It's funny to think how demanding we've become of our internet speeds and Wi-Fi capabilities. I still clearly remember downloading whole albums via dial-up - that meant leaving your PC running overnight and hoping nothing crashed before morning.
Of course, now I'm not even sure my kids know what an album is. Doesn't endless music just stream constantly out of the nearest smart speaker on demand?
Today's exponential growth in internet bandwidth to our homes lets us stream video content in 4K, participate in online meetings and even game online - without having to download the games onto our own computers.
What a time to be alive.
Now the question is, how much of that can you do on Wi-Fi?
Now the answer is, all of it.
I have trialled many routers, modems and extenders over the years but the Orbi 960 Wi-Fi 6E mesh system from Netgear is the best by so far, I couldn't wait to tell you and I spoiled my verdict by revealing it right at the beginning of the review. That's how good it is and I knew it pretty much the moment I had it up and running.
All I can say is make some room. It's worth it.
Thankfully, there are no annoying flashing lights to make them stick out even more - just an ambient LED indicator that only glows when you're first setting up and pairing - after that each unit just fades into the background doing its thing.
Setup requires the obligatory Orbi app of course but it's really not much of a trial - especially when the satellites pair themselves once you've initialised the primary router. The app isn't just for setup; in fact, it's a very full-featured effort, not only showing the status of your router and its satellites but also giving you the option to assign each connected device to a profile of your creation - thereby giving you the ability to utilise parental controls for certain gadgets.
I've been extremely impressed with Orbi's ability to identify the make and model of the devices connected to it. As you can imagine, I have quite a few devices online at any given time (43 right now, apparently. And I'm the only person home). Being able to tell which one is which is very useful - you can even access each gadget's IP address and see how fast its connection is.
In fact, using the Orbi app you can test your connection speed at any time - although this is only the speed between your modem and the Orbi router, not your Wi-Fi speed, which will obviously vary from device to device.
However, what has amazed me about the Orbi 960 system is when I measure the coverage around my house, it stays unbelievably consistent. Sometimes I even get marginally faster download speeds from the satellite units than I do from the primary router. How can this possibly be?
Part of the explanation for this incredible connectivity lies in the fact this is a quad-band system - with a dedicated channel just for backhaul; the connection between the router and the satellites. This means you're not using up any of the bandwidth for the connected device, regardless of which unit it's currently connected to. What's more, if your device is compatible, you're also utilising the new 6Ghz Wi-Fi 6E band, which is the fastest and highest-capacity Wi-Fi technology currently available.
There's a powerful, 2.2Ghz, quad-core processor running everything - that's like a whole computer brain dedicated solely to organising your home network, not just the 6Ghz band but the more traditional 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz bands too. Lately, I've read a lot of expert advice on setting up a dedicated 2.4Hz network just for your IoT devices - security cameras, smart lights, that sort of thing. The idea is these gadgets don't require as much bandwidth and by moving them off your primary network, you'll reduce the clutter.
Orbi makes this process simple with a one-touch toggle on the app to create an instant, dedicated IoT network, complete with its own unique name (or SSID).
As I said at the top, from the moment I fired the Orbi 960 system up, I could tell this was a whole other level of speed and reliability. I've experienced none of the random dropouts and disconnections I used to encounter from time to time - especially from some of the more passive devices like lights and cameras.
My only issue is the rather pushy, double offer of extra security on the Orbi app. You get a 30-day free trial of Netgear's Armor network protection by default - this analyzes every connected device for security risks and constantly monitors your network to detect any vulnerabilities should they come to light. The only warning I've had so far was my Philips HUE sync box trying to make contact with "a suspicious remote location" - not sure what that was about but now I know to keep an eye on it.
The Orbi app keeps insisting I should install Bitdefender on a number of eligible devices too - this is a suite of cyber-security measures including anti-virus, malware protection and identity theft prevention. That's fine... but I already have a cybersecurity solution and I'd rather not be bothered about it every time I open the app.
Other than that very minor irritation, let me repeat once again, this is simply the best home networking solution I've used by so far, it's not even close. No wonder it's so expensive. But let's not talk about that. It's worth it. Trust me.
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