- Hey guys, Andru Edwards here,
editor-in-chief of GearLive.com.
And today I'm gonna be giving you a look
at what might be the absolute best WiFi System
I've ever used here in my home.
This is the Netgear Orbi and if you're a techie
then you're probably familiar with the Netgear routers
like the iconic Nighthawk series.
But Orbi is something different.
Rather than a single router,
what you get here is two units
which Netgear says will work in unison
to eliminate WiFi dead spots inside the home.
One is the main router and the other is a satellite
which extends and expands your WiFi network
without signal degradation.
Now you might remember me showing you
another multi-node WiFi router system a few months ago
and I said in that video
that I'd bring you a full review later
but I could just never get it working right.
I had constant network dropouts,
I couldn't even get support to help me out
and I pretty much almost threw in the towel
on this whole multi-node WiFi System trend
that we're seeing happening right now.
But then Netgear reached out
and asked if I'd give the Orbi Tri-band Mesh System a try
and I figured I couldn't get into an even bigger WiFi mess
than I was already in so I figured, why not.
Big shout out by the way to Netgear,
for sending over the Orbi,
sponsoring this video and yes,
slaying my WiFi problems once and for all.
Inside the box you'll find the main router unit
as well as the satellite unit
along with a 2-meter ethernet cable,
two AC power adapters and a quick start guide.
Powering these guys are quadcore 710 megahertz processors,
512 megabytes of RAM,
four gigabytes of flash storage,
and six high performance antennas
with high-powered amplifiers
which support implicit and explicit beamforming
and multi-user MIMO for 802.11
a/b/g/n/ac connections.
As for the ports
you get four gigabit ethernet ports on the satellite
and three on the router
with the fourth used to connect your internet connection.
There's also a USB 2.0 port there as well.
Now I live in a 2400 square foot home
and Netgear says that this two unit system
should be enough to cover a home up to 4000 square feet.
So obviously that's 1600 more square feet
than what I have here and I expected if that was the case
that they should perform very admirably.
And thankfully, they do.
But if you live in a home with a lot of brick
or maybe chicken wire in the walls,
it might not get the same effect
in your place as it does mine.
But thankfully the Orbi system is built to be modular
so while one satellite is included in the standard box,
you can actually add up to two more.
And each one gives you 2000 more square feet of coverage.
So if you add one more, that's 6000 square feet
and if you add two more that's 8000 ridiculous square feet
of WiFi coverage all from the Orbi WiFi System.
You're just not gonna find that anywhere else.
And I should mention the way that these work
is different from what you get from a WiFi extender.
Extenders use a single band of signal
for sending and receiving your data
and communicating with the main router
and the end result is that your speeds on that router
can be cut by as much as 50 percent.
With Orbi, these units have three bands,
there's a five gigahertz
and a 2.4 gigahertz band for your usage
and then a second five gigahertz band
that's used just by the Orbi units
to communicate with each other.
What this means is that your WiFi signal speeds
will be just as good on the satellite
as they would be when you're connected to the main unit.
All my devices work great without me finding
that I have toggle WiFi off and on
to reconnect or reboot something
or me being left in a heap of blood and tears of frustration
because everything worked for a few minutes
and then all of a sudden,
WiFi dropped out in a certain room.
Those days are now gone.
The Netgear Orbi is very user friendly
as far as getting the whole thing set up.
The main unit replaces your current WiFi router
then the satellite just gets plugged into a wall to sync.
The halo of light at the top blinks white
while it establishes a connection.
If it gets a strong connection
the halo light will turn blue.
A weak connection means it will turn amber
and if it fails to connect to the main unit at all
it will turn magenta
which means you should move in closer to the main router.
All in all, I'm super happy with the Netgear Orbi System.
I've never gotten rock solid WiFi
in every corner of my home before
and I've tried just about every major router
released over the past five years
since that's what I do.
The Netgear Orbi is the first one to give me
fast WiFi completely throughout my home
in every single room.
It sounds like a simple thing to say
but at the end of the day,
the Orbi did what it promised to do
and for that alone,
it makes it very easy for me to recommend.
You can pick up the Netgear Orbi WiFi System now
for $399 for the two pack.
It's obviously priced at the high end
but for me it's worth it due to the fact
that my WiFi troubles are now a thing of the past.
Whether wired or wireless,
all my devices get fast stable connections
without me having to fiddle with anything anymore.
And that is a thing of beauty.
But now guys, I wanna hear from you.
Tell me about the WiFi problems that you've had
in the comments below.
And I'll meet you there for further discussion.
Make sure to drop a like on this video
if you enjoyed this one.
And don't forget to click
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to stay up to date on new video releases
and gadget giveaways.
We have a bunch of those coming here in the holiday season.
Thanks so much for watching guys,
as always I appreciate your support.
I'm Andru Edwards and I'll catch you in the next video.
(upbeat rock music)