Customer Ratings & Reviews

I’ve tried many different mesh routers and have only gotten desired speed from the Orbi products and this one is no exception. Signal is get and no more buffering, a bit pricey but worth it if you can fork out the cost. BB modem recycle program did allow me to get 15% off which help and just traded an old router that’s been sitting around the house not being used.

I bought the router and 1 point set. This is amazing, the coverage it provides is fantastic. I was able to move my smart bird feeder away from home and get more bird traffic. I like the armor as well but I know I need to spend more time to review its reviews to understand it better. I wish there was an option to pick and choose which device to connect with router and which one to the point. Over all, this is amazing product.

When it's working, the performance is excellent. Spent 3 1/2 hours on the phone yesterday with Technical Support. They can't figure it out. I had to send it to engineering. Even after loading the most current firmware, which is v9.12.5.3 we had problems. Satellites constantly dropping even when directly wired. The biggest problem is when I plug a laptop directly into the back of the Orby. I was getting download speed of 75 mbps then I disconnected it and connect wirelessly and I was getting speed of 1.2 GB. Then I plugged my laptop directly in the back of the modem, which is right next to the Orby and I get 1.2 GB. They cannot figure out how this was possible and they still haven't figured it out. I will be returning these which cost $2000 and I suppose I will try the Deco BE95 mesh to see if it is anymore stable.

Upgraded our wi-fi system in our two story home. Our coverage and speeds were increased and have stayed reliable. Highly recommend these.

I had old access points when my Cisco ISR 921 died so I bought these in a hurry and regret it. This is very much a home network device - decent wi-fi, but very limited and opaque networking functionality. It has two basic modes - Access Point (AP) mode and Routing mode. I have been operating in Routing mode but will end up going to AP mode to try to get some utility from them and get back some security and the ability to use IPv6 through my primitive ISP. Everything on this device should be viewed by starting from the perspective of the 3 wireless SSIDs that it can provide: a main SSID, an IoT SSID, and a Guest SSID. The main SSID is the only one that is required. The wired LAN ethernet ports on the router and satellites are in the same IP address space as the main SSID. You can (mostly) choose the private /24 address space used for this main network. If you configure the IoT SSID it uses the same address space as the main SSID and the Ethernet ports. In other words, the IoT SSID is apparently just a configuration shortcut way to create a limited RF environment to make it easier to deal with IoT devices that balk at a multiband RF environment. It does not seem to provide any real security separation from devices on the wired ports or the main SSID. The IoT SSID can have a different password than the main SSID. The router provides DHCP service with either random IP or fixed IP based on MAC address. It hands out its router address on the main network as the DNS server. I believe it is limited to DNS over UDP and maybe TCP, but can't handle any of the newer DNS over other protocols. And of course it NATs the private address range to the public address either received via DHCP from the ISP or manually configured. It does allow manual configuration of the WAN port MAC address to emulate the MAC address given to the ISP when the modem was provisioned. If the Guest SSID is configured it always uses the 192.168.2.0/24 range, and it presumably hands out random IP addresses in that range using DHCP with 192.168.2.1 as the router address. I do not recall what DNS address is handed to guests, but I suspect that it is 192.168.2.1 as well. That, like other things in this system, is not configurable, and is not optimal from a security perspective. If you use wired backhaul from the 970 satellites to the 971 router I have seen posts that indicate that both the main and Guest IP ranges are overlaid on the same layer 2 "bridge" rather than being separated with VLAN tags. Another security no-no. That would be a network topology from about 20 years ago when VLAN-capable equipment was much harder to come by. The router does have some support for IPv6, but if your ISP does not provide native IPv6 you may be out of luck. I have used 6in4 (aka SIT) tunnels with Hurricane Electric for at least 10 years until I had to use this router. It is probably the most common tunneling protocol for IPv6. So my only choice was to abandon IPv6 until I can get a real router again. I have not spent enough time to completely wring out any limitations of static routes on the 971, but the use case that is assumed seems to be that the private addresses in your main network address range can be routed to another router that also routes to more public address space. My use case is slightly different, in that I have additional private address space behind another firewall/router to protect my most important devices from the unknown security posture of the Orbi main network. So far I have not been able to use the static routes to avoid having to double NAT on that firewall in order to get Internet access. The 971 also supports RIPv2 but again I have not had time to configure my firewall/router to work with the 971 successfully to route my protected hosts properly. It is not clear what the Orbi 971 does with respect to security and that is probably the thing I find most annoying about it. If there are any access rules they are not visible, and in general I find that I have to reverse engineer by inserting old-fashioned hubs into wired links and sniffing. Bottom line is that in router mode it is a strange blend of relatively new protocols and capabilities such as a VPN mixed with routing and LAN characteristics that remind me of networking from 20 years ago. I expected a lot more capability, configuration control, and visibility into the security if any for this kind of money. This is very much a home device and if you have any significant requirements look elsewhere.

I would recommend this product to whoever is looking for great wifi speeds and easy setup

Great mesh router. very happy with how it performs in our two-story house.

Item is great. Best mesh system I have ever used. I get good internet signal anywhere in my 4,500 sq foot house with the router on the main floor and one extender upstairs and one downstairs. Setup was a breeze.

Having been an early adopter of the Orbi 850 series, I was nervous due to the incessant issues with that system, Netgear Support, and firmware disasters. Having installed this new Orbi 970 systemm all has gone exceedingly well, including at least one firmware update. System speeds and solid connections are meeting my lofty expectations, and I can definitely recommend this much higher dollar upgrade.

great upgrade from 960 series. i had lot of connection issues. TG i had They all seem to be gone with 970. Great to have included Geek warranty extended with my BB total protection subscription. Helped me a lot already. It is a beast and immediately my internet speed tripled.

This router drops WiFi ever 98 minutes. It is perfect for those who hate watching the end of movies without taking a break, or for discerning parents and homeowners who understand that 98 minutes is the max consecutive screen time anyone should ever need. In a pesky work call? This router will not let your call go beyond 98 minutes, no matter how important the call seems to you, Netgear protects you from overdoing it. Don't worry, even if you foolishly get sick of the router dropping your connection so often and you want to return it, Netgear and Best Buy have a plan to make sure you will never have to sit through a whole movie ever again. Netgear only puts you on hold for 45 minutes before they answer your calls to their support team! And when you get on the call they are super good at walking you through turning the router off and then back on! They will do that over and over again, even when it isn't helping! Then when they finally admit that doesn't help they will request a drawing of the layout of your home and guide you through where to put the router. For real! It's so great, and not at all creepy. Sometimes Netgear support even gets back to you! If they do, it only takes between 5 and 21 days. Sometimes they leave you alone so you can figure out the issues on your own without their help. They really do their part to ensure their customers understand how to use Google and ChatGPT to get a minimum level of understanding of Networking, DHCP Servers, lease times, ISPs, Ethernet classifications and history, and so much more. Netgear wisely understands that it's not fair for their network engineers to hog all the understanding of the problem, their customers need to figure it out on their own, too. Don't worry! If you ever feel like Netgear crossed a line when they asked for a drawing of your kids' bedrooms to help them troubleshoot why their hardware can't renew a DHCP lease, Best Buy also does their part to make sure you never have to watch another whole movie and to help you become a Network Engineer. But this is only true if it takes more than 15 days for Chat GPT to turn you into a network engineer so you realize that no one at Netgear has a clue why Orbi doesn't work. They are good at reading their script and they are pros at the guess and check method. I'm so glad I bought this router. Without it I would not have gained an education in Network Engineering or learned that there are more than 121 different languages spoken in India and that's why there are so many different accents on the Netgear support team. If Netgear and Best Buy my kids would probably never had a real reason they couldn't turn in their homework on time. They probably would have too many friends who could count on them to finish a round of Fortnite, and they would not understand how people in third world countries feel who can't count on things to just work. We feel so blessed that we bought this router from Best Buy. Kidding aside, anyone from Best Buy or Netgear who reads this, fix this. Anyone else, DO NOT BUY THIS ROUTER, or anything else from Best Buy or Netgear, unless you want to change your career and raise kids who are prepared to live in a third world country.

I was hesitant to buy this at first due to the cost. I watched the market for about 6 months and read many reviews. This unit is worth the hype. I pay for 1 Gbps and I realize 100% of that on multiple devices at the same time. I highly recommend.

First thing youll notice is how aesthetically beautiful these are. Second.. the ease of set up guided by the app. Third, the incredible speed and stability oc conndction. Fourth, high spped throught your home.

The Orbi 970 Wi-Fi 7 System lives up to the promises in its specifications. The range and power are absolutely excellent and the system allows me to take advantage of my high-bandwidth Internet connection. Installation using the recommended Orbi app is extremely easy. Just follow the prompts from the app.

Love this system. Easy to install and gives great signal.

Though this thing would be amazing and all it did was some headaches. The towers are HUGE!!! Ended up returnaing it as the cost outweighed any benefit it had….just way over priced! Ended up going with linksys mesh 7 for $799….getting pretty much rhe same performance for a 1/3 of the cost. Maybe with a few firmware updates it will be a better product….I dont want to be a beta tester. Also the fact that they make you pay for support is absurd.

Super easy to install. This system was an upgrade from a 9 year old Orbi mesh system. Orbi's are easy to install, manage and are highly reliable.

I upgraded my current Netgear Gaming wifi router XR700 to this Netgear Orbi 970 Teo pack and W9W, what a difference. Had a slight issue trying to pair satellite to main router and called Netgear support who patiently guided me in resolving issue. Great product support.

I have had the prior 2 versions of the orbi mesh 3 node configuration. This is by far the worst that I have had. The 970 for $2k is a disappointment. I am an IT guy trying to resolve connection issues for 5 months. Connections drop across our house. As you move around our house, there is not seamless connection transfer across the nodes. I have had to reboot the router 3 times a day for weeks. The backbone is not consistent. I have place the router and satellites in the same positions and the previous generation and it is a step backwards, 10 steps backwards. The turning point on me leaving this review was was Netgears decision to make customer support so difficult. It took me 30 minutes to find the phone number to call for support questions. Awful. They don’t care about customer experience. I share to customer service that it may be a hardware issue and they didn’t care. Suggest I change the backbone channel. This is not Apple Support. It is Dollar Store Support.

After using Google Wifi Mesh for years, I chose to go with something different that actually had a better plan for future wifi standards and support. Almost every single review pointed out the Orbi 970 Series as the best (and most expensive) wifi mesh. For me this is absolutely true and completely blows almost all others competition-wise out of the water. It's quad-band set up makes this work flawlessly. Two of these easily covers a two story 2600 sq ft home with no issues. This includes outside coverage in the yard, as well! All that said, it is extremely expensive. However, it's completely worth the price and is an exceptionally worthwhile investment.