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Forum Discussion
Orbi Upgrade from RBR50 to RBR850 or RBR750
A post to comment, and perhaps generate conversation, on Netgear's lack of technology exchange to upgrade path. An example that I have is the Orbi RBK530 and that I would consider moving up to the R...
Why? How many AX devices do you have in your home? I bet you a good chunk are still on 2.4. Save your money for a year or two. Let 6E land for a bit. Accumulate a few more AX devices before you spend a $1K on a new mesh system for 2 devices that might actually use it.
At the moment I have 4 devices but plan on adding a laptop with AX by the end of the year. Then there are all the home automation devices and though they are 2.4 base, it is the number devices along with stability of the connection that counts the most.
Additionally, I have a 1Gig up and down internet connection that is not being taken full advantage of. This is both at the router to the ISP and from the laptops that see a lower connection speed than what they are actually capable of.
From my reading, the Eero 6 Pro is looking very attractive. It may not have the peak speeds of the Orbi in the testing, but the sustained performance appears to be better. Given that there is no benefit/savings in buying a newer Orbi, I can save a few dollars on replacing with the Eero (I have seen Amazon give deals at times).
You could think of it the other way, okay, you have 1 gig, do you really use 1 gig? Could you opt for the next lower plan and hence your current Orbi would do you just fine. You would save monthly costs along the way. You probably would not even notice any speed difference. Maybe the montly savings in a year or so would pay for a good chunk of your future AX device??? Just some ideas. I don't mean to sound contentious.
I have the option to go 1 gig internet; however, I pay for 300/30. One, my Orbi won't support 1 gig. Two, the bulk of my devices are 2.4. Three. I have like 1 AX device. I will stick on 300/30 for the next year or so easy.
theoak, A fair response and thinking, likely good for most. I personally have the 1G/1G because the deal was better than any of the lesser speeds (crazy I know). Your needs and situation are different from mine and there is nothing wrong with that. Further, these needs will change over time. I used to have a 56k modem but that doesn’t cut it anymore, pretty sure we will find the same with the AC routers as we start streaming more content and relying more and more on cloud connectivity (I suspect that Netgear is counting on it).
The point with this post though is not if the speed is needed. It is about the fact that after spending astronomical amounts on these devices (I am certain that Netgear is making massive margins) there is no upgrade path offered. All this does is encourage existing customers to look at other options as their needs change (exactly what I find myself considering).