Review on 📶 NETGEAR Orbi RBS20-100NAS Mesh WiFi Add-on Satellite - Expand Your Orbi Router Coverage by Up to 2,000 sq. ft with Speeds up to 2.2Gbps by Malik Munns

We have an active Orbi network and need to expand our coverage. We bought it but received the Orbi device in a plastic bag sealed with a 'new' sticker. No power supply, no instructions, no box, no protective packaging. I hope this is a stock item from Revain that fell out of the box and the largest piece was sent to us. The alternative (and more likely I think) is that it was the returned device. In any case, it was an unfinished order - no power supply, no function. As usual, Revain's return was painless, hence the rating of '3'. My experience with the initial install (I'm an IT pro) is that the documentation was terrible. , and a flat error in several places, and the firmware is too slow. It took – no kidding, I calculated it – more than 5 minutes for the satellites to connect to the master. The setup application failed 4 times and I had to restart everything to get around every error (every restart got me out of every error). The colored lights did not work as described and now they do not all work together. The management application did not provide the information required to set up the system - this requires you to log in to the device web page. If there are any options for the firewall I couldn't find them. The maximum distance between units is approximately 30 feet - less when passing through walls and floors. To get a signal down in the basement we had to place the satellites within 15 feet, which is absurdly close. Also, the signals appear to be highly directional, so moving the device around the shelf can break the connection. We tried a plug-in satellite, but it wouldn't rotate to receive signals from another device, and additional obstacles (wardrobes, tables, furniture) that are usually at the level of outlets made the device unusable. the recommended box option for network security. We already have the box, and you can set up the device to work with it (only as a wireless device, not a router), but as it's not in the docs and the setup app doesn't let you tweak the settings You must do this. However, once you get it working it works well and has been reliable for the past 2 weeks. It even recovered from a power outage, although booting up was excruciatingly slow (several minutes). The status LEDs would be nice, but apparently they turn off forever after setup is complete (by their tech support), which is a shame. Overall, if I hadn't spent 5 hours setting it up I would have tried a different brand. . Mesh is a great way to manage networks, but it doesn't seem ready for prime time just yet.