Netgear Orbi AXE11000 Mesh WiFi System

Quad Band for luxury home networking

- GUY COCKER

WHEN THE FIRST NETGEAR Orbi arrived in 2016, mesh Wi-Fi systems were largely the domain of offices managed by IT professionals. But as homes started to absorb more smart devices and faster internet, they began to be released in kits sold by the likes of Amazon. Six years on, gigabit internet-enabled homes and WiFi 6 devices are becoming the norm.

Netgear has responded with the Orbi AXE11000, which is on the cutting-edge of networking standards. Top of the spec sheet is WiFi 6E support for devices with a theoretical maximum 4800Mbps throughput. Wired networking is equally fancy, each node boasting a 2.5G ethernet port, with a 10G internet port on the router.

The catch is the $1,499 price tag. If you have lots of WiFi 6E devices, a computer or server with a 2.5G ethernet port, and spend a lot of time on your home network, maybe you can justify it, but there are WiFi 6 systems, such as Netgear's AX6000, that will save you at least $500.