Decent price, not as good as previous sub $300 deal months ago but I need it now and this is best price I could find since last month.
Lots of good reviews out there. Although there are some reports of intermittent connection drop on some firmware versions, the Orbi(s) are highly regarded and among the best performing mesh wifi/router kits.
What I gather from reviews/discussions is that the Orbi kits are easier to setup and more stable, and looks kinda cool on desk. However The Asus kits has more features, and support USB hard drives. I don't think Asus has any comparable kits at this price though.
I have three RT86U's setup in an AI Mesh. I was having issues with dropouts etc until I put in an ethernet backhaul between the two furtherst AP's. AI mesh is good because you can take three different compatible Asus devices and mesh them (if you want).
Orbis are good beause they have a dedicated WiFi backhaul (or can used wired) so they should work well just straight out of the box.
Or Tenda MW3/6
I prefer Mesh WiFi kits that has dedicated wireless backhaul channel since my house doesn't have wired Ethernet. Also I had bad experience with lots of Tenda modems and APs so I don't consider them anymore.
Any good deal on Google ones? Searching for a while but nothing comes up on these.
I have owned an Orbi with 2 satellites for about a year. It was easy to setup. But I have had issues with the satellites disconnecting, then not connecting for a couple hours. Then magically they start working again.
I won't go into all the technical detail, suffice to say I work in IT and know a fair bit about networking. I have dug into the issue and believe these devices are a little buggy.
Were you be able to resolve the issue eventually or it keeps happening intermittently? What's the frequency?
I've been searching for a good mesh systems for weeks. There are always complains about connection drops on any mesh kits, I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and hope for the best. I don't mind tinkering with fixes and work-around as long as it's fast and stable when it works, and doesn't take too long to fix when there's an issue.
I couldn't fix it. It happens once a month. My fix was to hop on the orbi app and add new devices. This will reconnect the satellite immediately. Otherwise it will eventually, after 3 hours or so, automatically reconnect.
I recently bought a cable crimper and ran cat6 throughout the house. This works great, but obviously not a solution for everyone. For wifi, I have an orbi at one end of the house and the router with wifi at the other end. The orbi is running off wired connection, so works fine in this setup.
What do you use / recommend instead?
Is it worth upgrading to the RBK50 or will these do a similar job? I can see that the bandwidth is higher (AC3000), there is more RAM and each unit has 6 antennas instead of 4. I think I need at least 3 stations so the 3-pack RBK23 is tempting, but I'm worried the range won't be as good as the RBK50 units (large house with concrete walls). Anyone have any thoughts on how much better the coverage would be with the RBK50? (assuming I add another satellite to the RBK50 pack).
tempted to try this out. they have a risk free, 30 day netgear try out, fully refundable from retailer
Weird, Harvey Norman website shows the promotion period from "January 14, 2019 to 31 January, 2020". However, in the Orbi website from the link they give, it says "January 14, 2019 to June 30, 2019". Not sure which to believe.
Didn't notice so ty for pointing that out!
It seems they may have updated the orbi website now? It's saying January 31 2020. https://www.netgear.com.au/orbiwifichallenge/
@Taako: Oh that's cool then, maybe my browser cached the page or blocking something. Now I have 30 days to ensure it's not a lemon :D Thanks!
I've been wondering this myself as well, and decided to just buy whichever goes on sales first (lol). The RBK50 wireless backhaul bandwidth is double that of the other Orbi kits at 1733 mbps vs 866 mbps, and it has a USB port for printer (hard drive USB not officially supported, few USB sticks could work but don't count on it).
For a star topology where all satellites connect to the router, the router backhaul bandwidth is extremely important, eg. the 2 satellites stream to devices at max 866 mbps, then they stream to the router at the same time, so the router would need 1733 mbps to allow the satellites to operate and max speed. In daisy chain topology, however, the satellites connect to each other, then only 1 satellite connect to the router, so in this case, the 1733 mpbs would be wasted since the satellite doesn't need more than 866 mbps.
In short, if I had a big round/square house, I'd get the RBK50 and add more satellites to it. In a longer house, then RBK23 will give better value.
Btw the RBK50 router and satellites are gigantic!
Oh that's interesting and really good info, thanks! The router will be sitting in the bottom corner of a 3 story house so I will be daisy chaining them. Maybe I should try out the RBK23s and see how well they reach upstairs and if it doesn't work I can always return them with the risk free try out.
I can't do a + vote for your comment so will reply by saying thank you for your simple yet easy to understand explaination
Solid price this, but I'm gonna keep hanging out for the rbk50 set (I think…) Extra Ethernet ports plus the 5ghz coverage for our square corner block…
Thanks op
The RBK50 is $423 on Amazon today.
Asus Ai mesh or this?