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Orbi i NOT a mesh system!
My Orbi system: RBR50 +2 RBS50 +1 outdoor satelite RBS50Y
Have had plenty of problems with wifi during the years, big house with concrete walls. The only system that have worked without problems has been the sound system Sonos. Sonos is a mesh system, meaning all products communicate with eachother and make the system reach much greater distances then other "normal" systems (where potential satelites all communicate with the router only)
When I saw the advertisment for the Orbi mesh system I bought it directly, finally a good mesh wifi system I thought. Now, one year later and numerous of connection problems and phone calls to Orbi support without any solutions I read an article from PC World claiming it is actually NOT a mesh system. All satelites communicate with the router. Is this really true?? That would explain 95% of my problems why the satelites far away from the router (but close to another satellite) has such poor connection.
If it is true, Netgear marketing of the Orbi is really a scam! How can you call it a mesh system if it is not?
Can anybody confirm wheather this is true or not?
eriklindgren wrote:Can I inperpret this answer as that the Orbi is NOT a mesh system but a hub-and-spoke system?
Absolutely. That is what I said. In the sense that you define, it is NOT. It is very definitely a hub and spoke system.
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Yes, the 3rd 5Ghz radio which supports up to 1733Mbps connection rates between the RBR and RBS is the wireless backhaul that is the communication radio between the RBR and RBS. The RBS can be wired as well to communication both client and RBS traffic over the LAN cable connection.
Concrete and steel will impact any 5Ghz radio propagation and operation.
Can I inperpret this answer as that the Orbi is NOT a mesh system but a hub-and-spoke system?
eriklindgren wrote:Can I inperpret this answer as that the Orbi is NOT a mesh system but a hub-and-spoke system?
only after you explain the differences.
eriklindgren wrote:If it is true, Netgear marketing of the Orbi is really a scam! How can you call it a mesh system if it is not?
Can anybody confirm whether this is true or not?
In my experience, marketing terms are not nearly as precise as one might hope. Is Netgear's Orbi a "mesh" in the sense that every device can be configured to connect to the internet and every device establishes links to every other device? NO. All of the promotional material from Netgear shows clearly how the "router" is connected to the internet feed and the "satellites" are connected to the router in a star or "Daisy Chain" manner. There is nothing deceptive about the description of what it is. I certainly knew going in what I was purchasing.
Orbi (in my opinion) can be called a "Mesh" because the entire system acts as one large WiFi network, with the same SSID/password and devices can move seamlessly from one unit to another (and back) without the connection dropping. But what the marketing department calls something may be a way to attract my interest, but I'm certainly not going to spend money on it until I read up on how well it meets my needs.
What I find more "deceptive" is the way the WiFi industry has decided to label products by adding together the maximum theoretical bandwidth of every radio into a single term, such as "2200" or "3000". What a crock. Only devices (literally) next to a WiFi access point can come even close to connecting at those speeds, and how does the "backhaul" link contribute to anything useful to customers?
In my experience, marketing terms are not nearly as precise as one might hope. Is Netgear's Orbi a "mesh" in the sense that every device can be configured to connect to the internet and every device establishes links to every other device? NO. All of the promotional material from Netgear shows clearly how the "router" is connected to the internet feed and the "satellites" are connected to the router in a star or "Daisy Chain" manner. There is nothing deceptive about the description of what it is. I certainly knew going in what I was purchasing.
In a mesh network satellites communicate with each other and does not have to go through the router. That is the whole point with a mesh network.
eriklindgren wrote:In my experience, marketing terms are not nearly as precise as one might hope. Is Netgear's Orbi a "mesh" in the sense that every device can be configured to connect to the internet and every device establishes links to every other device? NO. All of the promotional material from Netgear shows clearly how the "router" is connected to the internet feed and the "satellites" are connected to the router in a star or "Daisy Chain" manner. There is nothing deceptive about the description of what it is. I certainly knew going in what I was purchasing.
In a mesh network satellites communicate with each other and does not have to go through the router. That is the whole point with a mesh network.
so when are you going to get a true mesh system?
