Netgear Orbi Pro WiFi 6 Tri-band Mesh System brings reliable WiFi to your small business

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Netgear's new Orbi Pro WiFi 6 Mesh system can give your small business fast, reliable internet connectivity with plenty of room to grow into.

Netgear Orbi Pro WiFi 6 Tri-band Mesh System brings reliable WiFi to your small business


If your small business has low WiFi coverage, Netgear may have the solution. Netgear's newly launched Netgear Orbi Pro WiFi 6 Tri-band Mesh System is designed to blanket up to 18,000 square feet in reliable, high-speed wireless internet.

Compared to the previous generation, the new Orbi Pro WiFi 6 system can handle four times the connected devices and has 100% higher speed per router and satellite unit. Its high capacity means it leaves plenty of room for businesses to add devices as they grow. It also allows customers to access the same high-speed internet as employees without your business suffering.

It has dedicated quad-stream WiFi 6 backhaul, OFDMA, and MU-MIMO, which will provide high-performance WiFi for years to come. It supports the latest iOS and Android WiFi 6 mobile devices, and is backward-comatible with both WiFi 4 and WiFi 5.

The Orbi Pro system also has excellent wired connectivity, thanks to a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port on the router and the back of each satellite. This allows for speeds of over a gigabit. All Orbi Pro devices feature two 4GbE ports, allowing for link aggregation. This feature can double the bandwidth between the Orbi Pro WiFi 6 node and connected devices using two Ethernet cables to form a single link.

The Orbi Pro WiFi 6 system is capable of delivering up to 6Gbps of data throughput. The system boasts tri-band 12-stream WiFi -- four streams on 2.4GHz and eight on 5Ghz.

This mesh system also includes advanced management features, including a one-year Insight subscription, instant discovery and setup of the Orbi Pro WiFi 6, and remote management through the Insight app.

The NETGEAR Orbi Pro WiFi 6 Tri-band Mesh System is available for purchase in the United States and will ship by the end of September, starting at $769.99 for a single router and one satellite.

Additional bundles will be available later in 2020 and will allow users to select from the following:
  • One router and two satellites - $1099.99

  • One router and three satellites - $1498.99

  • A single add-on satellite unit - $419.99
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    I still long for the day Apple makes a triumphant return to this space. Yet I won’t be holding my breath. These seem great but I need more affordable. Great Review.
    edredwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 21
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,284member
    pichael said:
    I still long for the day Apple makes a triumphant return to this space. Yet I won’t be holding my breath. These seem great but I need more affordable. Great Review.

    Then you should look at one of the many Orbi systems designed for home, not business requirements. Much less expensive. Probably don't need WiFi6 either.
    pichaelwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 21
    How much for this Subscription? How long before Netgear discontunes the service? Those are the sort of questions businesses will want answered before shelling out $$$ for this stuff. People and Companies are getting wise to the Subscriptions "Shell Game".
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 21
    Does this usually mean the home versions will get an update soon?

    Our AirPort Extreme home network is due for an update — the lack of mesh capabilities has caused a few problems lately. 

    Any recommendations? eero vs. Velop vs. Orbi?
    edited September 2020 watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 21
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,362member
    pichael said:
    I still long for the day Apple makes a triumphant return to this space. Yet I won’t be holding my breath. These seem great but I need more affordable. Great Review.

    The acquisition costs of these systems should only be one part of the purchase decision. Whether it's a system for home or a business, the total cost of ownership (TCO) should the real make or break data point, especially when it comes to administration, network management, functionality, and extensibility. Required subscriptions or having to pay for updates should also be factored into the TCO.

    In my opinion, Apple hit a sweet spot for home users and some small businesses with their former line of AirPort networking products because the administration and management costs were so low. Where they were lacking, for business users mostly, was on functionality and extensibility. Sure, you could add more nodes fairly easily, but they didn't offer any different types of access points or networking appliances, like firewalls, backup WAN connectivity, redundancy, exterior APs, managed nodes/switches, remote gateways, performance monitoring, guest portals, etc.

    The biggest differentiator, imho, for folks who are considering more upscale networking solutions that are capable of more than what most home-oriented consumer systems offer is the administration and setup requirements for the person who will be doing the work. I particularly like solutions like Ubiquiti/UniFi that start off with what I'd say are more hands-on consumer solutions at the low end (which are still more work than AirPorts) but can span much further up into business oriented solutions than anything AirPorts could ever hope to achieve. With Ubiquiti/UniFi you can put together a very complete solution for home use or small/medium business (and beyond) with tons of extensibility, but you can never really scale it down to where Apple's AirPorts were. It's not difficult by any means, but it's definitely not zero-admin or no-touch.  

    So ... to really get a feel for where this Netgear Orbi Pro fits in at its price point I'd have to have more insight into its admin requirements, what kinds of extensibility are available, and of course its full set of features. This level of detail is beyond the scope of what I'd expect to see on AppleInsider, but it's great that they have brought it to our attention so folks who want to dig deeper have a jumping off point to do so.
    tenthousandthingspichaelchristophbwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 21
    mike1 said:
    pichael said:
    I still long for the day Apple makes a triumphant return to this space. Yet I won’t be holding my breath. These seem great but I need more affordable. Great Review.

    Then you should look at one of the many Orbi systems designed for home, not business requirements. Much less expensive. Probably don't need WiFi6 either.
    I have an Orbi mesh router with one satellite.  It's probably the most problem free router I've ever had.
    llamageorge kaplanmike1pichaelwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 21
    I finally caved and bought Amazon’s eero system...partly because friends I do tech support for have it, and partly because other recommendations I made were returned for not being easy enough to get working. I like how easy to use the eero app is. I also like the plugin wall beacons. 

    I was skeptical of Amazon’s monthly service offerings, but they are optional and have no plans to purchase. I don’t like how it claims the 30-day free trial is blocking tons of malware on my devices. I’m already running 1Blocker and we don’t click on dumb stuff, so it’s using a misleading fear tactic.  


    watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 21
    llamallama Posts: 102member
    Yeesh, I hope that this doesn't move the previous Orbi Pro router and satellites to step-child status.  The uncharge for WiFi6 is insane.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 21
    mike1 said:
    pichael said:
    I still long for the day Apple makes a triumphant return to this space. Yet I won’t be holding my breath. These seem great but I need more affordable. Great Review.

    Then you should look at one of the many Orbi systems designed for home, not business requirements. Much less expensive. Probably don't need WiFi6 either.
    Thank you for that. For these triband routers, am I right in thinking that if I have a hardwired connection to each nod/router/extender a duel band is more then sufficient as the third band is primarily there to allow the devices have a dedicated band for sending the network?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 21
    My RBR20 Orbi (router+2) network just works in our house that had major dead zones when using an Airport Extreme. Backhaul is only 867 mbps so this setup is probably not suitable for gigabit internet connections, but great for typical home users.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 21
    mike1 said:
    pichael said:
    I still long for the day Apple makes a triumphant return to this space. Yet I won’t be holding my breath. These seem great but I need more affordable. Great Review.

    Then you should look at one of the many Orbi systems designed for home, not business requirements. Much less expensive. Probably don't need WiFi6 either.
    I use Orbi at home and it has been rock solid. I hope they had HomeKit to their software in 2021.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 21
    dewme said:
    pichael said:
    I still long for the day Apple makes a triumphant return to this space. Yet I won’t be holding my breath. These seem great but I need more affordable. Great Review.

    The acquisition costs of these systems should only be one part of the purchase decision. Whether it's a system for home or a business, the total cost of ownership (TCO) should the real make or break data point, especially when it comes to administration, network management, functionality, and extensibility. Required subscriptions or having to pay for updates should also be factored into the TCO.

    In my opinion, Apple hit a sweet spot for home users and some small businesses with their former line of AirPort networking products because the administration and management costs were so low. Where they were lacking, for business users mostly, was on functionality and extensibility. Sure, you could add more nodes fairly easily, but they didn't offer any different types of access points or networking appliances, like firewalls, backup WAN connectivity, redundancy, exterior APs, managed nodes/switches, remote gateways, performance monitoring, guest portals, etc.

    The biggest differentiator, imho, for folks who are considering more upscale networking solutions that are capable of more than what most home-oriented consumer systems offer is the administration and setup requirements for the person who will be doing the work. I particularly like solutions like Ubiquiti/UniFi that start off with what I'd say are more hands-on consumer solutions at the low end (which are still more work than AirPorts) but can span much further up into business oriented solutions than anything AirPorts could ever hope to achieve. With Ubiquiti/UniFi you can put together a very complete solution for home use or small/medium business (and beyond) with tons of extensibility, but you can never really scale it down to where Apple's AirPorts were. It's not difficult by any means, but it's definitely not zero-admin or no-touch.  

    So ... to really get a feel for where this Netgear Orbi Pro fits in at its price point I'd have to have more insight into its admin requirements, what kinds of extensibility are available, and of course its full set of features. This level of detail is beyond the scope of what I'd expect to see on AppleInsider, but it's great that they have brought it to our attention so folks who want to dig deeper have a jumping off point to do so.
    Thanks — Ubiquiti/UniFi looks really good and they have a nice range of options. I’m not sure I can justify the cost of their AmpliFi Alien (WiFi 6) line, but it does meet my needs and would be future-proof. Probably something UniFi makes more sense for me.
    edited September 2020 watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 21
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,913member
    Will skip WiFi 6 and upgrade from my WiFi 5 home router to WiFi 6E. ASUS just launched WiFi 6E(ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000) router, so more vendors will be releasing their versions in near future for mass adoption.
    tenthousandthingswatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 21
    Might as well just use a server to do this at this price. Managed, more flexibility, more power, half the price. 
  • Reply 15 of 21
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,166member
    Damn that’s a lot of moolah for a router set up.

    i have the tri band Orbi RBK50 ac mesh set up. Maximum attainable speed from my broadband pipe from one end of the house to the other.  I like the idea of WiFi 6, but I really don’t think I would benefit compared with the current router.
    edited September 2020 watto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 21
    neilmneilm Posts: 987member
    pichael said:
    I still long for the day Apple makes a triumphant return to this space. Yet I won’t be holding my breath. These seem great but I need more affordable. Great Review.
    Review? This was simply a product announcement based on Netgear’s press release (https://www.netgear.com/about/press-releases/2020/netgear-orbi-pro-wifi-6-tri-band-mesh-system.aspx)
    watto_cobrakkqd1337Rayz2016
  • Reply 17 of 21
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Does this usually mean the home versions will get an update soon?

    Our AirPort Extreme home network is due for an update — the lack of mesh capabilities has caused a few problems lately. 

    Any recommendations? eero vs. Velop vs. Orbi?
    I have four Apple Extreme routers connected. Apple doesn’t call it that, but they do work as a mesh network. When you have a base station, and add routers in a “extend network” configuration, which Apple’s software does, younger the same advantages as mesh. That it, same network name and password for all routers, as well as automatic handoff. No problem at all. It’s very easy to implement.

    it’s why I haven’t yet moved to anything else. Why I have so many? My house was built in 1925. The old methods resulted in interior brick walls with wood lathe with steel expanded metal mesh over all walls and ceilings. Over that is 3/4” mortar, 1/4” plaster, with many coats of paint, among which is lead based for the early layers. Not dangerous, by the way, unless that gets exposed and peels. 

    In other words, much of my home is a faraday cage. Apple’s routers work very well, giving me from 375 to 550 Mb/s everywhere, though lower in the basement. That’s better than the oerformance of most mesh routers currently being sold. If it weren’t for WiFi 6, I might be willing to wait another couple of years. I’ve been looking at this new Netgear model and have been thinking about trying it. But I want to learn a bit more about how strong the signal really is.
    watto_cobraRayz2016
  • Reply 18 of 21
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member

    neilm said:
    pichael said:
    I still long for the day Apple makes a triumphant return to this space. Yet I won’t be holding my breath. These seem great but I need more affordable. Great Review.
    Review? This was simply a product announcement based on Netgear’s press release (https://www.netgear.com/about/press-releases/2020/netgear-orbi-pro-wifi-6-tri-band-mesh-system.aspx)
    They didn't say it was a review.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 21
    neilmneilm Posts: 987member
    melgross said:

    neilm said:
    pichael said:
    I still long for the day Apple makes a triumphant return to this space. Yet I won’t be holding my breath. These seem great but I need more affordable. Great Review.
    Review? This was simply a product announcement based on Netgear’s press release (https://www.netgear.com/about/press-releases/2020/netgear-orbi-pro-wifi-6-tri-band-mesh-system.aspx)
    They didn't say it was a review.
    The post I quoted characterized this article as a “Great Review”.
    watto_cobrakkqd1337
  • Reply 20 of 21
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    neilm said:
    melgross said:

    neilm said:
    pichael said:
    I still long for the day Apple makes a triumphant return to this space. Yet I won’t be holding my breath. These seem great but I need more affordable. Great Review.
    Review? This was simply a product announcement based on Netgear’s press release (https://www.netgear.com/about/press-releases/2020/netgear-orbi-pro-wifi-6-tri-band-mesh-system.aspx)
    They didn't say it was a review.
    The post I quoted characterized this article as a “Great Review”.
    I was agreeing with you. Maybe you didnt notice that.
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