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Forum Discussion
RBK40 Coverage
On the US website (https://www.netgear.com/orbi/rbk40.aspx) it is claimed that the RBK40 "covers up to 4,000 square feet with high performance AC2200 WiFi" and on the UK website (http://www.netgear.co.uk/home/products/networking/orbi/) it claims "covers up to 250 square meters".
The thing is, 4,000 square feet is 372 square meters and 250 square meters is 2,691 square feet. This implies that the US version covers almost 50% more than the UK.
So why is there the large discrepency and which one is correct? Or are the differences due to typical home construction differences between the US and UK?
I've also checked the French website and that is also 250 square meters.
The same issues apply to the other models on the the US and UK websites.
7 Replies
It may be that they are being realistic and recognising that European plot sizes are generally smaller than in the US and therefore for a given floor area there are more stories and therefore a more challenging environment. Room sizes are probably also smaller and construction methods may also have a bearing. I live in a London Victorian terrace of about 1850 sq ft but really struggle to get wifi working with only 1 satellite (RBK50) across all four floors.
That is my problem too. I'm in a 4 storey Edwardian house, just over 250 sq M, so 4000 sq ft should do me fine, but not sure which to buy now. in a plan view I only need 680 sq ft, but it's the vertical that's a problem for me
Is your primary unit in the middle floor? I'll be putting my primary on floor 2 and was thinking of the satelitte on floor 3, with hopefully coverage extending onto floors 1 and 4.
Yes, that's how mine is but wifi can get a bit marginal at the very back of the house. Still it's a lot better than any other solution.
Could be be due to diferent allowable power outputs between UK an US... you'd have to check the output specs
hi all
although there is some generalization in the netgear numbering it also need to be computed with many factor including local regional transmission levels along with constructional materials and local environmental conditions with other wifi and other 2.4 / 5 gig transmissions
in general wifi is designed to work in the horizontal plain and thus propagates best across a single story dwellings , when it comes to multi story dwellings that propergation is compromised
reality is if you live in a 4 story dwelling no wifi is going to play nice unless its an access point per floor connected back to the router via ethernet
the orbi is great but just like all wifi has its limitations when it comes to vertical wifi propagation
I asked a similar question on Amazon and I got this reply from Netgear Support:
Thanks for your question, our UK products specs are similar in spec to the US, however our coverage indication differs as we are taking into account typical home constructional materials, structure and size which are different than the US. Hope this helps explain the difference.
