Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Whether deploy solo or with a artificial satellite , the Netgear Orbi delivers exceptional home - networking performance .
Note : This follow-up discuss the Orbi ’s performance in a Mac environment . There ’s a very similar reading of this chronicle that discussesthis router ’s performance in a Windows environmenton our babe site TechHive.com .
Ignore Netgear ’s advert : Its Orbi Wi - Fi router isnota mesh electronic internet scheme . Orbi planet do n’t pass on with each other , they send and receive data to and from the Orbi router only . In networking parlance , that is a hub - and - spoke system , not a mesh . But mesh networking is what has everyone so turn on this year , so that ’s how Netgear is billing the Orbi . The company is doing itself a disservice : The Orbi might be the near interior - designer - approved router on the market .
About that industrial purpose : The Orbi is not nearly as diminished or unobtrusive as the Eero , Google Wi - Fi , or Linksys Velop . Those first two products strike a very modest profile , and the Velop looks like a bud vase . A hollow out - out Orbi is big enough reserve a corsage of blossom , measuring 8.89 inches tall and 6.67 inches wide . It ’s not horrifying , if you ’re into modern aesthetics , but it ’s not hold up to melt into the background as well as those other routers do . And that ’s okay , because Netgear is the only router company that has n’t taken aside the ethernet switch and USB port wine so as to make its product little and more fashionable .
The competition puts just two ethernet embrasure on their router and satellites , which means you ’ll need to corrupt an ethernet switch if you want to hardwire more than one equipment to them . And many unexampled - shoal router do n’t have USB ports at all ( the Securifi Almond 3 is an exclusion on both count , it has three ethernet embrasure and a USB port ) . But before you get too excited about the front of a USB port on the Orbi , have it away that it is presently sleeping . You ca n’t use it to link a USB toilsome drive or a USB printer that you want to share over your connection .
The Netgear Orbi has a comparatively large step compared to the competition . From left to right hand : Linksys Velop , Eero , Luma , Google Wifi , and Securifi Almond 3 ( black ) .
But it ’s there — as is an equally dormant Bluetooth radiocommunication — so Netgear must have plans for it . My guess : Netgear will either release a firmware update that enables it for storage , or they ’ll come out with a ZigBee or Z - Wave receiving set dongle and make a play in the Internet of Things / smart - home space . But if USB support is on your must - have list , do n’t buy an Orbi until you fuck for certain what it will support . And if you need web depot , bribe a NAS box — you’ll be much happy . We recently reviewed sevenand found some genuine bargains .
Feature set
The Netgear Orbi is a tri - band router with six internal feeler , make the Linksys Velop its closest competitor . But the Orbi ’s three networks are very unlike from the Velop : The Orbi operate one web on the 2.4GHz stria ( with a 2×2 radio set — two spatial streams up and two spatial stream down — offer speeds up to 400Mbps ) , one meshing on the 5GHz band ( with a 2×2 radio offering maximal speed of 866Mbps ) , and a 2nd 5GHz web with a 4×4 radio offering maximum amphetamine of 1733Mbps . You ’ll never see genuine - world speed that high — as distance , protocol overhead , and other factors eat aside at those theoretic maximums — but you may use them for the interest of comparability .
The Velop ’s two 5GHz networks , in contrast , each provide the same max theoretical speed : 866Mbps . And a Velop net will mechanically steer clients to one or the other net , choosing on the fly which 5GHz connection will be used for data backhaul ( i.e. , sending packets back to the knob that ’s configure as a router ) . The Orbi dedicates its higher - bandwidth 4×4 radio to backhaul , even if you operate it without a planet . The backhaul electronic web uses the gamy 5GHz channels ( 149 and up ) , leaving the humble channels ( 36 and up ) to the router .
The Netgear Orbi is unique among new - school router in that it has a three - port Gbit ethernet replacement . The artificial satellite has a four - port switch .
Netgear says an Orbi router without a satellite will blanket a 2000 - straight - groundwork home with Wi - Fi , and that each orbiter will append another 2000 - solid feet of coverage . My home is about 2800 square foot , so the ship’s company sent me a two - pack for this reexamination . you may also purchase the Orbi in a three - battalion ( one router and two artificial satellite ) , and Netgear will soon offer the satellite on its own for pairing with an existing Orbi router .
Since the Orbi is n’t a mesh internet router , each satellite join to the router and not to another satellite . Netgear tells me they ’ll eventually enable a daisy - chain mode that will supply orbiter - to - satellite communication , but not until it ’s possible for the web to automatically steer client between the router and the satellite(s ) as clients move about the house .
Netgear bid a setup app , or you may instal and configure the Orbi the sometime - fashioned elbow room , via a World Wide Web web internet browser . I much prefer the latter because I can apply a gravid screen ( my eyesight has never been great , and it gets bad the one-time I get ) . Orbi is not currently compatible with Amazon ’s Alexa digital assistant , but Netgear tells me they ’re just waitress for that corroboration to amount through .
This floorplan record where the router , mesh topology nodes , and client were placed for benchmarking . The Orbi satellite was deployed in the groovy way .
Performance
At close range — with the client in the same room as the router , separated by nine feet of air — the Orbi ’s TCP throughput of 592.4Mbps absolutely crushed the five interlocking routers I compared it to . The Luma Surround WiFi came closest , but it was nearly 100Mbps slower . The Google Wifi came in third with throughput of 490.3Mbps and the Linksys Velop deliver 475.3Mbps .
When I moved the client to my great room , 33 feet from the router with an insulated bulwark , some plywood cabinet , and a turn of kitchen appliances in the signal course , the Orbi throw away to third place behind the Securifi Almond 3 and the Linksys Velop .
Adding an Orbi satellite to the equation slightly reduce throughput at faithful scope , drop it to second place behind the Google Wifi . But throughput significantlyincreasedat the other three test locations , as you ’d expect after rank the orbiter so much stuffy to where the client MacBook Pro was locate .
Still , the Linksys Velop with two knob was considerably quicker when the client was in the great roomandin the home dramatic art ( in the chart below , seem at the green and red bars respectively ) . The Orbi regained the vantage in my prospicient - aloofness test , with the client 65 feet from the router with three insulated interior walls and two fireplace in the signal course , terminate in first place ( see the drab bar in the chart below ) .
And if you examine the chart below , you ’ll see that the Orbi with one satellite was considerably faster at close range than all of the mesh web routers operating a router andtwonodes . The Linksys Velop was firm in the great room ( green bars ) and the home theater ( ruby-red ginmill ) , but the Orbi was importantly immobile than everything else at long range .
The formal router I used for baseline — the Linksys EA9500 and the Apple Airport Time Capsule — were much quick at close range , but the Time Capsule could n’t make the client in the Sunday way at all .
My final performance chart picture how each router execute under pressure . For this test , I run wireless TCP - throughput benchmarks on three pairs of computers ( four Windows machine and two MacOS electronic computer ) post 33 feet from the router while at the same time streaming 4 K video from a Roku Ultra streaming box that ’s wirelessly connected to the electronic web .
The Linksys Velop win that contender with the MacBook Pro , pitch much faster TCP throughput . The MacBook Pro , it should be noted , is one of the few laptop on the market to come from the factory with a 3×3 802.11ac adapter on display board . The fact that the Velop was operating with three nodes , compared to the Orbi having a single artificial satellite , should not have factor into the functioning equation because the client reckoner can affiliate with only one guest at a metre . I take for granted they would have tie in to the closest node , which was placed in the same spot where I put the Orbi satellite . The performance delta among the Windows guest was n’t nearly as significant .
The bottom line
Do n’t get hung up on the fact that the Netgear Orbi operates on a hub - and - spoke topology versus mesh ; the bottom line is that this is an outstanding Wi - Fi router . By including a three - port switch on the router and a four - port switch on the satellite , it strikes a better counterweight between unobtrusive industrial design and established router feature than any of the mesh routers I ’ve tested so far .
If you subsist in a pocket-sized flat , on the other hand , the incredibly punk Google Wifi might be the estimable choice — if you may find one . It ’s priced at just $ 129 , but seems to be out of stock everywhere . A single Linksys Velop ( $ 200 street ) or a individual Eero ( $ 180 street ) would be my next good word . Or if you do n’t mind the look , you ’ll chance plenty of conventional router with external transmitting aerial that deliver tremendous operation .
