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NETGEAR Orbi Whole Home Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 6 System (RBK753) – Router with 2 Satellite Extenders | Coverage up to 7,500 sq. ft. and 40+ Devices | AX4200 (Up to 4.2Gbps)

£9.9£99Clearance
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Testing with a 2×2 Wi-Fi 6 card in a Windows computer, the Orbi RBK752 should technically give similar performance to the RBK852, maximising the full bandwidth available on the 5GHz channel. The RBK763 is a definite upgrade on the previous-generation Orbi. It’s undeniably faster, and the physical units are smaller and neater. The standard firmware meanwhile ensures you don’t miss out on features. On its own, the RBR750 router was able to deliver 506.7Mbps at 15-feet to the Dell XPS 15 test system. This roughly tied the Linksys Velop AX4200 (507.7Mbps) and ahead of the Eero Pro 6 (436.1Mbps). None could touch the Netgear Orbi WiFi 6 RBK852 router, however, which moved 833.6Mbps. Price-wise, the Orbi RBK752 is certainly easier to stomach than its big brother. With a single device for testing, performance was quite similar, although the RBK852 still has plenty of bandwidth left. With both systems, you get the same range of features, so there’s no clear winner in either; it is a shame that neither system supports Netgear’s parental controls at the moment.

Doing that entirely undermines the purpose of MESH wireless networking, but with the limited bandwidth of the Mini, it might be the best policy.Network speed test (iPerf3) using a Lenovo Legion 5 laptop with an Intel AX210 WiFi 6 (AX) card installed connected to a workstation (Host) on 10Gbps Ethernet via a switch. In both business and home use, it probably comes down to if you are already invested in Netgear hardware and want to have a unified management solution. For those already using Netgear kit and its Insight management, the SXK30 is a good choice, but cheaper and faster options are available elsewhere for those that aren’t so invested. The first impression of the Orbi network was a different league than with Nighthawk. It worked smoothly from the start, and has done since. I have now used it for over four months, and even though I have three floors, there are no problems with the coverage in the house with two boxes. The Internet is of course at its fastest in the immediate vicinity of the node or router (they are equal in terms of speed and coverage), but the speed never drops below 200 Mbps, so in practice it is twice as fast as the cheaper Nighthawk system – and also much more stable. I have not had to reboot the system once. Nor has Wi-Fi 5 been neglected. Top speeds were once again only achieved at short range, but the results in other parts of the house were almost indistinguishable, with performance barely falling at all as we transported our last-generation laptop between the living room and bathroom. Before we get too excited, it’s worth noting that, in absolute terms, speeds were good rather than great. While the RBK752 projected a strong signal to all the places we wanted it, its Wi-Fi 6 connection was generally slower than Netgear’s standalone RAX80and even the Linksys MR7350. The reason isn’t much of a mystery. Orbi has added a whole list of features to the RBK763S that you might find useful. We’ve compiled a list of them for you:

It’s via the web interface that you get access to less frequently used features, too, such as port forwarding. For the most part, however, you shouldn’t need to roam beyond the Orbi app. Even on the SXK800 and its 6,000mbits of potential bandwidth users can only grab the same bandwidth that the router of the Mini delivers if they can bond multiple 5GHz and 2.4GHz channels into a single connection. Most users will be connecting over a single data stream and be bound by the effective limits of the bandwidth each channel offers, even if they’re the only person connecting. The RBK653 comes with two RBS350 Orbi Satellites while the RBK753 comes with two RBS750 Orbi Satellites. The RBK853 includes two RBS850 Orbi Satellites.Those connecting via 2.4GHz can expect about 150mbits at close range and half this level when further away.

Very glad to see the internal boxes cardboard with minimal plastic use inside wrapping the router and satellites inside. Keep these in the box to use them again in the future and not fill up the landfill. While the Wi-Fi specs are reduced, for clients, this system still has eight streams of Wi-Fi 6 split across two devices, which is powerful. If you buy the RBK753, which adds in an extra satellite, then you’ve got 12 streams. For example, it is not always an advantage to send at full power, if the nodes are too close to each other and create interference. But relax, it usually works just fine if you never touch these settings. Measured from the adjacent room to the node, the Orbi AX4200 gave a wireless speed of around 600 Mbit/s. Orbi in use A size comparison photo between the RBK763S and the RBK753 we reviewed recently here. We can see the RBK763S is slightly smaller than the RBK753 which while being the better spec model in the lineup. Orbi RBK763S: Setup and Configuration At just 18.9 cm (7.4 inches), the SXR30 router and SXS30 satellite (combined are called the SXK30) are less imposing, even if they have roughly the same oddly rhomboid shaping.You can find a breakdown of the available LAN ports for each satellite of all three products below:

Setting up the Orbi RBK763S requires a mobile app, so make sure you also have a NETGEAR account as this is needed. Where the SXK80 can handle a building space of up to 18,000 square feet with a maximum of six satellites, the SXK30 can also connect to six satellites but only covers 6,000 square feet. An office or retail space 77ft square is still a good size for a small business unless they have a large workshop or production area. A close-up view of the router unit from the front and side. The units look incredibly good with the white and silver colour scheme. The separation gap lights up below the Orbi logo highlighting booting up and errors and then turns off when it’s in normal operation. However, we think that Netgear missed an opportunity with this hardware by not including PoE technology with it. Where this option differs from the SXK80 hardware is that the Ethernet switch components had link aggregation and 2.5 GbE Ethernet on that design, but those features are both missing from the SXK30.

Cheaper Orbi Pro with a smaller footprint

The Orbi app is stupidly simple to use and I completed the configuration, including manually entering my ISP’s FTTP connection, WiFi configuration, connecting the two satellites, and a firmware update in about 15 minutes flat. The competition has become a lot tougher, too. If you don’t want the hassle of a mesh system and don’t have any particular dead spots to deal with, then the Netgear Nighthawk RAX200 is faster, has a tri-band Wi-Fi 6 network for devices and all the ports that you could want. Typically Orbi only offers 30-day cover out of the box so this is great to see should you be wanting a router, and personal device anti-virus all-in-one protection. Expensive? At first, I thought the same thing, but taking a look at the features and performance on offer, as well as the pricing of matching competitor products it becomes a much better option and one I fully recommend for those wanting a high-spec product that is treading very close to the toes of it’s bigger brother, the 850 series.

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