Orbi RBK50 3 pack vs RAX80 Router for my network

[jfpetesn]

Need some advice.  My home network is 90% wired with about 50 devices total.  Wireless for iphones, doorbell, and ipads.  4400 two level brick home.  Recently started streaming for our television and my 9 yo Asus router is struggling.  I also have an NAS and 5 720p cameras.      Looking at replacing my old router with the RAX80 which will work fine. However I have 3 access points to get great coverage.  If I go with the Orbi then that solves the coverage issues and I can get rid of the APs and simplify the network.

So I just need to know if the Orbi has enough routing strength to stream 3 720p firetv's at a time and handle some occassional large file transfers to my NAS as well as my security cameras.  My current Asus NT-66u router has been great but it is ageing and we have started having some DNS issues. 

I know the RAX80 will do the job and is certainly a robust router but really more router than I need.  Our house is large so coverage is an issue.  The Orbi will solve the coverage issues but is the router function good enough to handle the load.  I can also hardwire the back channel with no problem.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Jeff Peterson

[CrimpOn]

There are Orbi users on this forum who report over 100 devices, most of them WiFi.  We also have users who have gigabit ISP connections.  (There are regular complaints, "I'm not achieving my full gig through the Orbi.", to which I mutter, "not a problem for ME with my crummy 200mb connection!!!)

720p security cameras are not an issue.  I have five 5MP cameras and some 1024 cameras.  Orbi is not a limiting factor.  There are also some users who stream 4K video, which probably consumes more bandwidth than several 720p TV's.

My guess is the new AX router has more processing power than the six year old Orbi RBR50.  All I can find on-line is the RBR50 has a Qualcom IPQ4019 at 717MHz with 4 cores and the new AX has an unknown Qualcom at 2.3GHz with 4 cores.

http://en.techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com/wiki/List_of_802.11ac_Hardware/Wireless_Routers 

http://en.techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com/wiki/List_of_802.11ax_Hardware 

(It looks like the new product is so new that tech specs have not been discovered yet, or the web site  not updated yet.)

This is an awkward time to be investing in mesh WiFi.  Every manufacturer is coming out with products which support the WiFi 6 standard which was just ratified in September.  Netgear has the AX Orbi and at least one AX Nighthawk.  Linksys is releasing an AX Velop.  So far, there are only a few shipping products which make use of WiFi 6 (Samsung phone, Lenovo laptop...)  Netgear's Orbi WiFi 6 has its own user forum where people who rushed out and bought one comment on what they like and don't like: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/bd-p/en-home-orbi-ax   So, do you spend $400 on an RBK53 with one router and two satellites, or $700 on the AX with one router and one satellite??  For certain, those 50 existing devices gain nothing from WiFi 6 - nothing. 

And, if Netgear even the product you want?  When I wanted a mesh router, Orbi was about the only thing available.  Today, every company under the sun makes at least one.  (TP-Link makes at least two, maybe three!)

That's all I've got.  Maybe one of the more experienced forum members will have concrete advice.