Looking at wifi mesh netgear orbi

[pratchett]

I'm looking at NETGEAR Orbi for a mesh system at home. What say you before I drop the cash?

[sholling]

I haven't played with an Orbi system but The Wirecutter has a good review.

https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-wi-fi-mesh-networking-kits/

[GimpsUnlimited]

If you are not sure if buying the 2 or 3 pack, get the 3 pack. I wished I had gotten the 3 pack myself. One section of the house has weak WiFi compared to the rest.

Other than that, I am pretty satisfied. Satellite only died on me once in a year of use.

Sent from my SM-G892U using Tapatalk

[Montu]

Heard good things but make sure you actually need it and can't make due with a single good router / ap

[ENVYGREEN]

just got the google one and so far its been exceptional. setting up was mind bending easy and using a phone app to kill the kids internet as needed is pretty sweet too

[iron330]

We have the Orbi 2-pack. Our house is about 1200 sq. ft. More than ample. Measured on my phone, I see speeds from a low of 200 mbps to a high of 850 mbps. 4K Netflix, Amazon, etc. no issues at all– looks stunning. We have 120 mbps xfinity cable. I also hear very good things about the Eero. I got the Orbi 2 pack on cyber monday for $230, so seemed like a good deal at that time.

[high_revs]

man i wish i can tell you. bought the thing during costco black friday.

fast forward.. still in the damn box! I did see in a thread they finally updated the s/w to support ethernet backhaul

good to hear all is working OK with posts above. need to find time to just do it.

[ten888]

Looking at wifi mesh netgear orbi

Heard good things but make sure you actually need it and can't make due with a single good router / ap

[Megalomegalodon]

Costco has the Google Mesh 4pk for $299

[high_revs]

OK.. i just installed it 2 days ago. still wip

Pros
* easier setup imho compared to my asus rt-n56u or linksys systems before. i used the mobile app to install/setup
* now has ethernet backhaul (shows in UI)
* strong signal. with my asus and even upgrading my dell laptop to an intel nic 802.11ac (with b/g/n compatibility) and coming from killa network 802.11n nic... i had a piddly 2-4mpbs wifi connection. fast forward with orbi, router installed in exact same place as asus, laptop in exact same place as before with asus, i'm getting wifi speeds of 140-160 mpbs. that's just wifi! all i changed was asus -> orbi
* satellite install is easy. but i did do an ethernet backhaul since i had ethernet ports in living room. did i need a satellite, probably not. but at least if stuck with work and in car and i don't want to go in yet, i can do stuff in car with my phone (zoom/webex, etc). but i still have to test this signal strength also.

cons (imho, ymmv)
* they are large but i just think "well, fashionable in home i guess" poeple complain about their size but they're pretty powerful in my wifi analyzer
* UI is outdated. ugghh.. i think they invested more in their mobile app compared to the pc one
* vpn is a pita to install. my asus.. i registered... i entered, used stock functionality in mobile/laptop/tablet and it worked. yeah, maybe not as secure but hell, i only wanted to browse calguns and anime when i get wifi places blocking these sites. i'm still working on this btw. iphone sucks when installing. i'm working on my android literally right now but can't get it to connect
* the ddns registration in the UI sucks. i can't get a xxxxyyyy.mynetgear.com to register. some say the firmware broke the registration process. support sucks because they told me to go to no-ip.com and do it there. but mynetgear.com isn't listed and no-ip support says do it thru the router UI. i did get a ddns.net service but i still wanted a mynetgear.com ddns. i opened a second ticket to support.
* kb articles are all over the place.. not consistent
* i can't turn off wifi at all. if you only wanted to use these as routers and an extender hardwired, you can't turn off wifi. at least w/o telnet'ing. i only wanted to do this because i wanted to seriously test the Ethernet backhaul (make sure it really works).
* i can't find a way to save my configuration profiles. so if crap happens, i'll have to start all over again instead of loading my old profiles. (asus had that capability).
* the timeout (re-login) when idle on the UI from PC is pretty quick. have to login again multiple times if i get distrcted but it still shows what's in the screen. not really a security thing then. grrr.

i still have to do my static dhcp. port forwarding was easy for my nas. on some cases, it assigned the same IP i had for my other devices. i still am hardwired since i get up to 260mpbs hardwired. 260 is just a tad faster than my asus hardwired (up to 240-250mpbs)

the second satellite is still in the box. i'll test wifi strength in the garage this weekend and see if i should just put it there.

enuff info for ya to make a decision?