Customer Ratings & Reviews

Summary: Netgear’s Orbi 970 Mesh series defines cutting edge, you probably don’t even own Wi-Fi 7 clients that can take advantage of the 970’s most advanced features, but you will tomorrow. And with the 970, your hardware will be in place. As for today’s elite benefits, its blazingly fast (the king), has great range, simple to use, stable, and the ethernet ports on the Orbi are either 2.5 Gig or 10 (FAST)! All with a price tag that is definitely aimed for the future. Question is, can you wait and just buy what you need today (I couldn’t)? Pros: - Two, 10 Gig ports (1 WAN, 1LAN) and four 2.5 Gig ethernet LAN ports (router, the satellites have one 10 Gig and two 2.5 Gig Lan ports). That is future proofing you can use today for fast wired connections (can you say fast backhauling?!) - Specs for geeks to love, a quad-core processor at 2.2GHz, 2 GB ram, 4GB of storage, and 12 high performance internal antennas with high-power amplifiers. - Quad-band WiFi (2.4GHz for your internet of things devices (home automation), 5 Ghz for your computers and phones in the next room, 6GHz for your speed devices in the same room, and an additional 5GHz band as the dedicated backhaul for wireless communication between nodes.) - Fast. My previous system was Wi-Fi 5 and an early version of Wi-Fi 6, across the board in all my tests I saw at least a 25%, and up to 100% increase in speed (top seen with a 980 Mbps source is a 700 download). - Good range, it’s designed for larger homes. - Easy set-up, their app walks you through it, and the satellites are pre-synced (i.e you literally just have to plug them in) - Easy to set up for automation devices with 2.4 GHZ - Support up to 200 devices (I only had 64 to test with) - Easy to set up (built in) guest network. - The added security was top notch, or at least really active. It scanned automatically all my devices for security flaws. Kept notifying my phone of its progress. The big offender was my TV. Surprise, voice command comes with risks (I don’t do alexa btw). Cons: - The 10 gb ethernet ports are awesome but Netgear came out one short for full benefit. To connect both satellites you need not two 10 gb ports, but three (1 WAN, 2 LAN). This means only one backhaul is truly 10 gb. Boo. Okay, 2.5 gb is still better then the standard 1 gb, but why stop one short? - Wi-Fi 7 isn’t really a thing yet (hasn’t been certified). I have no doubt when it is NetGear will address with a firmware change, but still, you are paying for it today. - Price. Matter of Taste (aka YMMV): - No USB port. Orbi never has had them, and in the past that has kept me away. But today most printers are wireless, and I have a true NAS (Synology) for network storage that benefits from the 2.5 gb wired ports. - No fiber connection. Would love to get rid of the provider’s fiber connection box. - Too big? Undeniably stylish (in black or white) with elegant under lighting will fit almost any décor, but its big and heavy (roughly 12x6x5” and 4 lbs). It won’t be easy to hide. But does scream, 'king of the tech.' My partner was less amused. - Set-up is sluggish. I have set up many networks with most of the brands and this is one of the slowest, took me almost 45 minutes, and even then it kept saying ‘optimizing’ afterwardsBut hey you only have to set up once. Or twice if you don’t follow the instructions the first time. - Easy to use. That’s a ‘pro’ yes? Flip side is you do not have full control of all the really techy settings that some of the competitors give you. But if you are already Orbi, you won’t miss it. - Subscription service for annual support. On one hand, you pay this kind of money and have to pay more for annual support, and on the other, if you can afford this device, you can afford a bit more for concierge service. I would buy it. - Subscription service for additional real-time security. Admittedly that comes free for one year, but still. I’m old school, I don’t like subscriptions. - Subscription service for parental control. Wait, if I don’t need this, does this mean I am saving by not paying? Might have to re-think this. - Requires you to have a Netgear account to activate. For you privacy concerned folks this means the system does call home (which appears to be US based). Netgear of course promises to keep your information private. But in today’s world of data breaches, this always makes me pause. And does this mean home can phone it if home has been hacked? In fairness; most services now require it. My Impressions: Top marks for build quality and the commitment to fast LAN ports. Not to mention the amazing Wi-Fi speed if you have the internet provider to feed it (which I do, I have 980 Mbps service measured, and measured Wi-Fi peak downloads and uploads of 700 and 850 respectively). The range and speed combination was the best I have seen (older versions of the Eero and Linksys Velop). Some people will stop reading right there. Yes. If you want the best for speed. Here it is. It might share that podium with a couple of others today on Wi-Fi 6e, but it’s right to be there is undeniable. I did have a problem with setup, took several attempts with the app, but that’s likely due to my impatience and not being careful enough with the instructions. I was a tad frustrated with the app, kept looking for controls I have seen on other products for example (device highlighting for bandwidth for example). The update rate of its information on which device was attached to which node seemed slow, or I haven’t quite figure it out yet. Reboot was slow. Pausing device service seemed to lag. And what it reported as a connection, did not always match. My laptop was not wired in for example (which the app claimed it was). Doesn't build confidence. But it seemed to be… learning. Which is freaky. One odd thing, I am in the Apple universe, and it only seemed to want to recognize only one device at a time (iPhone 15 Pro Max, or one of my multiple iPads) as worthy of the top speed. The others were relegated to 2.4 ghz (slow). But it would sometimes change which device (every few hours). Hence my attempt to find more controlling controls on settings. I googled and couldn’t find anyone with similar issues, so will investigate further, so likely user error during set up. And finally, not a fan of subscription services, of which there are three. Though to be fair, the additional security, which btw seemed top notch, was free for a year. And maybe you don’t want support for a year or parental control. Dirty little Secret (life’s not fair): Okay, before you tell me, ‘this applies to all the speed kings’, true, but they don’t all cost what this one does so… it deserves some discussion before you break open your piggy bank. Wi-Fi 6e, and the 6 GHZ band, are short range and tend not to like pesky things like walls, so they are really designed for that cozy in-room experience. Wi-Fi 7 claims to be better (but not proven) but it still will rely on the 6 GHZ band (so how good can it be through walls). To really get advantage of these things and have the great coverage that Netgear claims, you need to have wired backhaul (communications between the devices). Wired as in ethernet cables between router and satellites. Yep, to get the best Wi-Fi you need to have cables. Doesn’t seem fair, does it? But wait, it sorta gets worse with the Orbi (and this is specific). If you aren’t wired, you do have a separated and dedicated 5 GHZ band for the backhaul (yay!), but if you are wired, you don’t get to use that dedicated 5 GHZ band for additional bandwidth. So, it’s like losing for winning. It’s painful at the top they say. Who is worthy of all this power: If you 1) already like the Orbi series, like their way of doing things, 2) have already installed dedicated back-haul ethernet lines, 3) have a big place, and 4) want the fastest 6e system today and do not want to have to upgrade to 7 tomorrow, then yes, this system has your name written all over it. Hello Dr. Orbi, nice to meet you. Then there is the majority who probably only meet criteria 4, well, still. The need for speed thing. I get it. It’s real. It’s here. Maybe I shouldn’t say this but: You have noticed the angst I am experiencing between what to pay for today, and what to pay for future proofing. For my largish home, yes, hands down the advantages are there. But I also have a small summer log cabin in the woods (Thoreau would have been envious), and it’s crazy for being out in the middle of nowhere, but I do have 1 Gbps fiber optic cable. And the router (and extender) they offer is for free (the service is cheaper than home too). Long story short, for free, the speeds are comparable with home and the Orbi (which is insane I know). And the app is as good (maybe more responsive). Not a fair comparison you say? True. But just saying there are options for speed, if you don’t need the range and the future proofing. Go fiber. Which, why doesn’t the Orbi have a fiber connection, others do. Definitively: If you are in the Orbi universe, this is a worthy upgrade. If you are looking for your first mesh system, I suppose one strategy is go for the top. Rating the Orbi 370: Must admit, this one is tough to rate. Given the extreme cost, and today’s lack of its prime feature, Wi-Fi 7, it’s hard to give this a perfect 5 stars even with its leading edge Wi-Fi 6e performance (albeit performance I can get today with less costly devices). But Orbi has a proven track record of updating their equipment so as long as you can live with the listed cons (but… if you have such a need for speed aren’t you a bit of a control freak too?), then yes, a 5 for being cheeky enough to try. For me, it’s more like a 4.5, but I am less worried about the future as I am about today. Choice is great.

I you are willing to buy a Ferrari and are hoping for Netgear to give you product support like a Ferrari dealership would give you for shelling out for there top of the line car, you are not going to get it. I would buy the geek squad replacement plan, so that I didn't have to work with Netgear support if something goes wrong. It is a LOT less headache to just take it back to best buy for a replacement. I am working with Netgear on a malfunctioning 9 month old Orbi 960 spent 6+ hrs on the phone trying to fix it. It still doesn't work right and the will still not replace it after it has been approved for a replacement and took my money for expedited shipping. They keep throwing hurtles at me. Wanting this that and the other. I paid for a Ferrari. I did this for performance and reliability. At this point I am not sure what I paid for. If you a tech savvy and have lot's of time to waist if something goes wrong it is a ok produt. Don't shell out the money thinking Netgear will make it right as quickly as possible. Netgear will not do this. There is no support value associated with the cost. I won't buy Netgear again.

I needed a new router for our large and complex home. No single router reached all areas so I purchased this mesh system. It is fantastic!

This is NOT worth the money. The satellites are very finicky and don’t connect easily. There is also no band steering, which is surprising for the price. You have to use the IoT band and hope your device decides to pick the right 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band within it. I have Tesla chargers that need to be on 2.4 and my PlayStation needs to be on 5Ghz, but the Orbi would only put the PlayStation on 2.4 Ghz without using ioT. I had to put both on IoT and hope it connects correctly. The range on the satellites is also not what is advertised…the satellites have to be pretty close to the router and don’t work multiple rooms apart like the packaging suggests.

Best and highest speed router and WIFI I've ever owned or used. There are no dead zones in my house, everywhere in my house connects at full speed. Definitely worth the price.

Amazing Router, Speed Connectivity. Helping me talk full advantage of my ISP speed. A next step in Technology.

Orbi 970 was simple to setup and provides much better coverage than my old setup. With the money.

OMG if you want to spend an entire week on the phone with tech support and get nowhere than this is for you. I never write reviews however I am trying to save potential buyers a real headache! Thankfully I am still within my return window. Extremely unstable one minute its works then the router and satellites take turns on dropping out. First tech support could not fix issues. Then they graduated me to the "Tiger team" I thought maybe now we going to get some help NOPE. Finally they moved me up to Level 2 support. I had hope once again. After hours and hours on the phone, screen shots and Debug reports same failures. I would like to add that the EEro 6E pro worked. I was just wanting a step up. This is NOT worth the crazy money they charge..

Obviously this is two times more than way too expensive. But honestly, if you're not going to cry yourself to sleep over the loss of these hard earned dollars, it's actually a great product. Between the crazy fast backhaul speed and multi-gig ports throughout, it did what otherwise couldn't be done - gave me my full internet speed with reduced lag, consistent and stable, across my whole 2 story townhome without costly/messy cabling. Rock solid. I love this WiFi 7 mesh system. Now pardon me while I continue to mourn my deceased earnings......

Excellent router/mesh system. Pricy but you'll be set for awhile.

I upgraded to 2gb fiber and this setup was needed to get the full cababilites of my new internet. If you are just running 1gb cable/fiber then this setup isn't needed. Everything was easy to setup.

Great job on internet speed and mangering your kids on parent control and what they watch and excellent on network protection services.

So far the easiest router setup. Have had it for a week and I have no drops on connectivity, no slowing while streaming. Easy to use app with vulnerability check ups of all my connected devices. Bit expensive but so far it has been worth it now that the home has stable internet.

Expensive but well worth it in quality! A pair in our 4000sq+ home works great!

I continue to have issues with this system, I have reset it several times, moved locations turned off any other ISP routers which could have caused interference and yet it gets into connection is strong but no internet available state. I regret this expensive purchase. Chat with Geek Squad was also useless.

These are pricey but are fantastic. I wish I would have started with these vice other cheaper solutions

haven’t gotten around to do the wired backhauls. but the set up was easy and the wireless mesh system is giving my devices 3-4 times faster speeds.

The Orbi 970 Series Router System is absolutely awesome. This was the fourth router system I've bought over the past three years. The previous three system would randomly drop connections--so frustrating! I finally decided to spend the extra (a lot of extra) money to try the Orbi 970s. BINGO!!! It was worth every dollar of the cost. I have no regrets whatsoever spending the big bucks. Netgear, you knocked it out of thr part with this one--THANK YOU!!!

Solid speeds and distance. Reliable connections. A worthy, but expensive, upgrade.

Customer service is really starting to slack with NETGEAR you just swear by their product. Never had problems like I did with. This might be an isolated incident, but nevertheless, we can't figure out the problem. I've had so many monkeys in the mix. Replace the item still drobin, no. No better than. A mess router, 1/3 of the cost.Didn't mind if it worked better for me.Can't save for anybody else.Had everything you can imagine checked and replace.Since november is almost seven months set up is very easy. Settings are pretty direct. If it worked like it should, it could be me like I said, but I have enough no help with networks and internet and when my little device is keep dropping in and out. Is something with channel switch?Not smooth or something in the integrity at my please. So I will say set up kindnot yet even though easy.It's easy if it work, but not and still messing with it.No good