I recently purchased an Orbi set up (RBK353-100) to replace a Linksys Velop systemthat says it is Tri Band. Reason for this was I did not think the Velop system was handling device switching etc very well and disconnecting quite a lot. Orbi has been fine so far however the question is this:
The Orbi says it's WIFI 6, and having read up on this most say WIFI 6 is Tri Band. But the product I have got says its dual band. So have I replaced a product with an inferior one?
Netgear has set up a community forum specifically for the Orbi AX product. Most of the people who watch that forum are more likely to have experience with Orbi AX and know how to work it better than those of us who follow this "general Orbi" forum. Might be more likely to find someone who has a solution if the question is posted there: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/bd-p/en-home-orbi-ax
The 3 series is dual band AX. The 7 and 8 series is Tri band.
The Orbi says it's WIFI 6, and having read up on this most say WIFI 6 is Tri Band. But the product I have got says its dual band. So have I replaced a product with an inferior one?
@FURRYe38is correct that the RBK353 product is "Dual Band". Says that clearly in the Product Data Sheet.
"Inferior" is a judgement call. I prefer "You may not get what you pay for, but you almost never get more than you pay for." The RBK353 is clearly not the "top of the line" Orbi AX product. It is the entry level, foot in the door product priced to compete with similar products from other manufacturers.
WiFi 6 (which is 802.11ax - where Netgear gets the "AX" for this line of products) offers a number of capabilities that improve on 802.11ac, provided that the customer actually has WiFi 6 products to use with the system. The older Velop did not support 802.11ax. So, if you have WiFi 6 devices, the RBK353 is superior.
"Dual Band" means that the single 5G radio is used for both user devices and for connection between the router and satellite. This is common on less expensive products. This product uses 802.11ax for the backhaul communication, which is more efficient than 802.11ac. On balance, sharing the ratio probably impacts performance more than ax improves performance, so the RBK353 is inferior to the Velop.
Ok, so the velop I have does not appear to have WiFi 6 but does have tri band, so it’s not the easiest judgement call to make. I certainly have found the Orbi to run more smoothly and have got great speed and range from it.
The next question is if I set the velop and it’s nodes to bridge mode, wire the router upstairs and use the nodes up there, would they be good as access points? Obviously both are mesh systems but I would only really be using the Orbi properly but the velop as access points. Would they conflict?
@Jduggs wrote: Ok, so the velop I have does not appear to have WiFi 6 but does have tri band, so it’s not the easiest judgement call to make. I certainly have found the Orbi to run more smoothly and have got great speed and range from it.
The next question is if I set the velop and it’s nodes to bridge mode, wire the router upstairs and use the nodes up there, would they be good as access points? Obviously both are mesh systems but I would only really be using the Orbi properly but the velop as access points. Would they conflict?
My earlier post left out the point that the does not suffer from the problems that the Velop had, so it is definitely superior.
Any brand of WiFi can be attached to the Orbi as access points. The main issue is that they will create a separate WiFi network which will not "mesh" with the Orbi. Even if given the same SSID/password as the Orbi WiFi, devices will not roam between them as they do with the Orbi. "Why is my tablet not streaming like I want? Oh, fudge. I'm connected to upstairs and I came downstairs. Forget WiFi. Reconnect. Oh, now I'm upstairs again."
As far as conflict, it would be a good idea to set the Orbi and the Velop 2.4G channels so that they do not overlap (1,6,11 in the US). Page 138 of the user manual indicates that for 5G the RBK353 uses channel 157 in the North America and PR (Puerto Rico?) and channel 108 in the rest of the world. Would want to set the Velop 5G channel to something else.
I can think of few reasons to keep the Velop, such as
As a spare in case the Orbi fails. (I always keep the old WiFi router around.)
If the Orbi does not provide adequate coverage and another Orbi satellite is either not available or too costly.
To set up a separate WiFi network for specific devices, such as those damn Ring cameras everyone has so much trouble with or other "Internet of Things" (IoT) devices that are difficult to connect to the Orbi.
