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Forum Discussion
Orbi RBR860S vs Nighthawk AX6600 RAX70
I currently have Nighthawk AX6600 RAX70 Tri-Band router and looking to upgrade and have lots of questions for those that use Orbi. First off my reason for upgrading is due to getting into home au...
It would be a chore, but a person could look at the User Manual for recent Nighthawk models to determine if any of them offer the "IoT WiFi" option. With your RAX70, there is simply no need for this feature.
Background: Whereas WiFi routers commonly allowed users to enable/disable each of the WiFi radios (2.4G, 5G) and often to assign different SSIDs to each of them, the Orbi system uses one SSID for the primary WiFi network (on every possible frequency used by the Orbi) and one SSID for the Guest WiFi (on every frequency). Despite pleas from users over several years, netgear refused to bend on this fundamental product feature.
Finally (perhaps in desperation), Netgear created another WiFi network, with the charming name "IoT" which allows the user to enable/disable the 2.4G and 5G radios separately. When a customer encounters a gizmo that refuses to connect to the Orbi 2.4G because the smartphone app is poorly written, the customer can simply turn off the 5G IoT, connect the gizmo, and then turn 5G back on again.
The RAX70, of course, allows the user to do this without even accessing the Nighthawk user interface. Just press the 5G buttons to turn off 5G, connect the gizmo, and then turn the radios back on again. Yes, every 5G device in the house loses internet for 1 minute, but who cares??? You do not need an IoT network.
In addition, the Orbi IoT WiFi network is part of the primary network. Not secured in any way.
p.s. The SXR80 product is already "End of Life", so I would not choose to build a new WiFi network around it.