This is the cheapest I've seen for a Orbi RBKE963 WiFi 6E, but it's not the latest standard.
I'm personally waiting for the WiFi 7 Orbi 970 mesh system to come down in price. For anyone interested, it's currently on special for $3,079.
CamelCamelCamel.
What's the best of what's out there? Best bang for buck and best flagship? Thank you
Probably something like TP-Link Deco BE65 BE11000 Wi-Fi 7 Tri-Band Mesh Router System (3-Pack)
Best bang for buck is the RBE773, but it isn't flagship.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Netgear-BE11000-Tri-Band-System-RB…
Thank you. Basically on dial up over here. Tone to spend some real cash after ignoring everything for like a decade. Been getting away with a really old default modem.sent by iiNet. Couple of weeks ago I put Eufy S3 Pro cameras x 4 outside. It's time. Hard to know where to turn. Don't want to spare any expense, know nothing about. Just know my family deserves after years of hodge podge. The ducks nuts out there you'd consider to be…which one? Thank you very much 🙂
@seamonkey: If money is no object and you want something that will work for a long time to come, consider the RBE973S: https://www.amazon.com.au/NETGEAR-Quad-Band-Satellite-Extend…
@Maths Debater: Good lord..I THOUGHT money was no object until I clicked on that link. Now I had a rethink..🙂 What's one step back from "money is no object"? 🤣
@seamonkey: Haha ok, this is where things get a bit tricky. Are you concerned about WiFi 7 at the moment or not? If yes, and you want to set and forget, go for the RBE773. But remember, if you don't have any WiFI 7 devices, you're not going to benefit much from it now. If you aren't concerned about WiFi 7 and happy to maximise the performance of your current devices until WiFi 7 becomes mainstream, take a look at the RBKE963: https://www.amazon.com.au/NETGEAR-Orbi-Quad-Band-System-RBKE…
That's what I currently use, and it's fantastic. I'm not too bothered about WiFi 7 just yet. By the time WiFi 7 devices become mainstream, the RBE973S would have dropped to a more affordable price.
@Maths Debater: That's a huge help. Plenty of devices in home like a couple of S25 Ultras and S10 tablet Ultras and the like - haven't even had to go down the path to find out what they are capable of as far as all that goes, put I'm sure 7 would be nice eventually.This one you linked $1300 a really good price of does it get better? Cheers
@Maths Debater: When you are saying doesn't get any better than that…is that also the case in terms of current price? You've helped loads. I thank you.
@seamonkey: Take 2: In my honest opinion, that is the best mesh router to buy if you aren't concerned about WiFi 7. It does not get any better than that. If you want WiFi 7, go for the RBE773. These 2 are the best I can recommend after the RBE973S. I have been using the Orbi since it was released in Australia and can't speak highly of it enough. Yes, I have strayed to other brands but ran straight back. You might also ask but isn't Quad-Band better than Tri-Band? Not with the introduction of MLO on WI-Fi 7 as it uses all bands for a shared wireless backhaul. This is known as an Enhanced Backhaul.
@seamonkey: If you have S25 Ultras, then most of the WiFi 7 mesh kits are not going to cut it. S25 Ultra supports WiFi 7 6GHz 320MHz. To get the max WiFi speed, you need WiFi 7 routers / APs / mesh kits with 10Gbps (or at least 5Gbps ethernet / wired) support. However, if you don't care about that or take the approach that our NBN currently maxes out at 2Gbps (and you have no interest getting a NAS that supports 10Gbps (or a file server that does that)), then I guess you could do it with mid tier WiFi 7 mesh kit.
RBE773, how and where you position the units can make a difference. While some reviewers got great results, without knowing how close they place those units, it is hard to tell real life situation here. I asked an OZBer who has RBE772 for his experience, his figures are not the same as the ones some of the reviewers provided (though RBE772 only has 2 units, rather than 3 in RBE773). I can only speculate that when 5GHz is chosen by MLO as the main backplane to use, RBE772/RBE773 won't provide the wow factor of using 6GHz as the backplane. Furthermore, there is one interesting feature in WiFi 6E/7 which can boost 6GHz signal strength but so far, all vendors reserve that to their top flagship kits / routers and RBE773 isn't one of them.
It still comes down to where you position the mesh units / access points. When the device is far away from an WiFi 7 mesh satellite or WiFi 7 AP, connecting to a WiFi 6 mesh satellite / access point nearby gets better speed and lower latency.
@netsurfer: Well said, @netsurfer is a lot more technically minded than I am, so definitely take this advice on board.
@Maths Debater: You have more recent mesh kit experience than me. I've gone wired + access points for WiFi 7. WiFi 7 is still a mess at the moment. AFC, which boosts 6GHz signal level, is reserved to flagship products and countries which support that at the moment. It's unclear whether future mid-range products will support that in the future.
I checked with an OZBer who has RBE772. Bear in mind his house / land is big (~1000 square meters):
He has 1000/100 NBN (from a good RSP). For devices on wifi 5 and 6e, speeds look like 550 down 50 up, the very few wifi 7 devices get about 800 down and 100 up.
I would be happy with that result for a house that big using WiFi mesh. However, there is still a gap to the results provided by some of the reviewers (most of them in the United States). Wired backplane is still a tier above.
@Maths Debater: I re-read Dong's reviews on RBRE960 and RBKE963. There was one caveat which I missed on Netgear quad band WiFi 6E mesh kits.
In order to provide 2x 5GHz bands (one for the clients, one for the backhaul), Netgear uses the lower band for clients, higher band for the backhaul. Both bands have the channel width of 80MHz (rather than max 160MHz). Both channels are 4x4 80MHz setup. While that is okay for backhaul, it does handicap the front-haul / clients because most clients are 2x2. That means the max theoretical is 1200Mbps on 5GHz, but in real life usage, you can never get that high. So in real life usage, at 5GHz, you won't get 1000Mbps. You need to use 6GHz clients to have a chance to get above 1000Mbps.
Netgear did address the issue in RBKE972/973 5GHz bands (by enabling DFS). Anyway, so even when 5GHz band has to be used (chosen by MLO) for RBE772/773, it is able to get close to RBKE962/963 (because most clients can only do 2x2). If 6GHz band can work really well, then RBE772/773 could possibly perform better than RBKE962/963 (though from my personal experience, the range of 6GHz is quite poor so I wouldn't count on it).
@netsurfer: Very interesting read, I appreciate the write-up. I read him saying that Quad-Band is no longer necessary with the likes of MLO as it uses all bands for the backhaul (Enhanced Backhaul) making the RBE770 the better bang for buck. As much as I would love to test some new tech, I don't have enough WiFi 7 devices and feel like it's a little early to be parting with the RBKE962.
@Maths Debater: I am really interested to find out whether Netgear enabled DFS on RBKE960/962/963. Dong's review was back in 2022 and it is now 2025. If DFS is enabled, then 5GHz 160MHz channel width would be back in for RBKE960/962/963. Given 9 series products are flagships, Netgear really should address the issue if it hasn't done so.
MLO just means it is possible to change backhaul band dynamically. Netgear is doing MLO + quad bands on their WiFi7 flagship mesh products and keeping AFS upgrade to the 970/972/973 only. DFS is enabled in 970/972/973 so the quad band WiFi 7 products don't have the same issue.
RBE770/772/773, it is complicated. When 6GHz is used as the blackhaul, performance looks impressive. However, when that's not usable and 5GHz is used, it doesn't look that good (even with DFS already enabled). That's why I quoted that OZBer's RBKE772 results. Those results, to me, aren't impressive for WiFi 7. To be fair though, his house is huge so his results are actually decent for a mesh kit. It's just if you are getting WiFi 7 kit now, RBKE772/RBKE773's performance can vary a lot depending on the setup.
What I would really love to see is MLO backhaul choosing 6GHz vs MLO decided not to use 6GHz as the backhaul for RBKE772/RBKE773, the amount of performance drop (which I suspect could be half). Also, don't forget Dong mentioned that mandatory MLO + SmartConnect (all bands have the same SSID). Don't forget Dong pointed out that you need to use the guest WiFi to support IoT devices which can't operate in WPA3/2 mixed mode (due to Netgear not supporting / allowing multiple SSIDs). If you don't care about smart homes / IoTs or all your IoT devices are WiFi 6 or better, then it's not an issue.
@netsurfer: Guys this information is freaking absolute gold. Can't thank you enough, absolutely gonna follow your advice. Kind Regards 🙂
you really need to look at the specs mate the one thing that makes me laugh is people don't understand why they cost these prices because they dont; understand network equipment
Networking would have to be one of the most common products where people say "why would I buy X when I can get the significantly cheaper Y?".
those are the people that look at cheap products and not if the product is good or not.
WiFi 6E Mesh 3 Pack $1300
Only $1300 ???
It was $2,500, then for the last six months it was around $2,000. So $1,300 is a significant drop. It's probably being discontinued, so they're getting rid of the remaining stock.
I currently have an AX6000 series, do you think this is worth the upgrade?
I don't really see wifi 7 as worth the price at the moment.
on 1000/50 plan at the moment.
I don’t think it’s worth upgrading to WiFi 6E if you already have an AX6000 WiFi 6 system, WiFi 6E may not give you the speed boost you are seeking. I’d wait for the next generation, WiFi 8, which is expected around 2028. It should offer similar speeds to WiFi 7 but with improved reliability.
I’m still using an RBR50 WiFi 5 system, and it delivers about 25 MB/s and I am holding out because these device ain't cheap.
@beefmaster: Thanks for your insight! Appreciate it. These sales make the choice difficult but i'll hold strong!
My old orbi is essentially bricked (rbk50) because no updates for many years and the ssl certificate to access admin, has expired.
They all do it of course, the deco pros on sale recently are out of support next year, but for $1300, food for thought.
It’s not bricked. You can still access it via Firefox. Just ignore the warning.
its a steal for that much though if you want a solid wifi network over a big area this is the one to get. If you have a 1gbps Internet connection like i have you can actually get 800 to 900mbps anywhere in teh house and solid signal if you place them right.
Bought 10. For a shopping mall
I'm curious what the use cases of this product in a residential home are. What type of services/devices you are using to justify spending $1000+ on a wifi mesh?
A mesh system is essential for large homes where a single router creates Wi-Fi dead zones. However, if you live in a small house or apartment, a mesh system is likely unnecessary and would be an inefficient use of your money.
A mesh system is essential for large homes where a single router creates Wi-Fi dead zones.
I paid around $400 for mine… 2 routers and 3 nodes.
There's a significant difference between the hierarchy of mesh systems, they're not all equal.
@Maths Debater: What I wanted to know is the use cases that the expensive ones can work while the cheaper ones (sub $500) cannot.
@Averell: Per jv's comment, they all do the same thing, but good luck maximising your line speed out of an entry level mesh system, it's just not going to happen.
@Averell: I think they all work "Fine" but it comes down to how well you want them to work. For example if you have a bigger house the drop off in range or speed may be more evident in the cheaper ones versus the more expensive ones.
Or if you have a large family and connect a bunch of phones, ipads, tvs and then a bunch of smart accesories like lights the cheaper ones may have issues. I know for my parents 10 year old cheapo one they have too many connections so if they put a new connection in it sometimes doesn't work or kicks and old connection off.
If none of these things bother you then the cheaper ones will be fine.
I have this and it's been fantastic. Next purchase will be the 970 once WiFi 7 devices become more mainstream.
$1300 for these, nah, I'll pass this one~
Hey. Does anyone know if you can plug in Ethernet into the satalites ? As in from the modem ?
So I don’t need it to be WiFi extender with WiFi. But each satalite can be plugged into Ethernet direct from the modem.
Thanks
For anyone also wondering,
Just did some research and yes we can do wired backhaul the satellite mesh via eithernet.
not sure why this 3 pack keeps being posted on ozb for more than it's worth. someone posted it for $1999 earlier.
I have posted just the Router (single) from this pack twice, both times it's on sale for less than $360.
I think the 3 pack should be less than $999 because the two satellites have less tech inside each satellite should be cheaper than the router by itself.
the 3 pack (RBRE960 Router + 2 satellite) should be priced at $999 or less imo.
Take 2: Logically, yes, but when the satellite was selling for $683, suddenly, $1300 seems like a bargain.
https://www.devicedeal.com.au/netgear-orbi-quad-band-axe1100…
but the RBRE960 also normal price $699 I think when I saw it on the Netgear page (might have been $749 or $799 RRP).
so.. Satellite should be discounted to like $320 each or less imo.
but when the satellite was selling for $683, suddenly, $1300 seems like a bargain.
by this logic. then $699 for Router, $683 x2 for Satellites, then the $1999 ozb post seems discounted. (down from $2100?)
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/product/netgear-orbi-rbke963
I just realised someone posted it for $2200 before that. seriously. 😭
The economics of these mesh devices is insane to me. I have rocked Kogan mesh 3 for $100 for a decade now, and they do a great job. Anything I really care about bandwidth for, I wire in.
EDIT
Oh, I should say… I guess there's a routing element to this too. I do not use routing via these devices. I have specifically a router with no-wifi capabilities for complete demarcation.
![[Prime] NETGEAR Orbi RBKE963 Quad-Band Wi-Fi 6E Mesh Router System 3 Pack $1300 Delivered @ Amazon AU](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/22/927822.jpg?h=fd2cd3e3)
You get get wifi 7 for half this price why bother with expensive Orbi kit?