NETGEAR Expands Orbi Family

[thiggins]

NETGEAR today unveiled two less-expensive additions to its Orbi Home Tri-band WiFi System family.

The RBK30 (left, above) and RBK40 (middle, above) retain the dual-band 2x2 AC1200 class device-connect radio but change the dedicated 5 GHz backhaul radio from 4x4 to 2x2. NETGEAR has assigned the AC2200 classification to both products, the same as Linksys' Velop, introduced at CES 2017.

The RBK40 retains the desktop router / satellite architecture of the original RBK50 Orbi, including four-port Gigabit Ethernet switches on both. The RBK30's wall-plugged (but not HomePlug enabled) satellite has no Ethernet ports.

All Orbi models operate without an associated cloud service, unlike many other distributed / mesh wireless systems like eero, Luma and Google Home. Also unlike many of its competitors, Orbi supports features such as IPv6, dynamic DNS, a full range of port forwarding options and OpenVPN.

MSRPs are $299.99, $349.99 and $399.99 for the RBK30, RBK40 and RBK50, respectively. Satellites for each SKU are also available for $149.99, $199.99 and $249.99. Everything is shipping now.

 

[pete y testing]

will say what i have said elsewhere about this

the question is WHY!!!

why take away the main thing the orbi is renown for and what takes stands it above the competition , halve the backhaul and its just another in the mosh pit of dw and mesh systems

for most just the orbi router and 1 sat is more than enough

price is prob why , but why not work on getting the standard orbi kit cheaper instead of bastardizing is capacity

 

[thiggins]

Yes, price is the reason. A 2x2 dedicated backhaul should still provide performance superior to shared radios.

 

[pete y testing]

A 2x2 dedicated backhaul should still provide performance superior to shared radios.

sure so now directly competes with velop and velop has dedicated ethernet backhaul and mesh wifi making it a much more flexible and capable all over system

 

[thiggins]

sure so now directly competes with velop and velop has dedicated ethernet backhaul and mesh wifi making it a much more flexible and capable all over system

In theory, perhaps. Delivered throughput is the bottom line. What do your test results say?

 

[pete y testing]

throughput over the media bridge was about 70MB/s with 4 x 4 , so in theory this would drop to 35MB/s for the rbs40 and less range on its wifi

 

[bernard038]

Not everyone needs a Ferrari, some diversification in the product line is bad at all, as long as the weakest link is not degrading the performance of the other Orbi devices...

 

[Dave in NM]

Not everyone needs a Ferrari, some diversification in the product line is bad at all, as long as the weakest link is not degrading the performance of the other Orbi devices...

I think when it comes to these devices we need at least a Ferrari.

 

[sfx2000]

Wondering how things would work between an standing 4x install, and adding a 2x satellite...

What would be the impact to the mesh there?

 

[bernard038]

I think when it comes to these devices we need at least a Ferrari.

I agree, for 'us' a Ferrari is too slow, 'we' need at least a car like this one...

But on the other hand, my mother, living i a not very big apartment, has a 50/5 mb dsl connection, she watches the news and documentaries on the Dutch public TV-channels and reads a book to relax. No streaming, online gaming or downloading in her house.

But she has a dead WiFi spot in her study. Which is annoying as she does her taxes online, at her desk in her study so she can easily grab her bank statements whilst filling in her tax return. As taxes are done in her study*, not sitting on the livingroom sofa or at the dining table, this dead spot issue has to be solved. But buying her a proverbial Ferrari to solve this, seems to be somewhat of an overkill...

* Meaning her taxes, not yours.

 

[Vandergraff]

Wondering how things would work between an standing 4x install, and adding a 2x satellite...

What would be the impact to the mesh there?

Yep - would be interested to know if/when anyone tries this.

I am thinking of doing this.

 

[pege63]

Not everyone needs a Ferrari, some diversification in the product line is bad at all, as long as the weakest link is not degrading the performance of the other Orbi devices...

Every one wants a FERRARI, thats the dream.
But do they all need one and can all afford to buy one, thats the question.

 

[thiggins]

Wondering how things would work between an standing 4x install, and adding a 2x satellite...

What would be the impact to the mesh there?

There is no mesh in an Orbi system. Just point-to-point links between router and satellite.

Since 802.11ac is efficient at handling mixes of different stream devices, the effect would just be to share bandwidth to a 2x2 link.