Let me start with some quick house topography for you. My house as two floors and a basement.Basement: Approximately 1300sq ftFirst floor: Approximately 1500sq ftSecond floor: Approximately 1700sq ft (there is a bonus bedroom above the garage)I have 50Mbps DSL that comes into the office, on the first floor. It's in the corner of the house, very far away from that bonus bedroom.In our old house, we had a TP Link Archer C9. That covered the house well. But with this new house, there were slow downs and dead spots not only. I believe this is not only because the new house is bigger, but also because the new house has full insulation in EVERY wall (even internal), making the signal harder to push through.I eventually added some signal boosters, and that helped, but only a little.So I needed something better. I researched a number of mesh routers, but after I found out about the performance drop for every node (e.g. if you connect direct to the router, you get 100% speed; if you connect to the first mesh node, you get 50% speed; if you connect to the second mesh node, you get 25% speed; etc) I was rethinking my position.I started to look into high powered devices, but didn't really trust that those would solve my problem.Then I found the Orbi. I read a lot of technical details and reviews, and I was sold on the idea of a dedicated wireless backhaul (since I don't have Ethernet to where I need it if I want a wired backhaul).Let me tell you, the reviews are right, this technology works great!After I first opened the router, I upgraded the firmware manually (after that, I have seen automatic firmware updates applied, which is nice!). Then I changed the router to be in Access Point (AP) mode so that it essentially works as an Ethernet switch and wireless access point, without needing to do the heavy lifting of the router duties. I chose this because my DSL modem is also a router (which I have turned off the wifi), and having a router behind a router has caused troubles for me in the past.This works great! Now I have great coverage all over my house. Even in that spare bedroom, I am pulling down 29-32 Mbps (previously, with the range extender, I would get 6-8 down). I can even mow the lawn on the other side of the garage, and I'm still getting a signal that pulls down 16-20 MBps. I can nearly watch a 4k stream out there!There are no dead spots at all in the house. I'm getting the full 48Mbps (this is what I generally see as top speed over Ethernet) in over half the house. And the drop off is not dramatic. t will only drop a few Mbps per room (to the low point in that spare bedroom).The only downside I have encountered so far is the lack of abilities I have when the router is in AP mode. For example I no longer get parental controls. There are many other things disabled (many of which make sense), but some which I would like back (I plan on contacting support, as they seem receptive to adding new abilities via firmware).2 weeks in, and I couldn't be happier with this purchase. Netgear has finally won me over.

Definitely works extending the wifi.It is placed 2 rooms away from the router and modem. The strength is tested via Google, Orbi, and a gaming console. Also tested the distance which now I can have wifi outside in the front yard, which I couldn’t before.This doesn’t necessarily improve your wifi performance for those that don’t understand though. If your wifi is crappy, upgrade your wifi. If your wifi is good but doesn’t give a strong signal a couple rooms away… then get this to extend the signal to that room.

We have a two-story house that’s L-shaped and pretty spread out. We had some areas with very slow wifi and a number of dead spots. I replaced an old Apple Extreme wifi Router and a wifi extender with a Netgear ORBI RBK753 system.The difference is phenomenal! We have no more dead spots anywhere and in some areas it increased our wifi speed more than twentyfold!!! Response is near instantaneous. On my Mac I get 470 Mbps and on my iPhone 333 Mbps (Mega bits per second).

UPDATE 1/28/23: It seems that Netgear has resolved firmware update issues. With a little hand holding from tech support I was able to easily update the firmware on my new Orbi system just by following directions in the Orbi app. So this caveat is lifted (but holding off on renaming network and password until install is finished remains valid).Easy set up, strong signal throughout my 1,650 sq ft house, great software interface/app and terrific tech support. I was running a Linksys E8500 which, I must say was performing yeoman work (thus had not been in a hurry to decommission)… but straining a bit as I added devices. Settled on this two module Orbi system based mostly on reviews .. and specs on paper … seems I made the right choice .. am very pleased and was anxious to share my experience here.Take heed though of these two caveats:1. DO NOT update the firmware during installation on your own … and unless/until you experience issues .. don’t. If you want to or must update firmware, for now contact NETGEAR Tech Support,2. DO NOT change the name and password for your network when first promoted to do so during installation. Once install is complete you can easily rename your network and change password.So far, I’m loving my new NETGEAR Orbi Wi-Fi 6 mesh network … winner!

I put off buying a new home router for a year because of my frustration with past products and my worry that yet another one would under-perform. I finally had to do it and I am extremely satisfied with the AC3000 NetGear Orbi Home WiFi System.This review is for people like me who have added devices to their home network that strain their existing router and who were never totally satisfied with their existing router's coverage, but who don't want to have to become an expert in router technology. While I did not like the higher cost of the Orbi system, I realized that this is truly a you-get-what-you-pay-for situation and I was going to have to up my game to get the results I was looking for.In addition to adding multiple Echo devices, FireTV, etc. that want speed and bandwidth, the construction of my house is such that it contains barriers (e.g., metal and natural rock) that interfere with a good signal. I needed a device that was either uber-powerful, or that was a satellite system that would provide a second point of connection. The Orbi system seemed to fit my needs.Installation was easy, following a few simple steps for both the router and the satellite. I used the web-based method to access the router to configure it which also was done in a few simple steps. The only difficulty I had was that the router wanted an update to its firmware, as is typical, and I could not get it to update. It would start the process, then just sit there. I had to call Technical Support, who answered pretty quickly. My rep was well-trained, courteous, and understandable. While she could not explain why the auto-update to the firmware had stalled, she offered to lead me through the process of manually updating the firmware. That took 30-40 minutes, but she stayed on the phone with me until it was done and she had verified a complete and accurate installation.The web-based pages are straightforward and easy to understand. I set up a guest network in about 15 seconds. I have 9 devices connected and one nice thing is that the software allows to you give each device a name of your choosing (so instead of echo25ab&t5r0 showing up, I named it Echo Main Floor). I had to initiate the connection for each device, but it was as simple as giving the device the new router name and the password I had chosen. Each device connected to the router or satellite with the best signal and to the fastest band possible (my FireTV connected to the 5 GHz band with a very strong signal; all I could get before was the 2.4 GHz band with a weak signal). Coverage is awesome. I get a full-bar signal anywhere in the house, in the separate garage, and in the yard.I could have been just as happy with the next level down of the Orbi, but it was on backorder and I didn't want to wait once I had made my decision. So I put another $50 against an already high price to get the best product possible. But I think this is one of those situations where "buy the best and cry once" is truly applicable.

I researched routers before having fiber optic internet installed at my home and the Orbi with one satellite seemed like the best choice and I was right. I don’t have any dead zones or annoying buffering anymore. I have great range out in my yard as well.