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Forum Discussion
Orbi vs nighthawk R8000
what are the main differences and how is the orbi better then the nighthawk
So...on my current R7900 there are two 5Ghz bands and one 2.4Ghz band, all available to deviceds. Are you saying that Orbi only has TWO bands available for devices, reserving the 3rd band for communication between primary and satellite? With no waveform antennae, can signal propagation be as solid as with the X6 R7900? We have two Desktops (wired), three laptops, two tablets, two smartphones, one Arlo hub, and about a dozen WeMo devices aboard our current network. I've traied to spread them out among the three available bands. We pay for 150gbps DL/12gbps UL from Comcast, and I don't want to degrade performance by losing a band, or losing signal strength.
Hello mikestjames
The Orbi Wi-Fi system delivers 3 independent radios including one 2.4GHz band and two 5GHz bands for 802.1a/b/g/n/ac wireless devices. Smart Connect intelligently selects the best Wi-Fi band for each dual-band device to optimize connection speed and performance based on that device’s speed and performance capabilities.
DarrenM
To simplify the question, is one of the three Orbi bands dedicated to connection between the two pieces, and therefore unavailable for use by devices? I would like the blanket coverage, but we have a lot of devices spread as equally as possible between all three bands. Thanks,
Hello mikestjames
Yes it does but we have band steering in the Orbi which will help with the issue you are talking about it.
DarrenM
Thanks for the explanation, even though I am not very savvy on this, I still want the best connection available. Right now I have 300mbs from time warner and I still have buffering problems on my tv and tablets whenever I watch any videos. So I bought the nighthawk and a range extender and still buffering. Will the orbi solve this? Or adding an orbi make it better. If I added an orbi, how would I do that as I'm not sure what an access point is. I really appreciate your explanation as I'm confused
thanks so much