NETGEAR RBK53S,

I have Virgin Media 200Mb/s broadband. I have finally had enough of SuperHub 2 AC, so decided to upgrade my router. I have also ordered Virgin’s Hub 3.0, but decided I will only keep it as a back up, just in case if SH 2 AC fails. Please remember you still need your Virgin Media router, but on the plus side it will only run in MODEM mode, for which it is more than good enough! Anyway back to subject of Netgear ORBI. In two words: JUST WORKS! Brilliant Wifi router! Super simple setup, comes with easy quick guide to help you. You can use your smartphone with an Orbi App to go through setup process, which is a joy! I literally had it up and running in 10mins! No issues, no problems with installation! Super simple! I have two floors in my home, so I needed something that will resolve dead WiFi spots and poor/no reception in certain areas. I have tried Nighthawk R7800, which is a brilliant router, but unfortunately it still left me with poor/no reception in some areas! I tried to locate it differently, tried to set up aerial in various ways/angles, but no joy! And with ORBI... reception is absolutely amazing! 100% coverage, no dead wifi spots at all! In most places, nearly all places I get my maximum broadband speed! In the few spots, where before there was poor/no reception I now get very good signal and still super quick broadband (50-100Mb/s)! Also Single SSID is a brilliant think too! No need to switch and choose between two WiFi networks! ORBI uses band steering, which means it connects your devices in a best way possible (2.4G or 5G) depending on signal strength and performance. You don't have to worry about changing your networks! It works seamlessly and efficiently! I think this is probably the best solution there is at the moment. It is pricey, but is so worth it! Best thing is, that it transforms your WiFi around the home so quickly and in a simple way and you don’t have to be a geek to set it up within minutes!! Brilliant bit of tech!! Well recommended!!

I’ve got BT Fibre broadband (home hub 5) which connected about 50 devices...including Philips Hue, Sonos, Sky Q, Xbox, Alexa and a number of Apple devices. I used Powerline plugs to connect the main Sky Q and Xbox devices to the hub. The home hub worked okay but the wifi speeds would often drop out. I found I was turning the Powerline plugs off and on to restore connections and in worst case scenarios rebooting the router itself. The Orbi Wifi router and 2 x Orbi Satellites was a lot of money but well worth the investment. I luckily had an OpenReach broadband fibre modem in the loft from when I first had my broadband connection. I found Orbi struggled to work with the Homehub even in AP mode. However once I overcame that hurdle, the rest of the setup was very straightforward. I plugged the Wifi router into the modem (as per the clear instructions), waited for the Orbi router to shine a solid white and plugged the Ethernet cable from the router into my PC so I could complete the wizard based setup. Don’t worry though, its also possible to do this by connecting to its wifi siid and default password. The setup was very easy and of course if you rename the siid to match what your wifi was before...and use the same password, then all your existing devices at home will just start to work again without having to re-enter any details. All that was left to do was to put my other two satellites in the house. One was on the landing upstairs and the other was in the lounge and you turn these on and they connect automatically which is confirmed when the light on these turns a solid blue (which doesn’t stay on forever). The wifi signal has been really strong, fast and reliable ever since...for all my devices. The only consideration will be if your existing router is a combined modem and wifi router (e.g. BT home Hub). Its possible to turn off the wifi for the home hub...but Orbi still Struggled until I replaced it with just the OpenReach modem which then had an ethernet cable from the modem to the Orbi router. After that, its been brilliant. Maybe other home routers (other than BT) may have better config options to allow it to become a modem only setup, allowing Orbi to focus on being a Wifi router....which with its three channels, it does really well. I recommend!

It took me some time to make up my mind to buy something like this. We've managed with a powerline connection for the TV and a WiFi booster for quite a while now. Increasingly - probably partly due to lockdowns - it seemed silly to have an indifferent connection to the internet in the room that was usually used to connect to it. In the end various reviews and the like led me to this. Setup - I was wary about just using the app given some of the comments in reviews so I was prepared to switch to a browser if needed. However it actually all went fairly well. The suggestion that I use my old WiFi name and password was a good one and easy to do. It saved quite a bit of time changing all the devices etc. I think these things can succeed or fail as much due to the layout of the house and construction as much as anything else. Our house (bungalow) is roughly L shaped and fairly modern. The original router is on one of the arms, the lounge with the TV on the other. This new router and satellite connected easily enough and in the lounge we now have near max possible speeds which is roughly 50% higher than they were. The TV runs on it fine and it doesn't really seem to matter how many devices are attached as far as speed is concerned. Along the "spine" of the 2 devices the speed is great however move to the far corner of the L and the speed/connection is less good. However - and DO read this if you have anything connected to your existing router by cable. This devices seems to only connect to the original router on a LAN - WAN basis. This means basically that file and print sharing services cannot be used. More basically if you have a wired device(s) - certainly hard drives and likely printer - you won't really see them after this finishes its setup. I've spent half a day following various instructions on line about connecting two routers on a LAN to LAN basis. Three factory resets later I've come to the conclusion that this device will not work like that. It has an "internet" post connection on the back. If you use this you get LAN to WAN and WiFi is fine. If you don't use that port (internet instructions tell you not to for LAN to LAN) it will appear to connect according to the original router but will not do so in practice. Essentially you get a new network that does not allow you to see the old one. While the app is certainly OK I would suggest caution on believing the speed tests it does. As I said above the corner of the house (previously not bad on WiFi) is less good with this system. However doing a speed check on the app suggested I had full speed. However using BT speed tester and another one came up with figures 50% lower... You have been warned. The other slight caveat is that it really does like apps like 1.1.1.1 which speeds up DNS stuff and is more private - it will cause issues for the setup of this and at times in the running of it. So - snags definitely but the WiFi performance suggests I should find ways to get around them or live with them. I will update this if anything else occurs to me and comments are more than welcome :-) **OK - updated. Extra star added and LAN - LAN problem solved** After I'd written this I found a somewhat obscure setting on the admin page for this which solves the LAN - LAN issue very easily - when you find it!! On the "advanced" tab and in the "advanced setting" there is a "mode" one. Here you can select whether this acts as a router or just an access point. Setting it to Access Point means you still get all the WiFi benefits AND anything attached to the original router can still be seen. My NAS devices are fully functional again.

Works perfectly. Has great range and guarantees high speed. App provides limited settings and setup is a bit slower than Decos but it's not a deal breaker. For Sky UK customers, this model supports DHCP Option 61 so it can be connected directly to the ONT port and can replace the Sky-provided hub entirely.

First, the background. I live in an old property with a mixture of very thick walls and walls that have been dry-lined with foil-faced boarding - both of which can significantly disrupt wifi signals. Before the Orbi, my wifi network had consisted of four separate wireless routers, each set up as wireless access points,, all sharing the same SSID, and all on wired connections back to my central network switch. This provided me with a largely satisfactory wifi signal throughout the property. However, wifi has moved on since that setup evolved, and I wanted to update the infrastructure to keep up with the newer laptops, phones and tablets that have joined the household over the past few years. Installing Orbi was a fairly painless - almost trivial! - process, although it should be noted that the default setup replaces your existing broadband router. If, like me, you simply want to add wifi onto an existing network then it is necessary to go into the Orbi configuration, advanced setup, and select AP (for Access Point), rather than ROUTER, operation. Once you have done that the rest pretty much just happens. Once set up I found the results were, frankly, amazing. The wifi network is very noticeably faster, and all our devices - even the slower ones! - are now more responsive, web-pages snappier, videos stream without stuttering, etc etc., and at last I feel that we are getting value from the 64Mbps fibre internet connection. Moreover, a number of mysterious problems that have plagued the network for years - random pauses (sometimes lengthy), failure to see devices, devices suddenly falling off the network, etc - all magically vanished, and for the first time ever we have reliable and fast wifi throughout the house. Of course, where the Orbi units are positioned will affect coverage, so some thought needs to be applied to best placement. Also, the Orbi is not unique, and there are other similar mesh systems out there that should do a similar job. That said, the Orbi does what it claims, and seems to do it well, so I would have no hesitation in recommending it, at least in the version I purchased ("Ultra Performance wifi", 2-pack), to anyone looking for such a solution. Others have commented negatively on Orbi's durability: I have not had mine long enough to comment, though I have always found other Netgear equipment to be reasonably well-made and long-lasting. Similarly I cannot comment on Netgear's technical support because I've never used it. If I had a criticism of Orbi it would be that the units are quite large - larger than one would expect from the pictures, and so are not always easy to conceal. At least they do not, in normal use, display multiple flashing LEDs as does much network hardware. Once switched on, booted and connected to the network, with everything running properly, all lights are extinguished unless and until some error condition occurs, so large though the units are they do not draw attention to themselves.

Detailed review and a few points on set up Have a virgin media hub which is fine when close to it. However as it is placed in middle floor bedroom, it was fine up and down but poor in the back room downstairs and in the garden. Having tried the Archer router, that just wasn’t reaching but also, it kept dropping internet connection. Thoroughly researching Orbi, I did note potential issues with both the Ring doorbell and potentially Sky Q. Despite dreading the set up, I took the plunge and started set up on Saturday morning expecting a full day of trial and error. I was done in an hour and most of that was spent connecting the sky boxes and tv’s again. Really simple when following the app. Don’t deviate from the app instructions though. What a piece of kit! I am blown away by the power. I’ve got 350mbs coming into the house. Wherever I am in the house I am getting in excess of 200mbs everywhere including at the back of the garden. The speed of course fluctuates but with the satellite in the back room, it’s generally sending consistent tests of 300, 310, 320mbs in there. In the middle room downstairs and the second floor (only a satellite on ground floor), the speed is not dropping below 150mbs and comes in consistently at over 200mbs. Put into perspective, In the same places, the virgin hub alone was generating no more than around 40mbs in those same areas, max. Too early to talk about reliability but the virgin hub was struggling with so many connections - 2 gamers online, one daughter watching Netflix and the other half working on the laptop. So far, the orbi is handling around 30 devices and having no issues. One bit of advice on set up - when putting the Virgin hub in modem mode, the orbi may tell you there’s no internet. Leave the app on that screen, Pull all power wires from the virgin hub, leave five minutes and then turn on again. Wait and then the orbi should then pick it up automatically. Yes it is just under £100 more than the TP-Link Archer router but in my opinion, it’s a worthwhile investment over anything else. The speeds are incredible. They aren’t too ugly either in my opinion. Whether it’s extended range, better performance or a mesh system, I highly highly recommend this. I haven’t needed tech support but scored a 5 as app is easy enough.

If you can't get reliable wifi in your house/flat this might be the solution. It's very easy to set up and use. In the box you get 2 devices. 1 router and 1 satellite. You can either use it instead of your current router or in Access Point mode which means you get to keep the router you currently have. This is important especially to customers who have hyperoptic as to have a working phone, they require you to use their router. When switching to Access Point mode, you will lose some of the features but it still does the job. I'm using it in a flat as the current router couldn't cope with the entire flat and I was getting 0.7Mbps. With the orbi I get 350Mbps download and 750Mbps upload (strange but I can't really complain as it's fast enough). The devices themselves are fairly big so if you're looking for a small device that you can hide away, look elsewhere. When you have both units configured, your mobile devices will switch between the router/satelite depending on which has the best signal. I've not experienced any dropouts while this happened. The biggest issue with the orbi is the firmware. I can't say that I've had many issues (some dropouts) but there are a lot of unhappy users that are plagued by constant dropouts that started happening in the latest firmware (1.12.0.18). This is apparently supposed to be fixed in v2 of the firmware (looking at the feedback) but that's yet to be seen. There are some tricks to get around the issues (posted on netgear forums) but those are for more advanced users. As this setup isn't cheap I think netgear should have done a better job at testing the firmware, not to mention fix bugs a lot quicker. Not sure if this helps anyone but the main issue I had was when the DHCP lease would expire on my current router. This would cause the device(s) to stop all of the sudden and try to get a new lease. To get around this issue I extended to lease period to 999 days (from 24h) and I've configured static IPs for some of my devices although unfortunately the hyperoptic router limits how many static IPs you can set (hence why I went with the DHCP workaround). I've had a couple of dropouts since but nothing like before. Overall, decent setup if you're having wifi issues. Although on a pricey side, it's definitely worth a try. Hopefully netgear will get their act together and the next firmware will be solid. EDIT (from 4* to 2*): Unfortunately I've started experiencing disconnects. Worst one lasted 10 minutes where the satellite seems to have dropped of the face of the earth. I could not connect to it at all even from a PC connected to the network via ethernet cable. The router worked fine but that meant I couldn't control most of my smart devices. I will be trying other wifi setups to see if I can find a more reliable one as I don't want to risk being left with a buggy system worth £350. EDIT: 21/09/2017 Unfortunately it does not look like firmware v2.0.0.74 has fixed anything in my case. I still get drop outs. So far 2, a week apart. The satellite is not accessible at all (even from a wired connection) and the ring on the satellite does not light up to indicate it's lost connection to the internet or the router itself which leads me to believe it just freezes for some reason.... I do have a support ticket open with netgear, will update this review once netgear gets back to me. EDIT: 24/09/2017 Netgear support so far have been useless. Only told me to reset my orbi system to factory settings and set it up again. Well now in the past 3 days I've had 5 dropouts ranging from the satellite freezing (same as before) but now I also at times get no internet connection through the satellite. It shows full signal but no internet. The ring on the satellite does not light up purple to indicate this either..... At this point, I have to say avoid this at all costs. It seems to be getting more unstable by the minute. EDIT: 29/10/2017 Since my last update, Netgear has sent me a replacement satellite which I had to pay £15 for an advanced RMA or have no internet connection in half of my flat for who knows how long. Never had to do this with any other company. They usually take your card details in case you don't return the old product but they never charge you. Anyway, the replacement satellite has been fine for about a month. Now in the last 24h it started experiencing the same issues as I described above. Full wifi signal but no internet connection. Again, no purple light (or any other light for that matter) to indicate it lost connection to the router. Back to netgear support with which I only have another month left before they tell me buy more support if I want their "help" as netgear will only let you raise tickets within 90 days of the purchase. After that you're on your own My previous recommendation stands. Avoid at all costs. EDIT: 28/04/2018 (from 2* to 1*) New firmware, new problems. Updated to v2.1.4.10 where Netgear apparently locked their engineers in a room to finally fix it. Unfortunately things have gone from bad to worse. Updated 2 days ago, had to restart the satellite 4 times already. Same issue as always, internet drops all of the sudden, no ring to show it lost connection with the router/lost internet access. Restarting the satellite fixes the issue for a few hours then it starts all over again. I've had enough of these issues and have now ordered an ubiquity access point. Unfortunately I'll have to run cables around the flat but at least it'll work and it's less than 1/2 the price of orbi too. I know some people are happy with this product and so was I initially. It's like playing lottery, you may be lucky and it'll work fine or you'll have issues all the time. These odds aren't worth the money. Avoid at all costs!

Bought this to improve Wi-Fi coverage in our home as we have dead spots towards the ends of our home, despite moving our router (Virgin Super Hub 3.0) to the middle floor (although that did improve things a little). The Orbi seems a bit expensive... but it absolutely works. On paper, the Wi-Fi coverage seems unbelievably huge but given the transformation across our home, I can well believe their claims. It was easy to set up as the online console and supporting app are straight-forward to understand. The Super Hub was easy to switch to 'Modem Mode'... and the Orbi just plugs into the WAN port with a single cable. I did get caught out as it wasn't very happy with our previous fixed IP addresses... which were all out by one digit... but once I switched all of our devices to DCHP and rebooted everything, it was fine. I've even set up a guest Wi-Fi network which has options for allowing [or not] users to access your network and its resources. What's really impressive is the satellite has virtually the same performance as the router. There really appears to be no difference between the two. I would've expected the satellite to be slower... but nope... that 'third band' is dedicated to communications between satellite and hub... so no performance loss. The end result is everything has improved, everywhere... and even replacing a Powerline with going through the Ethernet on the satellite has seen a massive performance boost. The Orbi's also physically look quite smart so you don't mind them being out on display... whereas the Super Hub 3 - by comparison - does look like something you'd want to stick between books on the shelf (which of course, you shouldn't). All in all, I'm impressed. Orbi... highly recommended.