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RBRe960 versus RBR860
My trusted RBR 850 failed. I am trying to decide whether to replace with an RBR860 versus RBRe960. I have 3 rbs850 satellites (probably overkill for my house 4500 square feet but needed Ethernet ports...
- Figured it out! Bad Ethernet cable.
I really appreciate your assistance.
One last question - why if the RBR960 and RBR860 both can take up to 10gb download from router and I have an internet speed of 1400 Mbps according to Orbi app (xfinity feed) do I not see more than 850 Mbps on my iPhone (with Wi-Fi 6) even when in same room as router?
Beantowm111 wrote:
Is the 960 though more $$ better bet for future proofing then 860? Appreciated thoughts.
The 960 product differs from the 860 in two areas:
- It supports WiFi6E (the 6GHz frequency band). WiFi6E devices do not compete for WiFi capacity with existing WiFi5 and WiFi6 devices which use the 5GHz frequency band. WiFi6E has (a) higher theoretical bandwidth, but (b) is affected more by distance and building materials. When (or if) you have devices which support WiFi6E, those devices will perform better with the 960 than the 860.
- The 960 features a 2.5GB Ethernet LAN port, which can be used to provide higher speed to wired devices. For example, a 2.5GB Ethernet switch can be connected to that port and 960 satellites can be wired to the router at 2.5GB speed. You could buy a 2.5GB Ethernet card for a PC (or NAS?) and thus provide faster speed to such devices. Until you have a device (or devices) capable of 2.5GB Ethernet, this port provides no added benefit.
Unless I read Xfinity's web page incorrectly, the maximum speed offered by Xfinity is 1.2GB.
https://www.xfinity.com/gig The 860's 10GB WAN port already supports that speed. Thus, the only advantage of the 960 in terms of Xfinity is the ability to get 20% faster speed out the 2.5GB Ethernet port. Is it worth spending all that money (and upgrading device Ethernet cards) to get 20% more speed?
I certainly would not be in any hurry to buy a 960 router.
- Thank you - the one thing I notice is that the 960 satellite appears to provide better speed (non wired when going through floors and plaster walls over a distance. Interestingly it does worse when going through more solid structures (center of my house). In idea why that would be.
- I missed you point about 6e and building materials. That explains it. Thanks! You
WiFi speeds are impacted by many factors. The product data sheets describe the 860 and 960 satellite radios the same for the user facing 5G band:
860 - 2400Mbps, 2x2 MIMO and:
960 - 2400Mbps, 2x2 MIMO and
I have found that measuring WiFi speed can be affected by the orientation of devices (i.e. when I walk around the house holding a tablet to create a WiFi Heat Map, it depends on how I hold the tablet. Should I hold it vertically? Horizontally? pointed at which access point (I am measuring 4 at the same time.) I have also never seen any sort of "Antenna Pattern" description of the Orbi WiFi radios. It is clear from the FCC submissions that the pairs of user facing antennas (2x2 MIMO requires two antennas) are mounted vertically. Does it matter if the user device is "flat on" to the antennas, or "sideways"? My gut tells me, "heck yes", but official literature would be more satisfying.
There also could be things "hidden" in the walls that affect speed in one location but not another. a 3" iron sewer pipe may not seem like much, but might create quite a WiFi "shadow" in terms of a smartphone that is only 3" wide. HVAC ductwork is often galvanized steel.
Honestly, I'm surprised to hear that the results are strikingly different. Satellites are portable. Does the difference persist if they are swapped around?
- Moving the 960 satellite so it route to the router was through floors rather than walls improved it immensely. But I think you have made great points about value. While I got a discount on the 960 pair it still more than twice as much as just getting 860 and I am not seeing 2x improvements. And while my 850s satellites seem to work fine with the 960, I know if a problem occurs there will be no support. So I think I will hold with 860 and wait for Wi-Fi 7 for next big jump. Thank you so much.