Good review. I just picked up the Orbi and so far it's working great in my house. 3 floors and 3800 square ft. My biggest issue is with the management software. Coming from an Asus it's lacking in robust access controls. Specifically, the ability to limit Internet access by device MAC address.. This is key when you have kids with multiple devices and game consoles. With Asus I am able to schedule when devices can connect. Other than than Orbi performance has been rock solid. No more weak or dead zones in my house.
Orbi on sale now for $130.00 RBK50. Now I get 940 Mbps from 200Mbps. Great product!!! First time I heard of mesh. The hardest part for me was setting my TP Link smart plugs back up. It wasn't detecting them.
great review as usual. Thanks. I'm using the Orbi13 and love it. I'm getting even higher speed than I got with my Netgear or my Asus AC 2400 router in the office. I'm on a temporary promotional 300 megabit Time Warner Speed right now. I get 350 megabits per second in the office and 70 feet away through two solid 6 inch thick wood walls I get to 350 megabits per second on the satellite. I love it. Throughput is fantastic with this system.
Sounds interesting but we need more than two orbits. We are seriously considering hard wiring with a Luxul router and expansions. What do you know about hard wiring?
+Sandeep Puranik you can use it as an access point to a netgear router. This will keep your IP range the same. There is a setting in the router that I show on the video to set this up. It's called ap mode
Those 2 speed tests that you performed. We're they both wireless near the router or connected via ether net cable? I don't think I heard you specify that.
Why does everybody always do speed test against their internet service provider when reviewing routers/accesspoints/other network devices..? That's SOO IRRELEVANT! The speed should be measured from your computer to your router (alternatively your accesspoint). NOT from your router to the internet and NOT from your computer->router->internet. Just a simple test between computer->router would say so much more about the router WiFi/network capacity!
I have a question about connecting the system to a comcast network. I also have comcast and when I tried to connect this system, I came across nothing but issues. First, I read that you had to disable the wifi capabilities of the comcast router. Netgear recommends this. So the 2 wifi networks don't interfere with each other. Well that was a big mistake. When doing that I disabled my internet entirely. Had to call comcast to get it fixed. So how did you connect the Orbi system to your comcast network? I see you did a speed test, but what about coverage? Are you satisfied with the coverage you received? I have coverage issues where I am. Which causes slow downs in those dead spots. It's like choppy service. First its there then its gone. Then back again. Would you recommend this system for someone with my issues(granted, if I can get the thing to connect this time)? I did however return my system. Didn't want to hold on to a $400 system and can't get it to work properly. I would like to give it another try, with some more information. Thanks for the video. Looking forward to your response.
Can I get just a satellite and have it work/boost my current netgear ac1750 modem/router? Looking to extend my current netgear, not necessarily replace it.
EBPMAN Tech Reviews thanks for the update. I was shopping between this and velop. I couldn't find anything but bad reviews for prioritising devices. I even checked the Amazon 1000 reviews. Good to know it there and works. I wish someone would do a review on that feature for this product.
The Orbi is not a mesh system, its a star or spoke-and-hub system. You can have 3 total satellites joined to the base station, and the satellites do not connect to each other.
I have tl-mr3420 with latest firmware and a huawei e392u lte stick sticked inside it. My phone gets 25 mbits on its own sim card, but when connected to my wifi, it gets 3 mbits (the sim in my router is my main internet source at home because it has 300gb/month plan). My pc is connected to the router with a cable and gets 15mbits and my steam link and android box are a lagfest with only 0.1 mbits even though the signal strength is "good"...wth am I doing wrong...?
Orbi is shit for gaming. Such as PUBG, Apex etc. Everything disconnect from the internet when i play such games. Insane expencive price and cant even have a QoS setting for better performance for those games...
Google WiFi has no backhaul whatsoever while the Orbi has a dedicated 5 GHz band just for the backhaul between the two routers. It also has ethernet ports that can provide ethernet backhaul in a future firmware update. Sure, Google WiFi is easy to set up for people who aren't power users and don't know much about networking, but the Orbi is the best bet for professionals and those who care about having a hand in how their network is managed. The Orbi is bigger because it has more antennas than Google WiFi, plus who cares about size, it's a router that will barely be seen. You should probably go with Google though since you've clearly not done the research on what actually makes for a good network.
Good review. I just picked up the Orbi and so far it's working great in my house. 3 floors and 3800 square ft.
My biggest issue is with the management software. Coming from an Asus it's lacking in robust access controls. Specifically, the ability to limit Internet access by device MAC address..
This is key when you have kids with multiple devices and game consoles. With Asus I am able to schedule when devices can connect.
Other than than Orbi performance has been rock solid. No more weak or dead zones in my house.
Orbi on sale now for $130.00 RBK50. Now I get 940 Mbps from 200Mbps. Great product!!! First time I heard of mesh. The hardest part for me was setting my TP Link smart plugs back up. It wasn't detecting them.
Coverage is great with Orbi. Great to see another quality review (we covered the Orbi on our channel as well)
You sir just answered every question I had about the Orbi13 system. Thank you.... New subscriber.
great review as usual. Thanks. I'm using the Orbi13 and love it. I'm getting even higher speed than I got with my Netgear or my Asus AC 2400 router in the office. I'm on a temporary promotional 300 megabit Time Warner Speed right now. I get 350 megabits per second in the office and 70 feet away through two solid 6 inch thick wood walls I get to 350 megabits per second on the satellite. I love it. Throughput is fantastic with this system.
Nice video My question is, would this work in a home with a main floor and a basement?
In AP mode does the RJ 45 on the main unit work like switched ports .. In router mode I have no doubts it will
Sounds interesting but we need more than two orbits. We are seriously considering hard wiring with a Luxul router and expansions. What do you know about hard wiring?
Great review, I will buy orbi today, please can you tell me which modem would work the best, assuming a Netgear? so it’s all compatibleMany thanks
I’m currently using the Motorola modem, and it works great with my Orbi. Though, the Netgear router would probably sync the best.
What is your opinion, I live in an Old home two story 3K sq. ft. real lath and plaster very dense. Do you think it will work in this environment?
Is Orbi capable of working with other netgear routers if so what's the set up? Thanks for the great review.
+Sandeep Puranik you can use it as an access point to a netgear router. This will keep your IP range the same. There is a setting in the router that I show on the video to set this up. It's called ap mode
Those 2 speed tests that you performed. We're they both wireless near the router or connected via ether net cable? I don't think I heard you specify that.
What’s the difference between the Orbi and TP-Link powerline adapters?
Why does everybody always do speed test against their internet service provider when reviewing routers/accesspoints/other network devices..? That's SOO IRRELEVANT! The speed should be measured from your computer to your router (alternatively your accesspoint). NOT from your router to the internet and NOT from your computer->router->internet. Just a simple test between computer->router would say so much more about the router WiFi/network capacity!
I have a question about connecting the system to a comcast network. I also have comcast and when I tried to connect this system, I came across nothing but issues. First, I read that you had to disable the wifi capabilities of the comcast router. Netgear recommends this. So the 2 wifi networks don't interfere with each other. Well that was a big mistake. When doing that I disabled my internet entirely. Had to call comcast to get it fixed. So how did you connect the Orbi system to your comcast network? I see you did a speed test, but what about coverage? Are you satisfied with the coverage you received? I have coverage issues where I am. Which causes slow downs in those dead spots. It's like choppy service. First its there then its gone. Then back again. Would you recommend this system for someone with my issues(granted, if I can get the thing to connect this time)? I did however return my system. Didn't want to hold on to a $400 system and can't get it to work properly. I would like to give it another try, with some more information. Thanks for the video. Looking forward to your response.
Your speed tests were talking to two different servers...that was not an accurate comparison.
Can I get just a satellite and have it work/boost my current netgear ac1750 modem/router? Looking to extend my current netgear, not necessarily replace it.
Can I hook up an Orbi into a Comcast gateway device that is both a modem/router combo?
It's not a mesh system. It uses a star topology.
firmware update does allow 'daisy chain' config. It works.
How good is device prioritizing?
QOS works well like every netgear router. No real difference in my experience. I prioritize my desktop vs my kids tablets and xbox
EBPMAN Tech Reviews thanks for the update. I was shopping between this and velop. I couldn't find anything but bad reviews for prioritising devices. I even checked the Amazon 1000 reviews. Good to know it there and works. I wish someone would do a review on that feature for this product.
Tell you what it won't set up with talk talk I've tried every way I can think of its just saying not connected to internet
my Orbi says problem detecting the internet connection do you know why?
The Orbi is not a mesh system, its a star or spoke-and-hub system. You can have 3 total satellites joined to the base station, and the satellites do not connect to each other.
Which Netgear router did you compared with?
+cachememory Nighthawk ac3200
Can you use Tomato ? And what about VPN setup ?
Dont know. You can put custom firmware on non mesh routers but I havent see one for this one. As far as vpn usage goes the best in my opinion is Asus
what would you recommend for someone who is stuck with 4g internet connection?
I have tl-mr3420 with latest firmware and a huawei e392u lte stick sticked inside it. My phone gets 25 mbits on its own sim card, but when connected to my wifi, it gets 3 mbits (the sim in my router is my main internet source at home because it has 300gb/month plan). My pc is connected to the router with a cable and gets 15mbits and my steam link and android box are a lagfest with only 0.1 mbits even though the signal strength is "good"...wth am I doing wrong...?
Internet
Orbi is shit for gaming. Such as PUBG, Apex etc. Everything disconnect from the internet when i play such games. Insane expencive price and cant even have a QoS setting for better performance for those games...
All 3 Google Wifi routers are smaller than 1 of these and it's better.
Google WiFi has no backhaul whatsoever while the Orbi has a dedicated 5 GHz band just for the backhaul between the two routers. It also has ethernet ports that can provide ethernet backhaul in a future firmware update. Sure, Google WiFi is easy to set up for people who aren't power users and don't know much about networking, but the Orbi is the best bet for professionals and those who care about having a hand in how their network is managed. The Orbi is bigger because it has more antennas than Google WiFi, plus who cares about size, it's a router that will barely be seen. You should probably go with Google though since you've clearly not done the research on what actually makes for a good network.
ADKIc3mAnXYT they are not better and actually worse. No backbone dedicated to keep speeds up. Weaker antennas compared to the orbi.