For compatibility information about Orbi Pro WiFi Systems, see Which Orbi Pro routers and satellites are compatible? At 150 feet, the Orbi router still delivered 229.1 Mbps of throughput, nearly seven times Google Wifi's 33.8 Mbps. (To be fair, the AmpliFi HD had very similar throughput at 150 feet, and the Velop had 26 percent more.) With such results, the Orbi's claim of 2,000 square feet of coverage per unit might be an underestimation. What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too? Wireless standards: IEEE 802.1x, IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.3u, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11e, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11i, IEEE 802.11n Looks like you’re not connected to your Orbi’s WiFi network. Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us. Try the following steps to get connected:

Netgear has taken the lead in the race to create a home Wi-Fi network system that all but sets itself up. If you want a resilient network that automatically adjusts when AP’s are down, you will have to manually configure it, e.g. use batman-adv to manage the mesh networking. We measured an average throughput for the NetGear Orbi of 216 Mbits/s with a direct line of sight between it and the computer. The NetGear Orbi performed slightly worse in the 5 GHz. metric compared to its results in the 2.4 GHz. metric but it still did pretty well overall. With the Orbi router 30 feet and two walls away, the Orbi extension projected 429.1 Mbps to a laptop one floor above it — more than double Google Wifi's performance.

When the Orbi system is behaving strangely, one step that is often recommended is to update the firmware to the latest release. This may be not so much in hopes that it will fix the problem as in the realization that the first thing others will recommend is to update the firmware. Might as well get that out of the way. After that, it's equally easy to add additional satellites by following the directions in the app and then pressing the "Sync" button, with the rest of the install done automatically. We had to update the firmware for this router once we completed the setup, but the app automatically prompted us and made it very easy.

Wireless standards: IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.3ab, IEEE 802.3u, IEEE 802.11n Netgear's firmware update process remains confusing. There seem to be three independent processes going on: The router can handle up to three satellites, but each satellite communicates directly with the host router in a hub-and-spoke arrangement, rather than in a true mesh topology that would let data pass from one satellite to another.Much harder to configure. Each AP needs to be configured individually from its own interface. While this is typically a one time task, it still requires planning and testing. I spent several hours resetting the RBR50 and two RBS50's to factory defaults and then doing a total reinstall and now after less than a day the system has the same duplicate IPs just like it was prior to the reinstall with the above duplicate IPs and non functioning wireless internet. Signal strength, router and extension. Orbi extension (circle) added. Red is strongest, blue weakest. (Image credit: Orbi extension (circle) added. Red is strongest, blue weakest. Credit: Purch Labs)

Recently found out that the snapshot and release candidate versions of the base OpenWrt have support for the RBR50v1/RBS50v1 (it’s the same hardware anyways, by default it will ignore anything setup previously and setup a RBS50 to an RBR50). Was wondering if anyone else has been using the firmware and has any experiences? In the Purch Labs material-penetration tests, the Orbi router's transmissions were powerful enough to punch through a metal-frame wall, a ceiling and a soundboarded wall with little drop-off. (The soundboard figure actually improved throughput by about 8 percent; we're not including regular drywall because it has little effect.) Again, this router did well with the medium distance tests, following a similar pattern to the short distance tests. If you want the expanded coverage of a mesh network for your home internet solution and are looking for the best — and are willing to pay for it — then we highly recommend the NetGear Orbi. It has good throughput and range, all while being very easy to set up and use, and offers just about all the features most people want. What Other WiFi Routers Should You Consider?First three tests involve direct router-to-client communication, with client laptop moving to new rooms and floors. Second three tests add extensions to same configurations. Percentages indicate change in data throughput between two sets. https://kb.netgear.com/31573/How-do-I-manually-upgrade-firmware-on-my-Orbi-router-using-orbilogin-co... Our remaining evaluations looked at the data transfer performance of the NetGear Orbi and the other routers. For both the 5 GHz. and 2.4 GHz. bands, we conducted the same series of tests using the iPerf3 software, with the average result of three separate trials for each test being used for the final score. We ran a test with a short distance (10'), medium distance (35'), and a long-distance (70') between the router base and our test computer, including a line of sight and an interference test at the short and medium distances for a total of 5 different throughput tests for each router at each bandwidth. The NetGear Orbi got off to a great start in the 2.4 GHz. metric, outperforming many of its competitors.

No Netgear software (bloatware) i.e. Disney Circle, Netgear Armor, Netgear Smart Parental Controls, Netgear interfaces, Netgear configuration utilities and synchronization tools, Netgear mobile app integration (Are these a pros or cons? you decide). It recorded an average of 52 Mbit/s in the unobstructed test and 53 Mbits/s when some walls separated the router from the test laptop. Firmware updates in 2018 have added more fine-tuned parental controls with the Circle with Disney app. This app allows parents to set up profiles for each member of the family, complete with age-appropriate content filtering, time-limits for online use, and curfew settings to cut off connectivity when it’s time to be done for the night. (We mostly liked Circle with Disney when we reviewed the standalone device. The app should provide similar functionality.) Netgear Orbi RBK50 review: Verdict The Orbi transmits Wi-Fi data on three radio-frequency bands. The primary 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz radios provide a theoretical peak throughput of 1.2Gbps of data flow to user devices. It’s a manual step to change each device to a satellite by deleting the WAN networks and connecting the ethernet port into the existing bridge.Much faster overall network performance, due to a number of reasons mostly because I can control the meshing a lot better (I have 5 satellites).