RBK53 Coverage

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cafoster123 wrote:

I ordered from Amazon Woot a NETGEAR RBK53-100NAS Orbi AC3000 that was advertised as 7,500 sq ft of coverage, but the box I received shows 6,000 sq ft coverage.

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The Product Data Sheet for RBK53 sayss 6,000 sq. ft.

https://www.netgear.com/images/datasheet/orbi/RBK53.pdf  Would be interested to know where it was advertised as 7,500 sq. ft.

All that business of sq. ft. and AC3000 is just marketing hype.  Under the most ideal conditions, each of the two can be achieved but not both at the same time.

• The AC3000, for example, simply adds the maximum theoretical speeds of the 2.4G user WiFi, the 5G user WiFi, and the 5G backhaul WiFi.  WiFi performance falls off with distance.  The only way user devices will achieve those blazing speeds is if they are very close to the WiFi access point.  The only way the satellites will achieve that blazing speed is if they are (literally) righ tnext to the router.  But if the satellites are next to the router, then their coverage will entirely overlap the router and the total area covered will be no greater than the router would have covered.
• That 6,000 sq. ft. (or whatever amount someone claims) can only be achieved if the satellites are so far from the router and from each other that all three create circular coverage areas (no overlap).
• You can have AC3000 or 6,000 sq. ft., but you can't have both at the same time.

WiFi performance is affected by

• The shape of the building
• Building materials (brick, stone, concrete, HVAC ducts, etc. all impede WiFi signals.
• Where the router is located in the building.  For a lot of us, the ISP connection (modem) is on one side (or in one corner), so that half of the Orbi router WiFi is beaming out through the walls rather than where we want it.

I agree with FURRYe38 .  Set it up and see if it meets your needs.  Regular Amazon has a 30 day "no questions" return policy.  (Don't know about Amazon Woot.)