NETGEAR RBK30-100NAS Orbi Whole Home Mesh WiFi System – Discontinued by Manufacturer

I was becoming more and more unhappy with the performance of my AT&T 2Wire residential gateway. The router provided poor WIFI coverage and it was slow, so I decided to take a chance on the Orbi after researching multiple mesh systems. I have a 2-story, 2000 SF house and settled on the RBK 30. The AT&T gateway is on one end of the house with an Ethernet connection to a switch upstairs and additionally a second modem downstairs on the opposite end of the house. I replaced the upstairs switch with the Orbi router (which has additional Ethernet ports) and placed the satellite downstairs on the opposite end of the house. The satellite has a strong connection to the router.The Orbi setup was simple and the instructions were easy to follow. The only thing missing was information on how to disable the WIFI on the AT&T gateway, but a quick search of the internet provided several places where I was able to find specifics on that.Performance has been simply awesome. I love the single SSID throughout the house. The improvement in wireless performance is much better than I expected, and even my desktop using an Ethernet connection from the Orbi (instead of the switch) has seen improved performance. Mesh networking isn't cheap, but if you want to improve performance of your network it is a terrific way to go.

Installed this to remedy slow speeds and range from my old router and haven't been disappointed. The main hub is upstairs and I have zero issues two floors down in the basement thanks to the satellite. In over 5 months of use I have yet to notice any drop in speeds or signal and easily handles multiple users without becoming bogged down. Installation was pretty straight forward, my only issue was having the satellite to far away when I initially tried to pair. After I moved it closer and it connected I was able to move it back to where I originally had it and have had no issues so far. The Android app is also convenient and provides some nice features to control your network. This system is very setup and forget and have had no concerns recommending it to those I know looking to upgrade.

There are already tons of reviews on the Netgear Orbi, so make sure you pay attention to things being said that are common amongst reviewers. I'm pretty good with electronics and I've set up and changed my home network several times over the years. The technology involved is pretty complex, but I think if companies spent more time focusing on making the setup trouble free it would be vastly better for the end user.A couple of things to note when you test your internet speed, and I suggest doing so around the house before you install any WiFi system to see how much of an improvement you get from the new equipment. Use a dedicated internet speed test app, I ended up getting the SpeedSmart App. The speed tests you can use through websites are not as accurate or consistent as a dedicated app. Also, the speed test that comes with the Orbi App is bunk and will tell you that you have super fast blazing internet speeds EVERYWHERE you use it....the Orbi App Speed Test is FAKE NEWS!So, with all that said. The Netbear Orbi works AMAZINGLY well......almost everywhere. The initial setup was smooth, it set itself up for the most part and I entered a few things and BOOM! it was up and running.Then I tested everything and my internet speed in the master bedroom was half of what it was with my old router. So I unplugged the satellite from the upstairs loft, which was about 40' down the hall from the bedroom, and I moved it into the bedroom. This is where the problems start with this system. The satellite didn't automatically reconnect. Had to power cycle my Modem to get the Orbi network to connect to the satellite again. Once it finally connected the internet speed in the master bedroom was still half of what it used to be, with the satellite in the same room! I moved the satellite back into the loft and had to fiddle with the darn setup again and power cycling it, shutting the app down, starting it all back up and waiting and waiting for it to connect.The good news....my WiFi speeds went up drastically, pretty much doubled my speeds almost everywhere! BUT, the speeds are inconsistent at best. When testing the system upon initial setup I had the low speeds mentioned above in the master bedroom, averaging around 40-50mbs download. As I was writing this review I retested the 4 locations below again and the master bedroom was at a top download speed of 259mbs. WTF? When I retested the kitchen it initially was giving me a 23mbs download speed, so I tested in the office and it was over 300mbs (about 30' away from the kitchen with the main router in it). So I went back to the kitchen and tested a 3rd time and it had jumped back up to over 300mbs download! WTF?So I'm really not sure what the deal is with this setup.....but below are my results using the SpeedSmart App.Kitchen - Old: 150mbs download. New: 250-312mbsLoft- Old: 9.2mbs. New: 168-276mbsMaster- Old: 111mbs. New: 87.8-259mbsOffice- Old: 169mbs. New: 288-337mbsSo as you can see the numbers fluctuate quite a bit and I have no clue why.

Very easy to setup. Literally plugged it into my internet router and followed instructions on the app to make it work.I have the unit setup on the main floor and the additional Dot is on the second floor and it connects perfectly fine.I had a few spots where the wifi would drop before things solution, now i have coverage everywhere on the house.App is a huge plus. You can see all there devices with details telling you how and where that device is connected along with the bandwidth being used. Very affordable Price and highly recommend this

La configuración es muy fácil y, lo mejor, permite aprovechar todo el ancho de banda.Con el router básico que proporciona la empresa de internet, la velocidad decrece de forma significativa en la medida que te alejas. Con este producto, en todos los cuartos recibes la velocidad de internet que pagas. Es impresionante cómo funciona. Lo recomiendo ampliamente.

Es una gran solución para el pésimo alcance que dan los modems de los proveedores de internet en Mexico, me resolvió el problema de que no me llegaba el wifi a todos los sectores del departamento

Full-time access. Easy to setup. Good app and interface. Happy with purchase.

1. Overall speed was reduced by ~20MB/s2. Port forwarding did not work.3. Satellite would drop connection randomly.4. Support was unreachable.