You’ll never see real-world speeds that high-as distance, protocol overhead, and other factors eat away at those theoretical maximums-but you can use them for the sake of comparison. But the Orbi’s three networks are very different from the Velop: The Orbi operates one network on the 2.4GHz band (with a 2×2 radio-two spatial streams up and two spatial streams down-offering speeds up to 400Mbps), one network on the 5GHz band (with a 2×2 radio offering maximum speed of 866Mbps), and a second 5GHz network with a 4×4 radio offering maximum speed of 1,733Mbps. The Netgear Orbi RBK50 is a tri-band router with six internal antennas, making the Linksys Velop its closest competitor. We recently reviewed seven and found some genuine bargains. And if you need network storage, buy a NAS box-you’ll be much happier. But if USB support is on your must-have list, don’t buy an Orbi until you know for sure what it will support.
2017 BEST WIFI ROUTER UPDATE
My guess: Netgear will either release a firmware update that enables it for storage, or they’ll come out with a ZigBee or Z-Wave radio dongle and make a play in the Internet of Things/smart-home space.
2017 BEST WIFI ROUTER BLUETOOTH
From left to right: Linksys Velop, Eero, Luma, Google Wifi, and Securifi Almond 3 (black).īut it’s there-as is an equally dormant Bluetooth radio-so Netgear must have plans for it. The Netgear Orbi has a comparatively large footprint compared to the competition. You can’t use it to connect a USB hard drive or a USB printer that you want to share over your network. But before you get too excited about the presence of a USB port on the Orbi, know that it is currently dormant.
And many new-school routers don’t have USB ports at all (the Securifi Almond 3 is an exception on both counts-it has three ethernet ports and a USB port). The competition puts just two ethernet ports on their routers and satellites, which means you’ll need to buy an ethernet switch if you want to hardwire more than one device to them. And that’s okay, because Netgear is the only router company that hasn’t taken away the ethernet switch and USB port in order to make its product smaller and more stylish. It’s not ugly, if you like modern aesthetics, but it’s not going to disappear into the background as easily as those other routers do. A hollowed-out Orbi would be big enough to hold a whole bouquet of flowers, measuring 8.89 inches tall and 6.67 inches wide. Those first two products strike a very low profile, and the Velop looks like a bud vase. About that industrial design: The Orbi is not nearly as small or unobtrusive as the Eero, Google Wifi, or Linksys Velop.
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