NETGEAR Orbi Whole Home Mesh WiFi System (RBK13) – Router replacement covers up to 4,500 sq. ft. with 1 Router & 2 Satellites

It does take a bit of patience for everything to come online initially, but once it's set up, it works great 👍 also looks cute

The product started out good for the first year or so.. but after the warranty period ended nothing but trouble.the product keeps asking to reset the password to remote in to see wifi status via the appconstantly dropping.. I had to create a backup SSID on my main router due to this dropping issue (what's the point of doing this when you have a Mesh!!!! :( )overall experience is not good...Going to try one of these others - Dlink, TP-Link or Linksys...buyer beware......

I got the Orbi RBK13 as a solution for a family member who has experienced frequent problems maintaining a wifi connection throughout their home. They don't have the high end devices or a fast Internet connection so maximum speed was not a concern. They just wanted an economical solution that provided a solid wifi connection throughout their house. This Orbi does just that.Setup was a breeze although I chose to use the router's embedded web interface instead of the Orbi app. Kudos to Netgear for continuing to provide this option even though they don't mention it in the quick setup instructions. Download the owner's manual for all the details. You shouldn't have to install an app to setup your router and with this device, you don't.The satellites were pre-paired so it's as easy as logging into the router, going through the step-by-step setup process, and then turning on the satellites within range of the router. The web interface will show you when everything is connected. I was impressed by the range from the router to the satellites. The furthest satellite connected directly to the router without having to daisy chain through the nearer satellite.There are a couple of features that have caused confusion which has led to some bad reviews. First, during setup you'll be offered to setup Netgear's "Circle" Parental Controls. You have to use the app to do this, but you are not required to enable it if you don't need it.Second, you will be encouraged to activate a free trial of Netgear's "Armor" cyber-security suite. This is an optional free trial for a paid subscription service. If you do not want a comprehensive security suite you can simply decline to activate this service and use your Orbi like any other router. Demerits to Netgear for not making it more clear that you're not required to subscribe to this service.Finally, some users are confused about the nature of this device. By default, Orbi functions as an Internet router and completely replaces your existing router. Install Orbi in place of your router and recycle the old router. It is just as suited to that task as most consumer routers and it adds a very good mesh wifi on top of it.If you already have an advanced router and you want to keep it and add mesh wifi then you can put Orbi on your network behind your router and configure it as just a mesh wifi access point for your home network and Internet. In the Orbi menus, select "Advanced Setup" and then "Router/AP Mode" and select "AP Mode" instead of "Router." Disable the wifi on your existing router to avoid interference and connect to the Orbi access point instead.

I am saving money by not renting from Spectrum, and with a mesh router I now have better coverage. Set up was easy and I can monitor connections to my network with the Orbi app. The speed and signal strength are good throughout my 3000 sq. Foot home. Rebooting can be done from the app or from the base station.

To give you context for this review, I am an electrical engineer with 50 year experience with computers and other devices - designing them as well as using them. So...Once I got this up and running it seems to work very well. Definitely better than what I had before. However, getting it up and running was a royal pain. I had to run through their procedure many times to finally get it going. Basically did the same thing every time, following their directions each time. One time it started giving me notices that it had blocked the phone I was using to set it up with due to some malicious attack! Finally I was able to get through all the steps of the setup and have everything work properly - doing the same steps every time. Obviously the setup procedure needs work.Then there is the note in the directions that if one uses the same SSID and password other devices would automatically reconnect. WRONG! While they did try to connect to the same WiFi network I had to reenter the password on each and every device.Finally, don't believe the sped test. It is testing the connectivity speed/quality of the base station through the modem to your ISP. Usually, what you really want is to see what is happening at the device you are using. While my ORBI speed test on the phone app says 250M, my remote devices range anywhere from 45M to 100M - depending on how far each is from one of the base or satellites. I suppose the phone test is useful when determining what your network is capable of with multiple users, but beware if you think you will get that number anywhere in the house.Of course, as noted above, these speeds are much better than what I had with my previous router so I am not complaining about that - only that the app test can be misleading and the initial setup was a nightmare.I would have given this five stars if it had my experience was what the ad copy promised. The WiFi access lived up to that promise, but the other issues brought the rating down to a four.