Review on NETGEAR Tri Band Satellite Extender Business by Christopher Gotcher

I picked this as a long awaited home update. I chose the Pro model because it sold for $60 less than the consumer equivalent and because the Pro also included wall mounts (which weren't included in the consumer package) for an additional $60 savings. I'm fairly tech savvy and have had decent success with Netgear products in the past so I wasn't expecting any problems. For those planning on taking this out of the box and setting it up as a wireless mesh, I don't think you'll have many problems. This process was pretty easy. If you're a little more savvy and want to take advantage of the advanced features, make sure you've registered an account on the Netgear Community Support forums (generally more helpful than Netgear's own tech support, imo). If you want to use advanced features, read the manual. Seriously - even if you're familiar with networks, VLANs, etc., there are a few things you should keep in mind (because engineers are in the design business). Example: To use the wired Ethernet backhaul feature with a satellite, you need to know how the ports behave on both the router and the satellite. The same applies if you are in access point mode and not as a router. And if you have a firewall that blocks ICMP from the inside, you need to create a rule that allows the satellite and the router to access the gateway. This works even without this rule, but you'll get cool purple "error" indicators until it's enabled. , as the Insight app can be a bit counter-intuitive (and absolutely could not be configured with the custom IP scheme we have, even though I pre-provisioned the devices in DHCP). I look forward to tinkering around with VLANs next time and will update this review if I run into any issues. Being able to separate IoT traffic from the rest of our network has been on my to-do list for a while! Update October 2021: After 6 months of headaches, I can no longer recommend this product. Although designed for small businesses, it lacks enterprise-grade features. Example: You cannot use the wired transport network function unless it is connected directly from a satellite to a router or goes through an >unmanaged< switch. It even has issues with our Netgear GC728X, even after disabling IGMP snooping etc. The Insight app is a bunch of hot junk that doesn't even recognize 3/4 of Orbi time. And don't tell me what happens if the power goes out! If you like troubleshooting, this product is for you. You have the option of spending several hours between the router and the satellite to try and keep them in sync. Restoring from configuration backups sometimes forces you to look for malicious DHCP servers if they decide to turn them back on after the 4th or 5th factory reset. They'll go through boxes of paperclips to hit the reset button mentioned above! I just wish I could still get it back as I don't think it will survive the one year mark. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone for use in a business environment and would wholeheartedly advise even enthusiasts to avoid home networks. I'm starting to look for alternatives and will update this review again if I find something suitable.