Netgear Orbi Tri Band RBK50 Mesh Wi-Fi Review

The Netgear Orbi Tri-Band RBK50 is an 802.11ax mesh network system that uses three Gigabit Ethernet ports to create a fast and reliable connection for your whole home. With a range of up to 500 sqft, the Netgear Orbi Tri-Band RBK50 can cover most areas in your home. The network can also be expanded with additional nodes, which makes it perfect for larger homes or multi-level properties.

Features

The Netgear Orbi Tri-Band RBK50 supports MU-MIMO which allows for multiple streams and multiple connections on each antenna. This means more dedicated connections for your most demanding WiFi devices. It features a Tri-band backhaul that dedicates one of its 3 bands to node communication and frees up the other 2 bands for maximum speed to your devices. Each satellite node has 4 Ethernet ports for fast, direct connections for individual devices.

On the Parental Controls front Netgear teamed up with Disney and their Circle App to allow you to control your family’s online time and access to off-limits websites. The controls are intuitive whether you’re a network engineer or a concerned parent with no networking experience.

Netgear Orbi Tri Band RBK50 Performance

The Netgear Orbi is a Tri-Band system but it only uses 2 of those bands to communicate with devices. The 2.4GHz band delivers 400Mbps and the 5GHz band puts out 866Mbps for a total of just shy of 3000Mbps for the two nodes. The 3rd band is dedicated to communication between nodes. As it turns out the theory that this would free up the other bands turned out very well as evidenced by testing.

Despite these less-than-mind-blowing numbers, the Netgear Orbi is incredibly fast and powerful. At close range, it was nearly 20% faster than Google WiFi and outperformed the Linksys Velop by an even wider margin. At 100 feet the speed dropped off as expected but was still significantly faster than the other routers. A Netgear Orbi system can easily cover a 3500-square-foot home with several high-speed devices. Each additional node adds another 2,500 square feet of coverage at 1266Mbps.

Netgear Orbi Tri Band RBK50 Set-Up

Setting up a mesh system doesn’t get much easier than this. The nodes are pre-paired, meaning they are preconfigured to communicate with the others as soon as you get them out of the box. Once you find a home for a mesh satellite simply plug in the power and the automatic network does the rest. The setup is so simplified you don’t even have to use the mobile app unless you want to. The closest thing you’ll come to setting changes with the Orbi RBK50 is moving a node closer to the base station node if you get an amber or red light.

If you want to configure more advanced settings during setup you can just as you would a standard wireless router by entering http://orbilogin.com into a web browser and entering your configuration changes.

Netgear Orbi Tri Band RBK50 – Video

Conclusion

Netgear’s Orbi Tri-band satellite system is one of the most popular home internet solutions on the market. It offers three different bands to choose from, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. The RBK50 is the smallest and cheapest option of the three, but it doesn’t offer as many features or as strong a signal as the other two options.

Is it Expensive? Yes but if you’re like the many other homeowners out there who don’t mind paying a premium for a system that “just works” the Netgear Orbi Tri-Band RBK50 may be what you’re looking for. If your ISP provides speeds of 200Mbps down this mesh system will make the most of it. The combination of speed, ease of configuration, and the generous amount of Ethernet ports make the Orbi a prime contender for any large home despite its price tag.

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