Netgear Orbi Pro

Housey · 26 Dec 2018 at 23:34

Arrives tomorrow as finally had enough of my Nighthawk / Nighthawk extender and powerline set up which has been slow and drop out tastic. Got annoyed yesterday and ordered a full replacement with 2 nodes. Went pro as I’ve over 20 WiFi connected devices and with connected homes likely to have more and prefer the look over Orbi standard.

Will report how it works...

Spit · 27 Dec 2018 at 11:24

Looking forward to hearing about this. Wanting to go for a mesh network.

Coolasmoo · 27 Dec 2018 at 11:24

Just had a quick look and they look like great units. There is a deal on at the moment for the SRK60 Orbi Pro for £292.00.

I use the XR500 and was looking for a mesh system for future use.

The only drawback is the Orbi has no media server that I can see and probably lacks the QOS features, anti-buffer bloat, Geo filtering etc from the XR500

Housey · 27 Dec 2018 at 13:07

Well it is here but LOADS of issues I am having to walk through. It has been an absolute pain in the backside to setup and it's still not working fully....

ChrisD. · 27 Dec 2018 at 13:48

Should have just got a UniFi Access Point.

Caged · 27 Dec 2018 at 13:49

Orbi Pro seems expensive for what you get, and the units are hardly the nicest looking if they're going in a house.

Can't help wondering if having somebody run cabling would be a better investment, though granted you have no idea if a particular spark can do a tidy job until you've had the work done.

Housey · 27 Dec 2018 at 13:57

To cable my house would cost significantly more done properly and I went for the Pro as they look better than the normal Orbi.

But...

It's proving crap in my house, it's going back I think right now. I am seeing the same issues in the same dead spots and in the same way as I did with my Nighthawk set up. I am getting a bit more speed but still only 44mbps from a 300mbps connection via connection. I have a winding staircase in the middle of my house I and I think that has metalwork in it together with a thick (1 foot + stone) wall leading into my main living area and with all WiFi devices that is the achilles heel.

Housey · 27 Dec 2018 at 14:03

Going back!

ChrisD. · 27 Dec 2018 at 14:04

Housey said:
Going back!

Have you tried UniFi? They're brilliant. Only issue is you need a cable to each one.

There are other well reviewed home mesh systems available.

Housey · 27 Dec 2018 at 14:08

I did my research and this wins most the mesh reviews. Will revert back to former and tweak it some. Ive a house that kills WiFi sadly

ChrisD. · 27 Dec 2018 at 14:11

I never really trust review sites as you never know what they're being paid by the suppliers.

Caged · 27 Dec 2018 at 14:18

If Orbi doesn't work then I don't think any mesh system will. It sounds like you live in Fort Boyard.

Housey · 27 Dec 2018 at 14:29

Caged said:
If Orbi doesn't work then I don't think any mesh system will. It sounds like you live in Fort Boyard.

My house actually isn't that big, but it is built on the foundations of a 200 year old coach house with big thick walls. Same dead zones, same places Mesh or no Mesh making it a pointless spend and because of that, even with my throw money at the problem mindset, it's not worth it. I did take pics for anyone that wants to see a box.

I am back in my old network set up (Nighthawk Router, Netgear Extenders, Netgear power-line WiFi into Summer house and it is 10mbps quicker than the Orbi was. Guess I am one of those rubbish reviews you look at on 'another place' and go WTF when yours works like a dream.

Housey · 27 Dec 2018 at 15:02

ChrisD. said:
I never really trust review sites as you never know what they're being paid by the suppliers.

You could say the same about buyers justifying their purchase. There is plenty of proper content from informed reviewers outside of the large 2 page specials full of Netgear adverts...

Housey · 27 Dec 2018 at 15:20

Better to have loved (Ok not loved) and sent back, than to have wasted time and....wait, that's not working.