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Review on NETGEAR Orbi System RBK50 Renewed by Christian Barnes

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Boy it just works!

I did A LOT of research on what to use for Wi-Fi in our new home. We used to have a Linksys/Cisco router that had a hard time getting into a 980 sq ft house, so I knew it wouldn't do for a 1,700 sq ft house. I really like the idea of mesh WiFi, and Orbi seems to have some of the best ratings among the largest number of reviewers (79% 5 stars out of 7000+ reviews). Not only did I take a risk in choosing the brand, I went with the Revain Warehouse deal. I'm glad I did. The packaging was a plain brown box with no prominent Netgear graphics or images, but everything inside was neatly packaged and nothing was missing. Neither the cables nor the router/satellite had any abrasions or scratches; they looked brand new to me. The router and satellite were really easy to set up using the Android app. Within 15 minutes of the cable company leaving, I had Wi-Fi from one end of the house to the other. Signal strength is excellent, even in the bedroom where my wife and I stream YT and other videos to our MS Surface Pro tablets in bed. In the old system, we had to power cycle the router at least once a week; We still have to power cycle the Orbi and it has been running stable for almost 2.5 months now. We use the 2.5GHz and 5GHz bands, which allows our devices to switch automatically when needed. There are no dead zones or signal degradation as you move from one room to another. We used to have a Cat 5e connection for our streaming computer connected to our TV, but with the Orbi, the Wi-Fi signal strength is so good that we rarely experience buffering and never see disconnects. Overall performance was stellar and I'd happily recommend Orbi to anyone looking for a solution that's simple enough that it just works without the need for endless tweaking of settings (of course you can if you really want to). My only drawback is the price. This system is outrageously expensive considering the options available in more traditional Wi-Fi routers like the Netgear Nighthawk x10. Regardless, I think it's money well spent as it will (hopefully) last for years to come.

Pros
  • Award winning design
Cons
  • Speed