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There continues to be lots of new products in the home Wi-Fi space. Vendors like eero, Ubiquiti Labs, Luma and Securifi have jumped into the wireless mesh space, taking on the notion of a traditional router and instead using smaller devices that can go into each room to provide better coverage.
Netgear, one of the leaders in the home Wi-Fi router market, has come out with a line of routers that aims to provide similar functionality, but does it in a more traditional sense. The Orbi system provides users with two devices - one that acts as a 'router' and one 'satellite' that then provides additional coverage within your house. The company sent me a two-pack to try out and review.
The first thing I noticed was that Netgear clearly labels which device is which. While both units look the same, one is marked "Router" and one is marked "Satellite", so you know which unit to connect to your broadband modem and which one goes somewhere else. With the mesh systems I've tried, it doesn't matter which unit connects to the modem - pick one and it becomes the 'router'. These units are also larger than traditional mesh units - the router and satellite units were slightly smaller than my Brita water pitcher, but about the same shape. If you are hoping to have units that blend in with the décor of your home, the size of these units may be surprising. In my case, I don't really care - I've lived with giant Wi-Fi routers in my home for the past 20 years, including ones with all of the antennas shooting out from each side.
Connecting the Orbi router to the broadband modem begins the setup process - Lights on...