Here is our review of the Orbi 960 Series Quad-Band WiFi 6E Mesh System (RBKE963).
Engineered to deliver unprecedented coverage and performance across your whole home. Get up to 10.8Gbps blazing fast speed to all devices in every room.
A new 6GHz WiFi 6E band provides a superhighway to deliver dedicated top speeds to the latest WiFi 6E-ready laptops, phones & tablets.
Orbi’s tall, elegant shape is no coincidence. Under the hood of an award-winning design, our patented antenna ensures superior WiFi coverage across your entire property.
Easily create up to 4 separate networks for WiFi 6E and smart home (IoT) devices to optimize overal network traffic.
The Orbi WiFi 6E mesh systems is supercharged for today’s data intensive devices and smart homes. Connect everything from PCs, phones, and TVs to security cameras, door locks, and more. Only Orbi can deliver so much device capacity with maximum speed for up to 200 devices.
The Orbi app makes it easy to install your Orbi and get it up and running in less than 15 minutes. Easily manage your home network even when you are not at home. Orbi is compatible with any internet service provider.
Features
- The world’s most powerful whole-home WiFi system with up to 10.8Gbps WiFi speeds & coverage up to 7,500 sq. ft., including front & back yards
- Exclusive Quad-Band technology & Dedicated Backhaul WiFi ensures max speeds for up to 200 connected devices
- WiFi 6E opens up a new 6GHz band, delivering dedicated top speeds to the latest WiFi 6E-ready laptops, phones, & tablets
- 10 Gig internet port unleashes the fastest download speeds of today & tomorrow. Connect to the latest cable or fiber Internet service up to 10Gbps
- Patented antenna design boosts WiFi coverage & delivers high-performance WiFi across your entire home.
- NETGEAR Armor software provides an automatic shield of security for your WiFi and connected devices (PC, phone, camera, TV, Echo, etc.) for real-time protection against hackers and added privacy with VPN. 1-year subscription included
- Compatible with any internet service provider and sets up in minutes with the Orbi app
What’s in the box?
The box contains the router and two satellites, 3 power supplies, Ethernet cable and instructions.
A Closer Look
Final Thoughts
Once you have unpacked and connected up the Orbi router it’s time to work through the set up process. Connect to the Orbi WiFi network and follow the onscreen process using the Orbi App it’s really simple and strait forward. You can also use a web browser, but the app is easier.
Setting up the router is relatively straightforward and fairly quick – just follow each of the steps and you should be up and running in no time.
One of the steps during the setup is a firmware check – make sure that you upgrade to the latest version of the firmware otherwise you might run into some problems.
Once you have your Orbi router and network configured just how you want it the next step is to place your satellite, or satellites where you want them. Once you have them physically located where you want them it’s just a case of clicking on Add Orbi Satellite from the menu and following the on-screen instructions.
You can choose to have your satellite or satellites connect to the router, or each other via WiFi – which depending on your walls and room layouts might work perfectly well, or if you have a wired connection near where you want the satellites you should connect the satellites to it. This then connects each satellite to the router using the Ethernet backhaul process which ensures you get the maximum possible speed from each satellite otherwise you will be limited to whatever speed the satellites will get when connecting either to the router or to each other. I noticed a significant speed and reliability increase when connecting the satellites to the router via Ethernet.
Then all you have to do is make any configuration settings you want and have your devices connect to the Orbi network and that’s it. Each satellite, along with the router also has Ethernet ports on the back so if you have devices that need a wired connection you can easily utilise those.
There are a lot of different configuration settings you can make – so do take the time to go through them all before you start connecting your devices as the web front end provides a lot of useful information as well.
The overall coverage you get with the Orbi is really great – and walking around where you do have coverage with your device provides a seamless constant connection. Speed wise I found the connection to be excellent when the satellites were connected to the router via Ethernet, and between very good and good when connected via Wi-Fi, although to be fair the was because of my particular setup, so make sure you do your own testing, but if you can use Ethernet for the satellite to router connections you won’t be disappointed.
If you are looking for the fastest and easiest to setup and use WiFi 6E Mesh system for your home then look no further than the Orbi 960 Series Quad-Band WiFi 6E Mesh System, it’s fantastic and is a real game changer!
The Orbi 960 Series Quad-Band WiFi 6E Mesh System (RBKE963) is available now priced around £1,699.99 and is available in either white (as reviewed) or black. You can also buy additional satellites for £699.99 if you need them but for most people the 2 satellites that come in the box will be sufficient.
