It’s via the web interface that you get access to less frequently used features, too, such as port forwarding. For the most part, however, you shouldn’t need to roam beyond the Orbi app. Since my three-bedroom home is somewhat on the cusp of Netgear’s coverage recommendations, I tested the Orbi RBK763 in both two-node and three-node configurations. In both cases, the primary node was installed in my study, connected directly to the internet line and also (via Gigabit Ethernet) to an Asustor Drivestor 4 Pro NAS appliance. The main differences, when it comes to the content included inside each new box, are the routers and satellites. You lose some features from the top-end system, but the lower price and decent performance makes this a more reasonable system for many. Design and build quality – Gives you most of what you need but there are fewer Ethernet ports

The router is on the left with the yellow WAN port labelled Internet, as well as 3 additional Gigabit Ethernet ports. Note the first port to the right of the “Internet” port can be aggregated to allow two separate Gigabit internet connections. It’s nice to have, even if the majority of people won’t make use of it. With a satellite connected 50-feet from the router on the same floor and the test system another 40-feet away, the RBK752 mesh network came up short with 87.7Mbps of data delivered to the test system. That’s roughly half the Linksys Velop AX4200 (161.1Mbps), although it’s a lot better than the Netgear Orbi RBK852 (39.1Mbps). The Eero Pro 6 kit was in between with 142.3Mbps of bandwidth.So, while the speed is good and the design is nice, and the setup is simple, the cost is high, and the reliability is ZERO ! This seemed better, but then at completely random times the Orbi wifi connections would drop. The base station was always okay, but the satellites kept dropping connections, so our zoom calls were interrupted, connections to online systems had to be restarted. There was no obvious reason, no change in traffic or movement of wireless devices, nothing we could see that was causing these drop outs.

If you do have a problem with Wi-Fi punching through walls or interference, then a mesh system makes sense. The Asus ZenWifi AX is the closest rival. This system has parental controls built-in, making it more flexible for now. However, the Orbi will (eventually) get its own parental controls, and Netgear’s range of satellites and app are better. Slightly offsetting the pedantic nature of these mechanisms, adding satellites to a router is merely a matter of connecting them within wireless connection range or on the same wired network, and they’ll automatically be found and added. Insight sees the Orbi Pro router and its satellites as a single entity, making that part of controlling them remarkably straightforward.Tri-band connectivity – utilising a single 2.4GHz and 5GHz band for WiFi devices to connect to the internet, and a dedicated 5GHz WiFi link for faster data connections between Orbi Router and Orbi Satellite. You don’t get any USB ports for connecting external storage, although given how little this feature is used, I don’t think that it’s a huge loss. Another view of the bottom and top of the router unit. Nothing major to note here other than ventilation on the top and bottom which should allow plenty of ventilation for passive cooling as no fans are present in the units. The competition has become a lot tougher, too. If you don’t want the hassle of a mesh system and don’t have any particular dead spots to deal with, then the Netgear Nighthawk RAX200 is faster, has a tri-band Wi-Fi 6 network for devices and all the ports that you could want.