Need advice on Orbi purchase RBK43

[Cansley]

I am considering purchasing this system for a 4500 sg ft  two level home. 15-20 devices including 3 Ring Spotlight cameras that I cannot get a good signal to with my current Asus Wi-Fi router (I think due to odd layout of home/stucco walls). Cameras work well if bring them inside close to current router. I have read all the reviews and also looked through the forums here. It seems like there have been a lot of firmware issues. I have seen similar complaints about competing brands as well. I can’t seem to find a “slam dunk” reliable product but they all seem to have at least some issues.  We definitely need to improve Wi-Fi reception in more than 50% of the home so I need to try something. Any advice? Thanks in advance.

[t_k]

Cansley -

DO NOT BUY THE ORBI SYSTEM AT ALL - ANY CONFIGURATION. They are completley  unstable and you'll go mad trying to track down the disconnects.

There are signficant bugs in the backhaul system that Netgear is trying to keep quiet. See my post about the problems here. See the people demanding refunds here.

I can personally vouch for a rock solid and fast stable system - the Ubiquity Unifi's. You can use a wired or wireless "backhaul" (obviously, wired is best). The down side is that they cost about 20% more and require a $90 "cloud key" device if you don't want to run a local controller computer.

While I can't personally vouch for them, the Eeros have been recommended by collogues. These are cheaper and dead-simple to configure.

In any case, the Orbi's are KNOWN TO NOT WORK. You are guarnteed to be throwing away your money with these.

[JoeCymru]

I come to this forum often just to lurk mostly, and see what issues others are having ... sort of proactive knowledge I imagine. After each time I do, I wait for a series of explosions coming ever nearer as first the satellites vaporize one by one in a cloud of electronic shards to be followed by the router going up in a minature mushroom cloud.

So far that has not happened. Am I just lucky? Am I the chosen one? I am unsure why my system works so well. Perhaps it is a fluke that for over two months my system has been up and solid (with one minor exception).

Out of the box everything fired up and synced up as advertised. I read about placement and distance, observed various potential obstructions, and decided where I would try them ... all went well. The satellites backhaul was 5G, and all my devices connected in due time at 5G (except the printer which was 2.4 only). The firmware updated with no consequence.

The only exception was the .18 firmware update. One satellite began to show "poor" 5G backhaul. I unchecked the daisy chain option in the GUI, and it switched to "good".

I am getting ISP contracted speed everywhere in the house and my worst signal strength (on 5G) anywhere is -55db, with most areas running about -32 to -40db.

I have -60db outside in my detached pergola by the back fence.

My only hard **bleep** is that the IFTTT compatibility issue has not been fixed.

Mesh wifi definitely multiplies the variables over stand alone or stand alone with extenders, but so far I am elated that I can stream a movie on the far corner of the house away from the main router in the opposite corner, without worrying about buffering (4K), and the normal 11 or 12 devices usually hooked up at one time are always connected at speed. 

Still have high anxiety - after coming here may times - about the soud of approaching explosions.

[tsig]

Have had mine for 3 weeks and it is working just fine.  At this point I would recommend it.  It just works well and seamless for me.  For sure though keep your receipts in case you can't get your ring products to work.  I used a credit card that offers extended warranty for free just in case.