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Forum Discussion
Is Google afraid of Orbi?
I ran across this article today, and was quite amused that Google entertains going head-to-head with eero and Luma, but not a single mention of Orbi. Granted, Orbi isn't "mesh" (yet?) as these three...
At a strictly technical level, I agree.
However, they are all designed to solve the same "business problem" and are marketed to the same user segments - the "fire and forget" less-technical crowd who want wireless to "just work". In that sense, with identical target markets, I think they are absolutely comparable.
Besides that, without Orbi being considered a part of that market, they are going to wither on the vine of obscurity - by now, many have heard of eero and Google Wifi. How many have even -heard- of Orbi? As a company, does Netgear really _want_ to distinguish themselves as being a "sole player"? Does the average consumer give a flip if the underlying technology is mesh or star topology, so long as it solves their problems?
The thing about wifi is - geeks aside - nobody wants to think about wifi. It's still regarded as something akin to magic by the masses, and noticed only when it *doesn't* function properly. Orbi seems to fulfill that mission better than any other product to date, and it's not because of Elfin magic - it's wide wireless backhaul, period (which is why the Ethernet-backhaul haters both amuse and confuse me - do they not get this?). If they want to take the marketing approach of "like eero and Google Wifi, only better - higher speed, and no wires! The mesh thing is SO yesterday!", fine - but they NEED to be considered a part of that crowd to be relevant. [Note: I doubt they will say that, and they probably shouldn't - at least the last part. There's no technical hurdle to providing the best of all worlds...star and mesh over wireless backhaul *and* Ethernet backhaul, but these things do take time. I'd personally prefer they keep their options open in that regard.]
Just my $0.02. :)
Rodney
i can assure you that the netgear orbi has made many stand up and paying attention , even those that just hate the netgear brand , was recently at a synology conference and all the geek talk and buzz from those attending was about the orbi , the orbi system isnt going to fade away
i can actually see most of these mesh systems fading away as they compete with each other and produce average results as a consequence of the approach they have taken in the mesh topology , while those that go the orbi system will just ignore it and enjoy its wifi :)
At the risk of jumping into an unresolvable debate, I will say that while the average consumer will only care about what works and not care about the technical differences between mesh and star topologies, there are differences. A star topology requires on the signal emitted by the base station to reach all satellites. If multiple satellites are used, then the base station will have to be centrally placed. While the Orbi is innovative in having a very fast, dedicated wireless backhaul, it is still limited by government regulations on Wi-Fi transmission power.
By contrast, in a mesh topology the satellites can relay data through each other. In certain situations, this could result in better performance. A distant satellite need only relay data through a nearby satellite instead of the base station.
Whether there will be real world performance differences between these two technologies will be entirely dependent on the environment, as it always is with Wi-Fi. As if to confuse things further, Netgear markets the Orbi as a mesh networking device. AFAIK, the Orbi is not a 802.11s mesh networking device, which is what Google Wi-Fi is.
Having said all this, I do think Orbi will find a spot in the marketplace. From the looks of it, many people who have bought it are happy and that's great. I do think it's a little expensive.
the issue with mesh systems is loss between hops , to the point that the loss give less usable signal at distance
yes i do wish netgear would remove any reference to mesh and just say wifi done the right way
Can you cite a source? Mesh systems use standard 802.11 b/g/n/ac protocols for delivering payloads, so it cannot be any lossier. Mesh systems are differentiated from standard Wi-Fi by running a routing protocol, HWMP, to route traffic through the mesh.
