It includes two other pieces of hardware that help complete the blanket of Wi-Fi around the home.
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These devices use Tri-band Wi-Fi which works by emitting two 5GHz signals as well as the standard 2.4GHz signal, and has featured on previous Netgear routers. Converting to a powerline adapter setup costs money and requires you to litter your house with wall warts.
Orbi is made up of a router and a “satellite” and is said to eliminate so-called Wi-Fi dead zones by blanketing your property in Wi-Fi.
One of the common problems of the average household is the Wi-Fi coverage inside the house. But while Eero and Luma rely on numerous tiny, easily hidden units to create a mesh network, Orbi’s duo of devices takes a page from Google’s OnHub with a larger, yet attractive design.
Netgear’s router and satellite unit pack a trio of radio antennas. The third is devoted exclusively to communication between the Orbi router and its range extender.
“This enables the other two Wi-Fi bands to be dedicated bands for all connected devices across a home”.
That means you’ll get 802.11ac Wi-Fi at up to 3Gbps on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrums dedicated to whatever devices you want to connect to your home network. Second, with the Orbi router placed in an open area by your data connection and the satellite placed somewhere central and open in your home, the system can cover up 4,000 square feet. As a result, you have two different Wi-Fi networks to connect to: “one for your router and another for your range extender”. If it’s blue, you’re good to go. As for setup, you plug the router in and configure things through your smartphone. The firm has already shown off a simple, smart browser setup interface that automatically detects your connection – from almost any device – and allows you to create a new network in minutes.
I’m not ashamed to admit that I now use a router supplied by my internet service provider, or ISP.
4 Gigabit Ethernet ports and 1 USB 2.0 port each on the router and satellite. When Orbi launches in September, you’ll need to drop $400 to pick up the duo.
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And because the dedicated connection deals exclusively with communication between the Orbi devices, it means the router’s Wi-Fi bandwidth for other connected devices isn’t affected by providing the extended signal to the satellite. While that plants Orbi firmly in the “enthusiasts only” camp, the sudden influx of networking gear created to blanket homes with Wi-Fi show that the industry is actively working to kill the pesky problem of Wi-Fi dead zones-and one day, these innovations will no doubt reach more consumer-friendly price points.
