Netgear Orbi

David Ludlow takes a look at Netgear’s latest attempt to bring fast, reliable Wi-Fi to our homes.

Weak Wi-Fi is a common curse and many of us suffer dead spots, unreliable connections and slow speeds in our homes. You can try to solve the problem by running Ethernet cables around your house or installing Wi-Fi range extenders, but these can be complicated to configure and may only fix half the problem by delivering improved range at the expense of speed.

Netgear’s Orbi system offers a different solution by using two routers linked by a dedicated wireless network (called the ‘backbone’) to ensure a solid, superfast connection. You plug one router into your broadband (via an Ethernet port, so you’ll need an existing Ethernet modem or router to connect it to) and place the second ‘satellite’ router in the middle of your home to extend the network’s coverage.

The backbone is a dedicated 1,733Mbps (megabits per second), 802.11ac 5GHz network that’s used exclusively to transfer data between the two Orbi routers. Each router then provides an additional 866Mbps 802.11ac 5GHz network and a 400Mbps 2.4GHz network, and your Wi-Fi devices connect to whichever router is nearest. If that’s the satellite, the high-speed backbone should ensure you don’t experience any slowdown in Wi-Fi speed. The bandwidth available to the backbone also means that there’s room for expansion, so you can buy additional satellite units to expand your network further.

Simple setup

Setting up the starter pack couldn’t be easier. The main router and the satellite come already paired, so all you have to do is connect the main one to your internet connection, then position your satellite and power it on.