Netgear Orbi Whole Home Mesh Wifi System Review

Look, I'm not here to tell you to spend $700 on a mesh router. In fact, given the glut of intriguing new mesh routers that cost hundreds less, you almost certainly shouldn't. What I will tell you lot is that the AX6000 version of the Netgear Orbi -- the 2-piece, $700 triband system that supports Wi-Fi 6 -- is the fastest and most impressive mesh router I've tested.

I wrote those words dorsum in 2020 when I first reviewed the system, and they're even so truthful now, more than two years later. In the time since, I've tested dozens of mesh systems out of my home, and to date, the Orbi AX6000 is even so the fastest I've e'er seen in those tests, faster fifty-fifty than the $i,500 Orbi AXE110000 system that followed information technology. Information technology doesn't support Wi-Fi 6E connections over the 6GHz band like that newer organisation does, simply it's still clear that the AX6000 was at least a year or 2 alee of the curve in terms of performance.

Like

• Fastest mesh router we've ever tested in our real-globe speed tests
• Simple, app-based setup and network direction
• Multigig WAN port

Don't Like

• You'll need an internet programme of at least 500Mbps to find much of a difference
• Lacks advanced features or unique functions, especially for the toll

The problem is that, at $700 for a 2-pack, the Orbi AX6000 is nevertheless prohibitively expensive, and more mesh than you demand if you're living with anything less than a gigabit internet connectedness at home. In my habitation, where my fiber internet plan nets me speeds of up to 300Mbps, my boilerplate download speeds from the Orbi AX6000 to a Wi-Fi half-dozen device came in at 367Mbps. That number is better than any other mesh router I've tested. Merely it isn't noticeablyamend.

Not anymore, at least. Recent systems take closed the gap, including the TP-Link Deco W7200 ($229 for a 2-pack), the Asus ZenWifi XD6 ($380 for a 2-pack), the Eero Pro 6 ($399 for a 2-pack), and the TP-Link Deco X90 ($450 for a 2-pack). Like the Orbi AX6000, all of those systems registered maxed out download speeds to a higher place 300Mbps throughout my unabridged habitation, and all of them cost hundreds less. If I blindly picked one of them at random to run my dwelling house network so spent a weekend browsing the web and streaming video, I don't think I'd be able to tell you which system I'd been using.

Alternatives like those make the Orbi AX6000 difficult to recommend at full price, and sales accept been few and far betwixt in the years since its debut. It's still worth considering for large-sized homes that want to take full advantage of loftier-speed internet connections with gigabit-or-better speeds (and it's worth pointing out that I'm seeing an uptick in internet options like those in 2022). In near cases there's no need to spend this much.

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Mesh 101

Mesh routers are Wi-Fi systems that include range-extending satellite devices. You plug the router into your modem like normal and then plug the satellite in somewhere else in your domicile. The satellite maintains a stiff connection with the router and serves as a signal booster when you're connecting from afar.

In other words, a mesh router is a solid selection if y'all're looking to spread a speedy Wi-Fi connectedness throughout your dwelling and eliminate abrasive expressionless zones in rooms that are far from wherever y'all've positioned the router. They typically don't offer height speeds that are as fast as standard, single-bespeak routers, but they practise offer much better coverage. Since your domicile'southward internet programme virtually certainly caps your top speeds at rates well below what any modern router is actually capable of, that superior coverage will make a much more than noticeable divergence in your internet experience.

Does it have to cost $700?

No -- you've got plenty of mesh alternatives that price hundreds less. Forth with the top-performing models mentioned a few paragraphs up, other Wi-Fi 6 options worth considering include the Asus ZenWifi Mini, the Motorola MH7603 and Amazon'southward Eero 6. None of them blew me abroad when I tested them similar the Orbi AX6000 did, only each of them nets y'all a three-slice mesh system for less than $300. If y'all're willing to skip Wi-Fi 6, yous could go with Google's Nest Wifi, which currently costs $189 for a ii-pack or $269 for a 3-pack. Meanwhile, a 3-pack of the Wi-Fi 5, AC1200 version of Netgear Orbi can be had for as little as $100.

The router includes a multi-gig WAN port that can support incoming speeds as loftier as 2.5Gbps, plus four additional LAN ports. You'll observe four spare LAN ports on the satellite, too.

David Carnoy/CNET

The biggest difference betwixt the Orbi AX6000 and systems like those is that the Orbi beefs things up with a faster processor, faster top speeds and -- most importantly -- a second 5GHz band that the organization uses as a dedicated backhaul connection between the router and its satellites. That tri-band approach helps the router and its satellites pass information dorsum and forth without slowing your speeds downwardly too much, and that's the central to unlocking the best mesh performance.

It's an especially killer feature in combination with Wi-Fi 6, because the router and satellite can take total advantage of new Wi-Fi vi features in club to move data effectually faster than always. Fifty-fifty if you don't own a lot of Wi-Fi 6 gadgets capable of taking full reward of the speedy new standard, the finish consequence is that connecting to the internet when you're close to the satellite should be nearly every bit fast as when you're virtually the router itself.

Other high-end hardware touches include the multi-gig WAN port on the router that can support incoming speeds every bit high as two.5Gbps (2,500Mbps). That might have seemed like overkill back in 2020, but we're starting to see a growing number of net providers flipping the switch on multi-gig internet speeds, including Comcast Xfinity, Verizon, Google Fiber, Ziply Cobweb, AT&T and others. If you sign up for a programme similar that and you want to use your own router, and then you lot'll want i that can handle multi-gig speeds similar the Orbi AX6000 can.

Setting up an Orbi mesh router merely takes nearly x minutes.

Ry Crist/CNET

Setup and app direction

Setting a router up is a pretty painless feel these days, equally nigh manufacturers use a companion app to walk you through the process in a thing of minutes. Netgear is no exception -- y'all'll download the Orbi app to your Android or iOS device and then tap your style through the instructions. The TP-Link Deco app is a touch more than convenient, with satellites that automatically pair with the router as soon as you plug them in, but even so, the Orbi's setup process is about as elementary as it gets.

Once your network is up and running, y'all'll be able to manage your system from the Orbi app. The controls don't get as deep as you'll get with something like a gaming router, but yous at least go options to intermission the Wi-Fi to specific devices, or run a quick speed test. Given how much the organization costs, I would have liked to have seen some more unique features here.

On iOS, the Orbi app discloses its data collection practices during setup and gives you a clear opportunity to opt out.

Screenshots by Ry Crist/CNET

Information technology's likewise worth noting that apps like these typically collect data about your network activeness, too every bit personal info that might be used for marketing purposes. Once more, Netgear is no exception.

"When you visit our Sites or use our Products and Services, we may likewise collect certain information automatically from your device, Web App(due south) and/or Mobile App(s)," the company's privacy policy reads. That information includes your IP address, online identifiers, unique device identifiers, advertizement identifiers, inferential data about your behavior and preferences, and land- and city-level location information. Some of that gets used for marketing efforts, including third-party promotions, though Netgear notes that it doesn't go so far every bit to share your info with third-parties for independent marketing.

All of that is par for the course with routers these days, and for most of the net-continued devices in our homes, but I give Netgear credit for setting some clear boundaries for how it handles your data, and for making information technology easy to view that data or request its deletion with a simple online form. Additionally, the Orbi iOS app does a good job of making its data collection practices clear at the onset of setup, and giving users the opportunity to opt out of data collection from the get-go.

This nautical chart shows the average download speeds in five rooms throughout my home, where I have a 300Mbps fiber net connection. The Orbi AX6000 (blue) is still our speed leader in this examination, but a number of recent alternatives come up shut to matching it.

Ry Crist/CNET

Functioning

I test every router than I review at my habitation, a one,300 square foot house in Louisville, KY, with a fiber cyberspace connection that supports upload and download speeds of up to 300Mbps. Like most routers, the Orbi AX6000 is capable of hit speeds much faster than that, but my room-by-room speed tests still give me a practiced, comparative await at operation.

You can read more about how I exam routers here, but the short version is that I run a multitude of speed tests in different rooms beyond multiple days, using both a Wi-Fi five and Wi-Fi half-dozen customer device. When information technology comes to Wi-Fi 6 devices, nothing else I've tested has always outperformed the Orbi AX6000. Its overall average download speed of 367Mbps throughout my dwelling is still tops on my leaderboard -- and the aforementioned goes for its average upload speed of 341Mbps.

Each dot in these graphs is an private speed test outcome. The Orbi AX6000 was as consistent as they come, and fifty-fifty more consistent than the newer Orbi AXE11000 system that adds in Wi-Fi 6E support.

Ry Crist/CNET

Those averages are every bit high equally they are because the Orbi AX6000 is a remarkably consistent router. It didn't thing if I was testing in the morning, afternoon or evening, or if I connected close to the router or far from it -- my speeds were as consistent from test to examination every bit I've ever seen from a mesh router, and even more consistent than the newer Orbi AXE11000 arrangement.

Still, it isn't the leader by every metric. Its average download speed to my Wi-Fi v device was 289Mbps -- a good effect, but not every bit good as I saw from the Orbi AXE11000 (292Mbps), the TP-Link W7200 (337Mbps) or the TP-Link Deco X90 (350Mbps). It was also slightly less consistent than some models I've tested with respect to latency, though not noticeably so.

The Orbi AX6000 (scarlet) was a strong performer at the 5,800 square foot CNET Smart Home, too -- but with speeds limited to 100Mbps, it wasn't able to fix itself apart from other top-rated systems.

Ry Crist/CNET

I also run an boosted set of tests to Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6, and Wi-Fi 6E client devices at the CNET Smart Home, a large, multi-story house with a 100Mbps fiber connection. Afterward running speed tests in viii rooms, the Orbi AX6000 didn't boilerplate the fastest uploads or downloads to whatever of my devices, and instead finished inside the margin of fault of its competitors, with its only weak spot seeming to be some pocket-size room-by-room inconsistencies with upload speeds to Wi-Fi 5 devices, which brought its overall average downwards.

Overall, the system delivered max or most-max speeds throughout the entirety of the 5,800 foursquare foot home, which is terrific. Still, the real takeaway is that yous don't need to spend $700 in order to max out your speeds in a large abode with a wearisome-to-moderate internet plan.

Chris Monroe/CNET

Experience the need for speed?

The Netgear Orbi AX6000 is proof positive that mesh networking and Wi-Fi 6 make for a pretty killer combo. When the router and its satellite are able to use Wi-Fi half-dozen speeds and features to laissez passer data back and forth, anybody benefits -- most notably with faster connections at a distance.

At $700 for a two-pack, this remains a very difficult system to recommend for most people. You'll need an net programme of at least 500Mbps earlier you'll notice much of a functioning difference compared to less expensive alternatives like the TP-Link Deco W7200 or X90, the Asus ZenWifi XD6, or Amazon's Eero Pro 6. At $700, the Orbi AX6000 costs hundreds more than whatsoever of those, and it doesn't include unique extras like born smart speakers or a full-featured device prioritization engine.

Regardless of its price, the Orbi AX6000 is as consistent as mesh routers get, with top-tier performance that's held upwards incredibly well in the years since information technology first debuted. On top of that, the multi-gig WAN port has a lot of appeal for anyone who'southward thinking about upgrading their home cyberspace programme in the almost future. You lot should consider other, less expensive options commencement -- especially if you're living in a modest-to-medium sized domicile, or if you're living with anything less than gigabit cyberspace speeds -- but as splurges go, you could exercise a lot worse.

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Source: https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/netgear-orbi-ax6000-wi-fi-6-mesh-router-review/

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