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NETGEAR INTRODUCES A FAMILY OF ORBI TRI-BAND WIFI SYSTEMS
We are announcing the availability of two new Orbi kits and two new Stand Alone Satellites.
RBK30: The new Orbi Tri-band WiFi System includes an AC2200 router and wall-plug satellite designe...
hi , my first question would be WHY ????
netgear hit a home run with the RBK50 kit and has been acclaimed and reviewed as by far the best of the distributed wifi / mesh systems on the market
the main claim to fame being that awesome 1733Mbackhaul
i can understand dropping the usb cause lets face it the usb has never worked anyway
but to essentially chop in half its backhaul throughput to make it $50 cheaper makes little sense to me * in the case of the rbs40 ) and its suggested less coverage
the rbs30 plug mounted mode drops the ethernet and usb and even less coverage for another $50 less
to be honest with you i dont know who was in the focus group when it came to these two units but the logic couldnt have come from a performance or technical point of view
why take what is the best of what it does and make it worse just to fit into a price point , would have been far more logical to work on ways to make the existing RBS50 cheaper but keeping the part that matter the most eg the 1733Mbackhaul
i will prob get flamed for my opinion on these units but when i read the press release my first thought was WHY!!!!
netgear made a product that soars with the eagles but now adds bits that just fly with the rest of the turkeys
just to make sure im not missing something here , the rbs 40 or 30 still have to connect to the orbi router right and not mesh onto the sat
you still have to use the RBR50 orbi router with its 1733M backhaul transmission that wont get used in ether the 40 or 30 version
imho its a backward step for netgear not adding to the range as they claim
pete
oh and i forgot when did the RBS50 orbi sat suddenly get extra coverage as claims in the press release
the orbi sat rbs50 alway was rated at 2000 sqft , now its suddenly 2500sqft
so are they saying the rbs50 has increased its range ? i think i know the answer
Well BestBuy and MicroCenter still have th 50 priced at $349.99 but I'm sure the next stock will be back to the $399.99 price. Decisions about getting it...
whsbuss-1 wrote:Well BestBuy and MicroCenter still have th 50 priced at $349.99 but I'm sure the next stock will be back to the $399.99 price. Decisions about getting it...
well if you want to get the full and real benefit of the orbi system grab the RBK50 , anything else is a compromise even if it is cheaper
the graph above shows why the orbi is so much better , halve that backhaul and you will halve that throughput
along with the media bridge throughput will be halved
(image from smallnetbuilder review )
A couple of comments:
1. Based on extensive testing in the field, we realized that we were conservative in our initial assessment of coverage. Then we layered in some firmware updates to support things like DFS channel support, which moves connectivity to a relatively uncongested channel, improving throughput and increasing coverage area of the RBR50 & RBS50 to 2,500 sq ft each.
2. the RB*50 devices aren't going anywhere, they're still the top of the line Orbi, devices. We're going to continue to add features to Orbi OS through software updates. Stay tuned.
NETGEAR Product Team.
sorry but
point 1 makes no sense , you cant just get extra 20% coverage by using quite channels , i think 5000sqft is an over estimation unless you are talking outdoors , indoors the backhaul starts to drop after about 10 meters
point 2 , its obvious the rbk50 isnt going anywhere , but again WHY a 2 x 2 sat
stay tuned , we have been waiting a long time already , still no usb , no word on ethernet backhaul , no qos to name a few
Dear AmitR
Ref. #1: All the assumtions ref. coverage massively depend on the building structure. What might be a workable number in a light weight wooden / plasterboard / drywall constructions are not reality proof in a multi store concrete / bricks and stones or even in a camper environment where aluminium covered plates are common...
Ref. #2: Well, the new lower cost system variant does make use of a "half" 2x2 backbone - allowing to save some Dollars on the SoC and/or the radio and RF amplifiers. The result of a 2x2 must be a much lower bandwidth, and very likely a much much lower bandwidth than what a 4x4 can deliver. Undoubted, the weak point of any in-house wireless mesh systems is the mesh backbone. And we know what using a 5 GHz connected client one floor above/below an access point can achieve. Reality is that most clients faoll-back to 2.4 GHz.
I'm not stating that the 5 GHz band is not fit for purpose in general. But there are massive limitations and restrictions. Allowing DFS channels does not overcome most of the problems. This makes me speechless Netgear does still don't offer Ethernet backbone support.And a properly implemented Ethernet backbone support would allow smooth the integration with the much better Netgear Nightawk router platforms. One day with the ability of offering a proper segregation of the guest network.
I understand the Netgear sales and marketing problem: Compared to a good WiFi router allowing reasonable coverage (leaving the leading edge tri-band routers or application platforms like an R9000 alone) paired with one or some WiFi extender, the classic Orbi system list price is to high for for many markets.More and more ISP are forcing customers to use the ISP CPEs - in most VoIP and IPTV environments over here in Europe, more and more elsewhere, the users have no choice. And there it goes the Guest network feature not only fellow Amit does perfer so much ... with the pure AP mode.
Technology affine users have invested in decent router platforms already. This customer base is not keen to change today or tomorrow. Orbi does compete with Nighthawk...
And last ... with the more than outdated router implementation carried forward for almost two decades, Netgear can't win a horse. A new UI supposedly to be introduced later in 2017 will likley just add lipstick to the pig - the bigger issues won't change. Most of the problems and limitations we're facing with each and every new model are ... old, and caused by the inability to change, to drop of the crappy DNI router platform in favour of something that really works. Otherwise, the story will be repeated with each and every new "designed" platform.
The new models are a typical management reaction of a hardware company. It's not a proper reaction for a system vendor however.
It's sad for Orbi - because of the intention is great.
Regards,
-Kurt
