MESH currenty or on roadmap

[WouterNLD]

Hi all,

Currently I am delaying my purchase due to the Orbi not being a MESH system, but a 'star' system. Since I am not able to place the router in the middle of my home, but I am convinced Orbi prevails over Eero, Luma of Google Wifi, I am searching for a clue or confirmation the Orbi could become a true MESH system.

Happy to hear any comment. Thanks.

[mdgm-ntgr · Accepted solution]

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@WouterNLD wrote:
What I understand is that a true MESH within the Orbi system is not available nor confirmed, but requested.

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Correct, but in most homes the star topology we use will give a better outcome than using mesh.

One Orbi router with one Orbi satellite can cover a very large area in most homes with high performance dedicated backhaul between the router and satellite.

We can't comment on what we may/may not have planned, but customer feedback (e.g. via the Idea Exchange) is important to us in helping us to decide where to focus our efforts.

We have already added some popular requested features such as guest wi-fi.

[Superpop]

Depends on your definition of Mesh.  It does create a singular mesh of wifi signal very well.  Only thing I do not like is the fact that I cannot use my ethernet for the backhaul.  If it did that it would be perfect.   

[mdgm-ntgr]

In a lot of homes one satellite (in addition to the router) will be sufficient to cover the whole home even if the router has to be placed in the corner of the house.

How big is your home?

[Ely]

In my opinion this is the best Mesh/Wi-Fi system ever created, I have been using routers since the early 90s no other system has given me the speed and range this system has, forget about Google Wi-Fi, Eero, Looma etc this one beats them all, sure the software still has issues, but the bugs will be worked out with future updates, besides that it will be before and after Orbi, mark my words.

[BergWest]

I understand that it is not the case currently. I have added a feature request and encourage others to vote for it:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Idea-Exchange-For-Home/Orbi-True-mesh/idi-p/1194983#M392

[WouterNLD]

Thanks all for the clarification. What I understand is that a true MESH within the Orbi system is not available nor confirmed, but requested. I've voted for it in the other post.

My home is completely build up by brick, with thick walls. It's around 300 m2 and has two stories. The router is positioned at the front hence causing the loss of connection at the other end of the house.

[RonV42]

Yes that is a issue with brick construction and some of the older plaster homes.  Wifi is almost impossible to go room to room. Orbi may not be the choice for this purpose.  I have a friend that had to go back to the central router only and then backhaul ethernet access points to get the coverang.  He lives in a really large and older home and it took 8 AP's to account for the coverage we wanted.  Each solution has it's pluses and minuses.  Orbi seems to account for moden 2 to 4,000 SqFt housing builds.

[Ely]

My home is totally made out of bricks and this is the first system that gives me consistent 90/MBps down 12MBps Up ALL the way from the front of the house to the backyard, I'm talking Internet speeds (which is what I pay Comcast for) the actual transfer speeds between devices is much more greater than that, I tell the OP try Orbi if you haven't yet and see for yourself, if you don't like it you can always return it, nothing to loose.

[mdgm-ntgr · Accepted solution]

---

@WouterNLD wrote:
What I understand is that a true MESH within the Orbi system is not available nor confirmed, but requested.

---

Correct, but in most homes the star topology we use will give a better outcome than using mesh.

One Orbi router with one Orbi satellite can cover a very large area in most homes with high performance dedicated backhaul between the router and satellite.

We can't comment on what we may/may not have planned, but customer feedback (e.g. via the Idea Exchange) is important to us in helping us to decide where to focus our efforts.

We have already added some popular requested features such as guest wi-fi.

[WouterNLD]

Thanks! I much appreciate an involved answer. I'm curious to the performance and I therefore just purchased an Orbi with satellite. 

[spewak]

Exactly my sentiments. I just enabled QOS and the bufferbloat dropped significantly.

This Orbi and satellite system give me fast wifi like no other Netgear combo did prior. I had and always purchase the latest and greatest Router from Netgear as well as the extenders. The Orbi beats them hands down.

[genobkk]

for this with faster then 100 mb download we need the 5G band to get full speed.  The most I ever get on 2.4G is 100 mb   I ha e 300 mb download and get that on my Orbi but placement is a pain when it drops to 2.4 G I lose speed.  This means we need closer placement. The option to turn 2.4G off on one might help.    Right now I have main router on first floor back corner, satalite on 3rd floor. 2nd floor 2.4G over laps poor preformance but when in 5G is is fine.  I also bounce back and fourth from main router to Satalite.  The only way to 

avoid that was placeing the Satalite in the bedroom closet on the floor on 3rd floor. That placement was ideal kept me connected to Satalite on 3rd floor on 5G while on 2nd.    I decided instead to put Satalite next te my TV so I could wire my Android box, the wifi on that sucks, no fault of the Orbi.  Anyway in that placement 2nd floor bounces between 2.4G to 5G from Satalite to router.  

 I am very happy with the Orbi over all, it increased my speed a lot.  I am just emphasizing how important placement is and the give and take it envolves.  

[dtaht]

I am interested in the dslreports bufferbloat numbers for these new products, as well as wondering if anyone at netgear has been paying attention to the work on improving wifi ( https://lwn.net/Articles/705884/ ) and building something better than fq_codel for improving QoS (https://www.bufferbloat.net/projects/codel/wiki/CakeTechnical/ ).

What lies beneath the new qos system here?

[Retired_Member]

We could not get the wifi good in our house at all and with the Orbi it fixed our house.  We have a large one story house.  2600 sq ft on 1 acre.  It covers all the house now including most of the acre.  Very impressed with this system.  We get full speed everywhere inside the house.  It may not be a mesh, but it works better than the other mesh systems and keeps the speed up.