these days. But the overall cost for performance and the required subscriptions for Parental Control and Enhanced Security features which other routers provide for free are reasons I would recommend thinking twice before purchasing this solution. Here are things to consider: 1. The biggest concern with a router is keeping it secure. Netgear still forces you to use “admin” as the only user id for accessing/logging into your router. This is a known security issue. You should be able to create a unique user id to make it more difficult to hack. 2. Wifi 6e provides new wireless bands so that in a congested wireless area you can get a cleaner signal with higher data rates. But you have to be very close and have a clean line-of-sight to the router/satellite for this to work. Wireless coverage past that line-of-site distance drops back to standard wifi 6 so if you have a large house that would mean that most of your wireless coverage would be standard wifi 6. Bottom line is that the vast majority of the wireless coverage will rely on standard wifi 6 speeds so why pay all the extra for the wifi 6e. 3. I first tried to install my units using the Orbi app on my Apple iphone but the install kept failing. So I connected a pc to the router and used the web interface to complete the install. Once the router and satellites were operational the Orbi app started working as expected. Both the web interface and the Orbi app allow you to do the standard administrative functions required for setting up and monitoring your network but they lack the intuitiveness and standard features/options that other router companies offer in their devices. The router only supports QOS WMM which very limited in its capabilities. If you are a gamer and want more control this router is not for you. Parental control is a subscription based service and not included. If you want additional firewall and device security beyond the basics you must purchase the Armor subscription. There are no notifications of new devices being added to the network unless you pay for the Armor subscription. The Armor subscription does include BitDefender that provides antivirus software and checks all devices for vulnerabilities. But if you keep your devices updated and you already have a favorite Security/Antivirus software loaded on your devices this becomes a useless and costly duplication. 4. The router does not have a USB port so you cannot attach a USB drive for file sharing on your network. This was one of the nicer features on the Nighthawk that I used regularly. 5. Netgear placed the wireless SSID and password label on the front of router. If you look at the photos you can see where I tried to remove the label without discoloring the white finish on the router. The same label is on the bottom of the router and satellites so why they ruined the finish by placing it on the front is confusing. 6. There is no way to control or influence what devices attach to which satellite nor is there anyway of making one preferred over the other. When I first powered up the router and satellites most of my devices registered with the main router even though they were closer to a satellite. Over time some of the devices have since moved their registration to a satellite that is physically closer but other devices have not. I would like to have some way to influence what goes where so the overall load is shared. The Orbi app via the network map and drill downs does allow you to see what device is registered to which satellite or router.

This thing is incredible - especially for everyday home use. That being said, it could easily provide superior wifi not only to my entire home and property, but most of my next-door neighbors’ properties. We have two adults and theee children in our home. Wifi powers everything from computers to TV’s to cell phones to streaming devices…so on and so forth. There is absolutely zero loss in signal strength anywhere within our home, and I pull roughly 360-370 mbps at any spot within my home. That’s with a service that’s supposed to provide a maximum of 300 mbps to my home. Having just had Spectrum to my home last week, I can without question say that the signal that this mesh wifi system broadcasts to our devices is just as strong as the signal that it receives from the provider. The system is rock-solid, super simple and fast to set up, and simply one of the best investments I’ve ever made. The entire house is beyond happy. The greatest part of it all is that we’ve only begun to tap into the full potential of this system. We will see what the future holds with 6G and Wifi 6E.

When the box containing this mesh system arrived at my door, the size and weight of the system was significant. Bigger is not always better, but these three units- one a router and its two matching satellites- each weighing in at three pounds- are darn big. In the case of this system, however, bigger is definitely better. By better, I mean significantly better at pushing a wide band wi-fi signal through my house with results sufficient to satisfy me that I am getting the most out of my high speed gigabit internet service. The power of this system would probably be wasted on a lesser connection. My house is a fraction of the size that this product's specifications say it could actually cover- i only have a 2200 square foot house- but the house is a story and a half, and would be extremely difficult and expensive to wire for ethernet cable to every room. You don't have to do that with this mesh arrangement. The backhaul connection between these three units uses a dedicated wifi radio channel to move data between them and the results I obtained are far better than I have ever come anywhere close to getting with a router alone or a router connected to an access point. I strongly suspect that many customers for this system are going to use it just like I am using it- without any ethernet connection between the units. If you are physically able to have ethernet handle the backhaul connection, there is a 2.5 Gbs connection on the router and each satellite available for that duty which could significantly increase your performance. To utilize it, I would have to obtain a 2.5 Gbs splitter to pipe the backhaul signal between the router and the two satellites and be able to run the cables through walls to reach the satellites. Such is not practical for me because of a high wall with horizontal members to drill through which could not be accessed without removing the dry wall. Such is just not in the cards for me. This quad band system has guts and power that point toward the future. The WAN port which connects to your modem is a 10Gbs port. I scratch my head over that impressive feature because there is no 10Gbs LAN port on the router to send that wide data pipe to the rest of your home network over ethernet. It is a moot point right now for me because my internet connection is only 1gigabit. I have a gigabit switch connected to one of the three LAN ports on the router unit which serves a number of direct ethernet connected devices in my equipment cabinet adjacent to the router. The satellites in other rooms upstairs are connected only by their wifi radios. The router and satellites are powered by a quad core processor with 512 NAND Flash and 1 GB of RAM. The massive router and satellite units offer 12 high performance antennas with high power amplifiers. I will forgo comment on the specified bandwidth performance of 10.8 Gbs, because my setup does not offer a means to fully utilize or test that level of performance. It took me no more than 20 minutes to get the entire system up and working, and it was not complicated at all. Each unit must be plugged into a power adapter. You are prompted to use the Orbi app for your iPhone or Android phone which will walk you through the setup and add a month of free security to help protect your home LAN from outside threats. After a month, you will have to pay for that service. If you don't want to be bothered with that future expense, you can login to the router through a locally connected device to complete your set up, but you'll have to forgo remote access. That is exclusive to the smartphone app, and it will be up to you to weigh any risk associated with outside monitoring of your home network offered through the Netgear Armor program. After the guided set up, my router and its two satellites were meshed together and ready for action. I used the Speedtest app on my iPhone 12 to measure the wifi internet performance at various locations. I do not have any present equipment with wifi 6E capability, but this system supports that technology as well. This system also has support for your legacy 2.4Ghz wifi devices , but the 5Ghz radios, of course, provide the high performance which this system is capable of delivering. As a baseline, I measured internet performance with the Speedtest app on my Mac Mini which had a direct ethernet connection to the router through a 12 port switch. I obtained a download speed of 919 Mbps from my provider and an upload of 12.1 Mbps. The upload measurement appeared to be an aberration as I usually get around 60Mbps on upload and subsequent measurements confirmed this to be the case. From my iPhone 12, standing directly in front of the router, and about 10 feet away, the speed test app showed a download speed of 784 Mbps and an upload of 63.4 Mbps. Moving 22 feet away from the router yielded a download speed of 577 Mbps and an upload of 58.7Mbps. Both of the satellites are in upstairs bedrooms. One is somewhat closer to the router unit than the other, but has extensive HVAC and ductwork between the living room where the router is and the satellite location. This has been a signal impediment in the past. For the nearer satellite upstairs, I measured 412 Gbs download and 59.2 upload. For the further upstairs satellite behind multiple walls I got 291 Gbs download and 53.8 upload. The latter result compares to the sub- 100 Gbs wifi download speed in that bedroom on my previous equipment. Remember that if I had both those satellites connected to the router unit with ethernet cable, I would fully expect download speeds approaching the 1Gbs limit of my internet connection in both the further and nearer bedrooms upstairs. The here and now wifi results I have enjoyed from the 5Ghz radios exceeded my expectations although they fall short of the full capabilities of this mesh system connected with ethernet cable. Using the sheer radio power to reach through walls is the only alternative for me right now and this system represents the very best of that technology. I suspect that many users who lack the capability to run ethernet cable to every room in the house and have gigabit or multi gig internet service are going to be attracted to this powerful mesh system. I fall into that catagory. If you can run ethernet cable to every room in your house, however, you’ll be probably want to consider a hardwired local network with every device that can be connected with ethernet cable connected in that manner, using lower powered access points for wifi where needed. The most secure system wouldn’t use wifi at all, but for most home users, including me, such is not an option. With the caveats I have mentioned, this mesh system is highly recommended. You will have to pay a premium for the power and the convenience, but if this is your only practical alternative, you are going to want to take a careful look at this ultimate Orbi.

We were coming from an Apple Time Capsule and a Netgear Nighthawk repeater that were severely throttling our 500Mps internet speeds. After downloading the Orbi app, setting up the Orbi mesh system was super easy… you just click on the QR code, connect an Ethernet cable to your modem, then once the main hub comes online, I just powered up the satellite nodes and watched the magic happen. Then I renamed the mesh network so that it was using our old network name and all of our devices connected to it with no problem. After moving the satellites around I was able to get blazing fast WiFi speeds throughout our house and the backyard. It’s obviously not a budget system, but you do get what you pay for. Super simple installation, blazingly fast speeds everywhere in our house, and (hopefully) technology that will last us for years. Highly recommended product.

A new level of speed has arrived for my home. Everything about this setup is amazing, and it performs great. I have a huge home, and this is what I needed. The only con is the price, it high. One other minor thing is you have to pay for the extras they offer, and I feel they should be free given the price. Parental controls are paid service, and you only get 40 day trial on the security features.

I bought this to upgrade from a Netgear RBR50/RBS50 system. The Netgear app had some problems completely forgetting the prior RBR50 network during setup, but the whole installation and testing process took less than twenty minutes. Download speed over the wireless network is now twice as fast and there's stronger signal strength around the edges of our house.

Upgraded from Nighthawk Router By Rick A Just installed the Orbi a week ago, but the difference we are seeing in performance is phenomenal! I replaced a Nighthawk router and extender that gave very decent performance for a number of years, but I have a large house spread across 3 levels, and we always suffered dead spots in parts of the house. That issue is totally resolved with the Orbi, with blistering fast speeds being seen everywhere in the house. Set up was ridiculously easy...literally just plugged it up and it worked. Despite the price, which is considerable, I am extremely happy with the results.