NETGEAR Orbi Whole Home Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 6 System (RBK753) – Router with 2 Satellite Extenders | Coverage up to 7,500 sq. ft. and 40+ Devices | AX4200 (Up to 4.2Gbps)

Product Information

The first impression of the Orbi network was a different league than with Nighthawk. It worked smoothly from the start, and has done since. I have now used it for over four months, and even though I have three floors, there are no problems with the coverage in the house with two boxes. The Internet is of course at its fastest in the immediate vicinity of the node or router (they are equal in terms of speed and coverage), but the speed never drops below 200 Mbps, so in practice it is twice as fast as the cheaper Nighthawk system – and also much more stable. I have not had to reboot the system once. You can also set up a Guest Wi-Fi network that makes it secure for your guests to access the Internet using your connection. As with all Orbi products, the RBK752 is set up and configured using the Orbi app. This walks you through placing the router and satellite and configuring a secure wireless network. As with practically all mesh systems, the RBK752 presents the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks under the same names, pushing clients to connect to the best network based on range, performance and features.

Another caveat to Insight is that nothing it does is typically instantaneous. It easily took more than 20 minutes to get our Mini router configured, as at each step, it refers to the centralised control of the Insight servers. There are three Gigabit Ethernet ports for connecting wired devices, which is one less than on the Netgear Orbi RBK852. Still, this will probably do for most people and you can always add a Gigabit Ethernet switch if you need more devices. With the satellite a floor above the router and the test system 50-feet away, the throughput it received was 209.4Mbps, or about half the 405.5Mbps that the Orbi RBK852 was capable of. That said, the Linksys Velop AX4200 (329.2Mbps) was impressive, nonetheless.Expensive? At first, I thought the same thing, but taking a look at the features and performance on offer, as well as the pricing of matching competitor products it becomes a much better option and one I fully recommend for those wanting a high-spec product that is treading very close to the toes of it’s bigger brother, the 850 series. The RBK853 does come with twice the amount on Ethernet ports on its routers when compared to the RBK653 and RBK753. Another view of the bottom and top of the router unit. Nothing major to note here other than ventilation on the top and bottom which should allow plenty of ventilation for passive cooling as no fans are present in the units. Seamless roaming between satellites – The Orbi RBK753 units work together to form a unified network with a single network name. Walk through your home and stay connected. Putting the router through my usual throughput tests, I first of all set up with the router downstairs and one satellite upstairs. In effect, this is the same set up as with the cheaper Orbi RBK352 system. Here, the Orbi did well. At close range, using a Wi-Fi 6 laptop, I got throughputs of 417.59Mbit/s. Moving to first floor, throughputs dropped to a decent 199.87; on the second floor, I got throughputs of 188.64Mbit/s.

With 50-feet separating the test machine from the router, the RBR750’s bandwidth dropped to 100.3Mbps. This is more than enough for most uses but was well behind the Eero Pro 6 (239.9Mbps), the Linksys Velop AX4200 (201.3Mbps) and the Netgear Orbi RBK852 (124.4Mbps). The catch is that this system has fewer wireless streams and it’s only a dual-band system, whereas most of the Orbi line-up is tri-band. Netgear Orbi WiFi 6 Dual-band Mesh System (RBK353) Design and Setup – Simple and easy to get running with the Orbi app Price-wise, the Orbi RBK752 is certainly easier to stomach than its big brother. With a single device for testing, performance was quite similar, although the RBK852 still has plenty of bandwidth left. With both systems, you get the same range of features, so there’s no clear winner in either; it is a shame that neither system supports Netgear’s parental controls at the moment. The main differences, when it comes to the content included inside each new box, are the routers and satellites. Setting up the Orbi RBK753 requires a mobile app, so make sure you also have a NETGEAR account as this is needed.For that small number, maybe up to 10 users, the performance they will experience will match that of the much more expensive option, as each will only be taking a modest amount of the 1800Mbps available. And, on the SXK80, additional bandwidth can’t be easily allocated to each user even if the overall pool is greater. That’s very similar performance, as you can see from the graph, to the Netgear Nighthawk Mesh WiFi 6 System. For the main, the RBK353 is controlled via the Orbi app from your phone. If you’re signed into a Netgear account, then you can also remote control the system, even rebooting it when you’re out and about. It’s a handy troubleshooting tool.

You also get three Gigabit Ethernet ports for connecting devices, which gives you a fair amount of scope. This seemed better, but then at completely random times the Orbi wifi connections would drop. The base station was always okay, but the satellites kept dropping connections, so our zoom calls were interrupted, connections to online systems had to be restarted. There was no obvious reason, no change in traffic or movement of wireless devices, nothing we could see that was causing these drop outs.

Setting up the Orbi RBK763S requires a mobile app, so make sure you also have a NETGEAR account as this is needed. Another view of the bottom and top of the router unit. Nothing major to note here other than decent ventilation on the top and bottom which should allow plenty of ventilation for passive cooling as no fans are present in the units.