#Netgear genie for windows 7 cnet software

The Orbi's performance dropped off with distance, but not as rapidly as the Google Wifi's. Percentages indicate change from 5-foot measurement on same device. * Line-of-sight testing with a single router point. Router Performance Compared (in Mbps)* Header Cell - Column 0 It was 19 percent faster at this distance than Google Wifi, 34 percent faster than the Linksys Velop and 50 percent faster than the Ubiquiti AmpliFi HD. Using IxChariot software, Purch Labs' real-world testing showed that a single Orbi router could deliver a combined average throughput of 552.1 megabits per second (Mbps) at 5 feet. Make no mistake about it: All of this makes the Orbi a powerful beast. A QCA9984 chip controls the backhaul data channel. With the Orbi router 30 feet and two walls away, the Orbi extension projected 429.1 Mbps to a laptop one floor above it - more than double Google Wifi's performance.Įach Orbi device has Qualcomm's IPQ4019 Wi-Fi control chip and radio as well as a 710-MHz quad-core ARM-based processor with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of solid-state storage space. (The dedicated backhaul channel uses 4x4 radios.) But the Orbi adds the latest MU-MIMO (multi-user, multiple input and multiple output) Wi-Fi technology for sending focused data streams to several devices at the same time. Like Google Wifi, the Orbi is a 2x2 router, and can handle two simultaneous streams of data to properly configured devices, per frequency band.

#Netgear genie for windows 7 cnet software

(Orbi units sold in packs come out of the box synchronized.) Each Orbi sports a USB 2.0 port as well, but, like the Bluetooth radios, they're awaiting activation by a future software update. There are also buttons to reset a device and to synchronize the router with extra satellites. You can use the other LAN ports to connect to printers, network-attached storage drives and stationary PCs.

On the router, one port is yellow and connects to your broadband modem. Newer models in the Orbi line have all been true mesh systems.Įach Orbi's backside has a power input, an on/off button and four gigabit Ethernet ports. Update: This is no longer the case, and the Orbi RBK50 has had true mesh capability since the firmware was changed in late 2018. The router can handle up to three satellites, but each satellite communicates directly with the host router in a hub-and-spoke arrangement, rather than in a true mesh topology that would let data pass from one satellite to another. You can't randomly decide which unit should be the router and which should be the repeater. There's also a Bluetooth radio and antenna, but they're dormant for now.Īlthough they look the same, the Orbi's router unit and satellite units are not interchangeable. To support this configuration, each Orbi device has six high-performance amplified antennas around its perimeter. Because of this side channel, the main links between the Orbi units and your devices stay strong and fast. There's a twist, though: Netgear adds a second 5-GHz, 1.7Gbps radio that's exclusively dedicated to the backhaul, the data being transmitted from the router Orbi unit to the satellite Orbis and back again.

The primary 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz radios provide a theoretical peak throughput of 1.2Gbps of data flow to user devices. The Orbi transmits Wi-Fi data on three radio-frequency bands. But if it glows amber, your internet connection is weak if it's magenta, your connection is gone. When an Orbi device glows white around the oval on top, it's starting up. Like Google Wifi, the Orbi units have color-coded LEDs.