Customer Ratings & Reviews

get some drops here and there. more so with older tech and plugs on the 2.4 network. There is a clear increase in speed over the 960 and glad that I upgraded.

* The 970 series fails to deliver on the marketing hype with disappointing connectivity issues, underwhelming range and concerning privacy issues. * When it worked as intended, the mesh router delivered reasonable up/download speeds throughout the property. We also appreciated the separate IoT and Guest networks. * The system is overly expensive since only a tiny fraction of devices can take advantage of wifi 7 connectivity and speeds, so it really needed to deliver on all the other marketing promises including reduced interference and “impossibly fast” up/downloads throughout the house. We purchased the Netgear Orbi mesh network 970 as an upgrade to a six-year-old Orbi mesh network series 6 that finally died after several years of faithful service. We connect the mesh network to an Xfinity XB-8 gateway, which we bridge to act as just a modem. Both the Orbi series 6 and the XB-8 are fully capable of providing full coverage across our three-story home. We were excited to take advantage of the latest technology with the 970, particularly given the much broader coverage, “consistent 10 gig” speed and whole-house connectivity promised on Netgear’s website. Unfortunately, the real device failed to deliver on those promises and, after two days of frustrating set up and several hours with Netgear tech support, we will reluctantly return the system to BestBuy. Our home is three stories high and 4,500 square feet — well within the promised range of the 970 series, which is supposed to cover multiple floors and up to 10,000 sq. ft. The base station set up was super simple using the Orbi iOS app, which walked you through the process of powering down your existing modem/router, then initiating the new system. It also installed a firmware update and then kicked off the Netgear Armor security system. Please note Netgear charges $100 a year for this all-system anti-virus after the first year; other manufacturers offer similar security systems for free for the life of their systems. Netgear’s tech support only lasts for three months. Once the base station was working fine, I proceeded to set up the first satellite on the second floor. Unfortunately, the satellite failed to connect with the device when positioned one floor up and directly above the base station. I tried multiple positions on the second floor without success. Frustrated, I moved the satellite back to the first floor and was even more disappointed when the system still failed to connect one room and an open hallway away. I finally placed the satellite across the room where the base station was positioned and... success! Using a $2,300 mesh system in a single room seems like overkill, so I used my laptop and some software to locate possible positions for the satellite on the second floor and finally found a location that worked. The base station, which was ethernet-cabled to my MBP, delivered 943 mbps down and 43 up. When in place, the satellite delivered a less-than-stellar but acceptable 112 mbps down and 27 up. I was also able to get a strong enough signal to drive the Ring cameras on the outside of the first and second floors, which I placed on the separate IoT network. Those numbers are okay, but Netgear promises 8K streaming on every floor, so that’s a stretch (unless the streaming signal is hyper compressed). I used a similar process on the third floor, using my laptop to find a suitable position for the second satellite. Once in place, I got 99 mbps down and 23 up. Okay, again, but not the blazing speeds with ultra-low latency promised by the Netgear website. For each satellite, it took me a couple hours with Netgear tech support to understand why I first couldn’t get any signal at all, even though I was placing the satellite in a spot my laptop/software said was ideal. Please note that you’ll need to be patient, as the satellites run through multiple cycles to initiate, update the firmware and establish the dedicated backhaul. It’s helpful to download the chart that shows the meaning of the different color LEDs on the base station and satellites. Once the system was set up, it worked great... for a while. The ring cameras on all three floors connected easily enough, as did the Ecobee thermostats. We were also able to connect approximately 43 personal devices throughout the household. For this test, we used the existing network name and password, which facilitated the connection process. Within a couple of hours, however, the system began dropping connections on the second and third floors. I can’t relay how frustrating it is to get a “connecting” message and a spinning circle on the Orbi app and to have your devices switch to Verizon when you just spent $2,300 and four hours setting the system up. I spent a couple of more hours inside the web-based settings app getting everything aligned and perfect, which helped a little bit, but an hour later the system was dropping connections again. Also, I was a little dismayed that the network to access the settings uses an unsecured orbi dot com address, which has all kinds of privacy/cybersecurity implications. Make sure you use a VPN and a private browser setting at a minimum if you use a browser to fine tune your settings (which you’ll need to do since the Orbi app isn’t very robust). Long-story short, we’re using Xfinity’s XB-8 for right now. I understand Xfinity’s coming out with the XB-10 later this year, which will also offer wifi 7 and DOCSIS 4.0. We will wait for that instead of suffering the frustration and buyer’s remorse of the $2,300 Netgear Orbi 970.

This product is incredible, of the best quality that you can buy, the internet is super stable, it has no performance drops, it covers the whole house with solvency. Incredible this product and the best buy service. I recommend this product to buy it directly with best buy. The best store, with the best customer service. 10/20

I upgraded from an Orbi WiFi 6 which we had an amazing experience with, no troubles at all with super fast speeds. The Orbi WiFi 7 was a breeze to setup, as it’s not perfect yet we are having a few issues with things staying connected. It’s easy fixes but for the cost it should be flawless. I hope for updates to the system to help it become better over time. Still a happy customer.

The Orbi 970's ability to move data as fast as lightning honestly make my former wired gigabit Ethernet connection look slow, this thing is perfect for anyone with a high-speed internet connection. I honestly was not aware that there were systems that provided this fast of a connection on the market. The devices come in white or black and are roughly 11" tall and about 5 1/2" wide and I've heard that they will soon introduce wall mounting brackets which will be nice. Each unit has an Orbi logo and a LED on the front bottom which shows the status, it glows blue during start-up and turns off when everything is fine and red if the device needs attention. The devices are powered by Qualcomm’s high-performance Networking Pro 1620 Wi-Fi chipset and a quad-core 2.2GHz processor which they claim can support up to 200 of your devices at once. I obviously have not been able to test this but I honestly would not be suprised if it could. The router has a single 10 Gbps WAN input as well as 10 Gbps and four 2.5/1.0 Gbps downstream LAN ports. Each of the nodes has one 10 Gbps and two 2.5/1.0 Gbps networking connections. I regularly average a connection over 500 Mbps through my fiber internet plan and have had as many as 43 devices connected at one time with 5 apple tv's streaming 4k video, 4k security system running, 4 laptops, 3 tablets and a desktop playing Microsoft flight simulator and not a single one of them buffered for a split second. This mesh wifi package is truly amazing if you can afford the steep price tag which I understand most won't but I will enjoy every second that I use it.

Throughout the years, I've used several different Wi-Fi home networks setups. I've used standard home Wi-Fi SoHo routers, Ubiquiti home Wi-Fi setups, and even a small business Cisco Meraki network setup. While they have all had their advantages and disadvantages when it came to ease of use, the level of configuration control over your network, the level of security they provided, etc., there was always one residential product that stood out to me when it particularly came to wireless performance; The Netgear Orbi Home Mesh WiFi system. From the first time that I tried Netgear's Orbi home WiFi mesh system when it debuted about 7 years ago, I knew it was something special. The wireless range of the Orbi satellites (due to the antennas they use), combined with the consistent wireless stability, left me very impressed. Since then, whenever my friends or family have asked me to recommend a home Wi-Fi system, it's always been the Netgear Orbi. I'm happy to report that the same level of Wi-Fi performance that left me extremely impressed back in 2016, has left me very impressed yet again with their latest implementation of a WiFi 7 home mesh system. I think it's important to note that at the current moment, there are very few electronic end user devices in the US that actually support WiFi 7. This of course hasn't stopped manufacturers, like Netgear, from being able to adopt this early technology in their latest flagship home network devices. Netgear also has a great track record of periodic OTA firmware updates which is important because it will allow this product to evolve as WiFi 7 matures over the years. In terms of future proofing, I'm confident this product has me covered. While the current flagship smartphones and tablets in the US don't support WiFi 7, they are right around the corner. For example, the Samsung S24 Ultra, which is just months away, is expected to ship with WiFi 7. Even though the Iphone 15 Pro models don't support WiFi 7, they do support WiFi 6E which also yields a great wireless experience. I tested this Orbi 970 WiFi mesh system with an Android Samsung S22 Ultra (WiFi 6E capable), an iphone 14 pro (WiFi 6 capable), a Samsung S9 Ultra tablet (WiFi 6E capable), and various hardwired desktop PCs. The setup on this Orbi system was very simple. It includes an Orbi router and two satellites. The router comes preconfigured with a WiFi SSID and password. I downloaded the Orbi app on my mobile device, as per the QR code instructions on the router, and simply followed the prompts. The connections are clearly labeled on the router ports. I just connected the ethernet cable from my ISP modem to the 10Gbps internet port on the Orbi router and connected the 2.5Gbps LAN ports to my hardwired computers. Yes, you read that correctly! The router comes with a 10G ethernet internet port, a 10G ethernet LAN port, and four 2.5Gbps LAN ports. The satellites have two 2.5 Gbps ethernet ports and one 10G ethernet LAN port. This is perfect if you host high performance devices like NAS storage or file servers with 10Gbps or 2.5Gbps NICs. Once the Orbi router detected the internet from my ISP modem, it prompted me to update the WiFi SSID and password to something of my liking. Once this was done, it was time to setup the satellites. I basically placed the satellites in different locations throughout my home. I tried keeping the router and modem in a central location in my home and placing the satellites in the two furthest reaches of my townhouse. Once the satellites were in place and powered up, I just held the "Sync" button and they paired with the router after a couple of minutes. In terms of wireless performance, this Orbi 970 WiFi mesh system is incredible. For reference, I have a three story townhome that is about 2500-3000 sq feet which includes my garage and backyard patio. My office and bedroom are located on the third floor and my kitchen and living are on the second floor. I've always had a few dead spots in my kitchen and parts of my laundry room; the two areas where I usually like to consume content while reluctantly doing dishes and/or laundry. I've also occasionally noticed quality degradation when watching 4k content on my TV in the living room with my old WiFi setup. You would be able to tell the resolution scaling down from 4k to around 720p/1080p when the signal would become poor. I've used Wi-Fi scanning apps in those areas of my house before and usually get around -78dBm RSSI which is pretty terrible signal quality. I would get buffering quite often in these areas or WiFi disconnects. I was also on WiFi 5 on my older setup so I never achieved my full 500Mbps x 20 Mbps speeds from my ISP when on wireless. Since I now have the Orbi satellites near these areas of my home, and because my devices can now take advantage of WiFi 6E, my signal quality, wireless speeds, and stability, has drastically improved. No matter what area of my home I go to, including my garage and patio, I now usually get anywhere from -25 dBm to -65 dBm RSSI (i.e. Excellent signal quality). In any section of my home, I now also get my full speeds over wireless. In fact, because my ISP allows burstable speeds (depending on their network congestion), I now also get whatever extra burst is available on top of my full speeds (see screenshots). I've been doing a ton of 1440p streaming on my mobile devices, have been streaming a lot of 4k content on my smart TV, have been playing a lot of CS:GO (hardwired), and also tested downloading large files from SharePoint. Overall, the experience has been flawless. I've also been using a Wi-Fi scan app to test the roaming between satellites and whenever my devices roam from satellite to satellite, it's a seamless transition. No disruptions whatsoever. Are there any cons to this Orbi 970 home WiFi mesh system? There are but I believe they're minor for the average home user that just wants the best wireless experience. If you're looking for extreme control and visibility of your network or want a robust set of firewall features, you won't find them here. While this Netgear Orbi does have a basic built-in firewall which blocks unwanted connections from the internet, has built-in DoS protection, and prevents intrusive port scans, there's not a lot of manual security options you can tinker with. It won't do things like Geo IP filtering or allow you to build QoS profiles. Netgear does try to push the "Netgear Armor" software, but that's more of an endpoint protection suite for your devices. The Orbi router does have a basic access control section to block or allow incoming connections from certain devices on your LAN though (sort of like parental control for your home network devices). It also allows you to do port forwarding, setup a guest wireless network, setup static routing, and setup VLANs for bridging (although, according to the manual, this is more so used for IPTV bridging with your ISP and will not actually allow you to do 802.1Q trunking on the LAN ports). Overall, for the large majority of people (including myself), this Netgear Orbi 970 home WiFi mesh system will provide an unparalleled home network WiFi experience. Your wireless experience will of course be subject to the quality of the RF spectrum in your environment. If there is a lot of noise or congestion in the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands where you live, there isn't much you can do about that. However, products like this can help make a significant difference. This Netgear Orbi system will auto select the most optimum WiFi channel depending on the quality of your RF environment and will also utilize the 6Ghz band (when using a WiFi 6E capable device) which has much wider channels than 2.4/5Ghz bands. It's also a band that is barely used since there isnt a saturation of WiFi 6E devices yet. This Netgear Orbi 970 home WiFi mesh system has provided me with the best wireless experience at home that I've ever experienced so far. I would highly recommend this to anyone who has large living quarters that isn't currently getting the WiFi range and coverage they need or to someone who still hasn't made the switch to WiFi 6E yet and also wants to future proof themselves with WiFi 7.

This mesh system gives me excellent coverage all throughout my 3-level home, front yard, back yard AND detached garage! I'm very impressed with the speed and stability. Setup was super easy.

The Orbi Netgear 970 is an exceptional system, redefining the standards for home WiFi and security. From the moment I set it up, the seamless, user-friendly installation process impressed me, thanks to the intuitive Orbi app, which guides you step by step. Within minutes, I had full coverage across my home with incredibly fast and reliable WiFi. The standout feature is its expansive coverage, reaching every corner of my house, including areas that typically struggled with connectivity in the past. The WiFi 7 technology ensures a lightning-fast connection, whether streaming 4K content, video conferencing, or gaming. It's a game-changer, especially for households with multiple devices. In terms of security, the Orbi 970 doesn’t compromise. With built-in Netgear Armor, powered by Bitdefender, my entire network is shielded from potential threats. The advanced parental controls give peace of mind, allowing me to manage what my kids can access online effortlessly. I can set schedules, filter content, and monitor their usage all from the app, making it a perfect system for families. The Orbi app itself is a standout—intuitive, packed with features, and constantly updated to provide more functionality. From monitoring network performance to running speed tests or managing connected devices, it’s all done in a few taps. The app also alerts me to any potential security breaches, giving real-time updates to ensure my network remains safe and sound. In conclusion, the Orbi Netgear 970 is more than just a WiFi system—it's a comprehensive, high-speed, secure network solution that brings unparalleled coverage and performance to your home. If you're looking for top-tier WiFi with bulletproof security, the Orbi 970 is second to none!

I recently purchased the Orbi Netgear router, and overall, I’m very pleased with its performance. The setup process was straightforward, thanks to the Orbi app, which guided me step by step. Within minutes, I had the router and satellites connected, and my entire home was covered with strong Wi-Fi.

NetGear has great network security and that is the main reason I chose this system. However, started out having issues with this system dropping connection. Starting to get better but, for the money I paid I would have expected this system to be better right off the bat.

I upgraded from an Orbi 850 to the Orbi 970 series because I also upgraded my internet service to 2.5 gigs. The 970 has the ability to fully take advantage of these high speeds across the entire local network. The price was worth it to me to maximize my network throughput. Installation was a breeze with the updated app and implementing port forwarding, IOT networks and the like is mega simple. In under 5 minutes I was up and running with three satellites and firmware was updated automatically. I had retained my original WIFI SSID and password, so all devices automatically followed into the upgraded network. Couldn't be more simple! I previously had three satellites and one router with the Orbi RBK853. With the 970, I found greater physical coverage with only two satellites. I am using one satellite in a wireless backhaul and the other in wired, and both are rock-solid maximizing my 2.5 gig internet connection. If you have above a 1gig connection, do yourself a favor and future-proof not just your network, but also your WIFI. It is elegantly simple and just works.

I’m writing this this review, now that I’ve had time to use this netgear Orbi 970, I can truly say that setup was a breeze. I can’t say that it improved my IP speed, but it did keep it consistent compared to my old Linksys system. But it has been an improvement in its capability to stay connected, no dropping signals. No router disconnects. This 3-pack replaces my 8 Linksys routers it took reach the back of my house to connect to my security camera. For me it’s worth the price. And the armor plus,app has been the best security that one can have. It did take a little longer to set-up, but it catches a lot of threats, that and the VPN.

have the mesh system for 10 months now and working great anjd have wi-fi all over the house and have fios 2 GIG plan and get almost 900 megs wireless to my PC on a satellite with 1 gig nic card very happy upgrade from a linksys mesh which I had to reboot numerous times because connection would be slow . also got on sale at the time.

Easy to set up and seems to have great coverage. I moved from having an older orbi setup with 3 satellites to this one with 2 and it is faster and covers a greater area. They are rather large so if you buy make sure you have room for them. They look nice but are large compared to what I have been used to in the past.

The NETGEAR Orbi 970 Series BE27000 Quad-Band Mesh Wi-Fi 7 System has been an absolute game-changer for my home network. From the moment I set it up, I noticed a significant improvement in both coverage and speed throughout my house. The setup process was straightforward, and the Orbi app made it easy to get everything up and running quickly. With the quad-band technology, I experience lightning-fast internet speeds, even with multiple devices connected simultaneously. The mesh system provides seamless coverage, eliminating any dead zones in my home. The design is sleek and modern, blending in perfectly with my home decor. Overall, this Wi-Fi system is a fantastic investment for anyone looking to enhance their home network. The Orbi 970 Series delivers on its promises and then some. Highly recommend!

I live in a townhome community with lots of neighbors. Every house has a router blasting away on full power. I knew that the interference was getting worse and worse. Most neighbors kept their devices on default channels, but even with a Wi-Fi6 router, it was having difficult reaching my third floor without an extender. This was a functional, but frustrating relationship for years as my devices were always having to reconnect to the network. Once I purchased my NETGEAR Orbi 970 Series Mesh Systems, life changed. The congestion in the neighborhood was still there, but it was as though I now have a private HOV lane on the information superhighway. I have near zero lagtime, low ping counts, reliable consistent connections and a reasonably strong signal to noise ratio. In short, the Orbi has transformed my family's Wi-Fi experience. I am now able to telework from home without fear of dropping connection in the middle of a virtual call. Overall, for me an my family the Orbi system made the most sense. In fairness, I did purchase a competitor mesh system previously and returned it almost as quickly as it arrived. With Orbi I was pleasantly surprised at just how simple the setup was. My only knock on the system to the extent there is one is that I would like to have the option to hide the SSID and to monitor the power output of the router and satellites. Otherwise, out of the box it is a fantastic system!

My wife and I moved to a home much larger than our previous house and we got an Eero 6+ system when we purchased the internet service. The Eero 6+ had worked well in our old home with a base and 2 extenders - but even with 6 extenders, the speeds were not good - only getting 45-95mbps down when only 10-12' from the extender. I purchased the 970 series and the difference was incredible. Even at the farthest room from the base or satellites, the slowest speed I get is about 250mbps! It's worth every penny I spent. I have blazing fast internet, wired or wi-fi. This is actually my 2nd Orbi mesh system and I recommend it highly!

I have tried every mesh wifi system available and in many cases I stay away from Netgear for a couple reasons. 1. They don't provide support past 90 days without paying for it. 2. they charge a premium price tag. 3. With that premium price they don't offer at least 1 year of support and malware protection included. Again another thing to pay for. At $2400 dollars for this system, I expected this to exceed my expectations and deliver the ultimate coverage and speeds. The speeds when it's working correctly are amazing. My one plus Open device which is wifi 7 capable would get the full download speeds I have coming into the house at 2gb. Issues: Satellites continue to go offline or drop connections, and this is with them connected with ethernet backhauls. Moving across the house devices don't move to the closest device. You have to turn off your wifi and back on for it to work again, otherwise the device acts like it doesnt have a connection. Deadspots: This should cover a 10k sq ft home easily. We have three of them splitting our 4500 sq ft home and still have dead spots . one of the guest bedrooms gets barely any signal and it's only right down the hallway from the main router, divided by only a studio. outside coverage is minimal as well. We have one at the back window of our house to get signal in the backyard and it's hit or miss at times. Probably because the satellite keeps dropping. They did a software update but still there are random drop outs of satellites and devices so to spend this much money, to have issues with ethernet backhauled wifi satellites makes no sense. Also Netgear if your going to charge 2k plus for networking devices, support them for at least a year for free, give them malware protection for a year and actually stand by your ludicrously expensive devices!!

I have used two different Orbi mesh systems before this one and both worked flawlessly. I upgraded from Orbi WiFi 6 system thinking that the new system will be an upgrade over the 4 year old mesh router I was using. Tried using the new mesh system with horrible results, the router keeps disconnecting and only solution is to unplug and replug the router. Sometimes you have to restart the router multiple times and even then it keeps flashing white. Maybe I got a lemon but this is totally unacceptable for such an expensive mesh system. Having gone through reviews, the issues I have faced do not look like isolated issues. I must add that when the system works it works really well, I have a number of smart devices and when the router is working there are no issues with the range or speed even in the furthest corners of my house.

This WiFi Router is super fast and covers over 10,000 sq ft. I have used several other routers that have claimed to be fast, reliable, and covers large areas with doesn’t live up to their specifications and claims. I would definitely stand behind my recommend of this NETGEAR - Orbi 970 Series BE27000 Quad-Band Mesh Wi-Fi 7 System. It’s one of the best on the market at this time.