it's quite expensive but I'm happy as signal strength is so good! Works perfect in my 4 storeyed building. This simply works and good to provide wifi system in your society/apartment. speed is simply extraordinary! Good product!

For such high price, Netgear should do better. first , add a sticker in their box, clearly state USE WEB GUI to set up, do NOT use Apps, because if you're SPARK fiber customer, the Apps will never ever get it works. There's only one small paper/card in the retail box and tell you to use Apps to set up but it will NEER EVRE works. The product sell in NZ, Netgear is so so lazy. Is that hard to let the NZ customer know? So from now on I won't buy their product anymore. Charger customer high price then Netgear have to improve/fix their useless Apps for NZ consumer. Let the customer pay such high price and then customer have to Google how...view more

Netguard Armor and all of netguards native safety software gets installed and runs in the background by default, only after messing around with a combination of hard and soft resets did we figure out how to somewhat hide the bloatware that was blocking legitimate websites and devices like printers. Unless you are extremely tech savvy I would stay completely clear of the Orbi.

Netgear's Orbi Wireless AC system is perfect for geeks looking to tweak their network.

Great coverage throughout the home; The browser-based interface provides tons of settings to tweak; A dedicated 5GHz band for router-to-satellite communication; Internet-based remote network management

The system and its satellites are very expensive; The parental controls feature is a standalone service; The USB 2.0 port can't be used for storage devices

As another reviewer has said, check out the Netgear Orbi user community forum and go into this with eyes wide open. Orbi has almost twice the number of negative reviews on Amazon compared to other Mesh systems. Approx 1 in 5 users are unhappy. However the majority (80 are pleased with it. The RBK50 Orbi stands out from other mesh products by having faster speeds, longer ranges and four Ethernet ports on every router and satellite. This is largely because it has a dedicated 5Ghz channel for WifI backhaul (connection between the router and Sats). It can also be wired for backhaul between the router and sats via Ethernet. My experie...view more

Been using the Orbi for 2 weeks now. Great WiFi, but terrible as a router. The Orbi setup was absolutely a breeze, if all you want is good WiFi and a "working" Ethernet (a.k.a wired) connection. The setup was up and running in minutes. The WiFi speed was up-to-snuff with full saturation of the available bandwidth no matter where I am in the house, unless I locked myself in a room that's as far away as possible from the router or satellite, even then the connection was stable with very usable speed. Very stable connection with no connection drops reported from my family. The Ethernet connection however is a completely different story...view more

When deployed with a single satellite, the Netgear Orbi is an excellent choice for moderate-sized homes, delivering higher TCP throughput than mesh...

Strong Wi-Fi performance (with a satellite, Three-port gigabit ethernet switch on the router; four-port switch on the satellite, Dedicated 4x4 radio...

Not nearly as fast as the competition when operating solo; Physically larger and more visually obtrusive than the competition; USB port is currently...

Editors' Note: This review has been updated to reflect the addition of guest networking support, which was recently added by Netgear in a firmware update. The feature was not available when we tested the Orbi in October of 2016. Neither the score nor the Editors' Choice designation has changed.

Easy to install; Fast throughput; Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) capable; Highly configurable

Expensive; Bulky; Limited USB functionality

The Netgear Orbi mesh-router system is out of this world, able to fill a large home with high-speed Wi-Fi. It's a snap to set up and has more range and power than almost any other router.

Phenomenal performance; Dedicated router-to-extension data channel; MU-MIMO technology; Choice of app or browser setup

Relatively large devices; Expensive; Limited functionality on mobile app for now

Note : This review discusses the Orbi's performance in a Mac environment. There's a very similar version of this story that discusses this router's performance in a Windows environment on our sister site TechHive.com. Ignore Netgear's advertising: Its Orbi Wi-Fi router is not a mesh network system.

Strong Wi-Fi performance, Three-port gigabit ethernet switch on the router; four-port switch on the satellite, Dedicated 4x4 radio for backhaul

Physically larger and more visually obtrusive than the competition; USB port is currently dormant