Netgear Orbi RBK50 (kit of two)
The perfect mesh kit.
Netgear’s entry into the world of dedicated home mesh networks gets just about everything right. Comprising of a router and one or more satellites, the Orbi devices look like strange vases with LED lights at the top. Even the satellites have Ethernet ports, either for connecting devices or linking back to the router.
Set the router up as your primary routing device, then place the satellites around your home as needed to expand the coverage. As long as they can talk to the primary router, either through Ethernet or Wi-Fi, you have a mesh network.
What sets the Orbi apart is its dedicated wireless back channel that’s only used for linking the satellites and router. That means that your bandwidth won’t be halved if you’re attached to a satellite as opposed to the router. You’ll get full speed everywhere.
The backchannel network is 1,733Mbps (4x4 MU- MIMO) and the two user channels are 866Mbps and 400Mbps (2x2 MU-MIMO). That limits individual device speed, but that’s not a problem since most devices only support 2x2 MIMO max (we tested with a rare 3x3 device so it looks worse in the results table than it is).
The tri-band design made a huge difference when testing attached to the satellite. At 15m from the router, with the satellite placed between the test station and router, we were still hitting 37MB/s, which is phenomenal.
This is the best mesh networking system we’ve seen. With USB ports and full support for routing features, this is a near perfect solution.