Orbi 960 Series Quad-band WiFi 6E Mesh

Main unit is an RBRE950 and then I have two RBSE960 satellites that require frequent rebooting. Both are wired. The internet gets slower and slower until it stops working. At the suggestion of a reddit discussion I regressed to firmware V7.2.6.21\_5.0.20 . My prior firmware version isn't even listed on the Orbi website any longer. I assume that means it was so buggy they retracted it. My entire mesh system cost $1600 which I wish I had back to invest into something else.

As far as I know there is no mesh router with 5G. That being said I’d recommend you get a good 5G router like the netgear m6 pro and a great wifi7 router like the netgear rs700. I used to have the orbi 960 and they suck. When the orbis are working they are super fast. But at times they are not working… that got on my nerves so much that I now have the rs700 for wifi and I don’t even need a mesh.

No 6Ghz I believe and limited ports. Meant for entry level BE system for those wanting some BE support but can't afford the higher price of the other models I would guess. The 960 would out perform the 370 on most levels accept for BE and MLO support.

I had Orbi 960s and switched to Eero a couple of months ago….One of the best decisions of my life. Won’t bore you with the details, but I had frequent connection issues across all of my devices, from phones, to tvs to cameras. And the range was atrocious. After receiving a lack of support, I made the switch. I’ve been able to cover my home with less Max 7s and it’s been near flawless except for a few devices on the edge of my network struggling to stay connected.

Had the RBR50 and three satellites for many years. Replaced with RBRE960 pack including two satellites. System far out performs the RBR50 and has better reach than the four previous Orbi nodes. Haven't had any software issues. recognize that there were some issues with 50 and this system is very solid out of the box. didn't have to finagle with settings like on the 50 to optimize performance. It does 6E great. Not sure getting wifi 7 now to 'future proof' makes sense because by the time enough devices have the capability, there will be several generations of improvements. I'm pretty tech astute and like getting current devices, and 6E is on about five devices out of 60 on the network. Not following the latest Orbi offerings but this set is doing a great job on 1GB Fios network. It's boring because it just works.

Interesting. I'm using the 960 and was thinking about buying an extra used satellite, but they go for $250-300 - which is nuts. I could practically replace the existing system with this for nearly the same amount. What am I missing? How is this set so cheap and wifi7 versus their other existing wifi 7 offerings that are 2-4x as expensive?

If you can run a wired backhaul, a Ubiquiti is the way to go. Absolutely do not buy Orbi. I've heard tales of the older ones being good, but my experience with the 960 was awful and the shared experiences of some 770 and 970 users look horrifying. Also, avoid the TP-Link hardware. There is more than an even chance it gets banned for sale in the US (and with that, the firmware support will go poof).

I'd like to piggyback on your post if you don't mind. I have an Orbi mesh system too (960) with the main router and 2 satellites in AP mode. I've been using the Enterprise 24 PoE switch paired with a Cloudkey G2 Plus for a few years and wanted to deploy some Unifi WiFi as well. I don't have the time to run ethernet cables throughout my house so Orbi was the best I could do for WiFi. I recently found that the Unifi Express 7's can do mesh networking so I was thinking of getting 3 of those to replace the 3 Orbi's I have. The way I want to do this is have one of the UX7 units hardwired to either a 2.5GiB port on the switch or a 10GB SFP+. Then have the other 2 set up via wireless mesh. The questions I have are: 1. Does Unifi use a dedicated wireless backhaul like the Orbi? 2. Can wired clients physically located close to the UX7 units use their wired ports?

Two weeks ago I switched out my Orbi 960 (not 970) 3-piece set for an Eero Max 7 (Gateway) and 2 Eero Pro 7’s. Orbi was working but we have WiFi 7 capable phones (16 Pro/Pro Max) and I expect more devices soon. Orbi is more complex to administer with a web interface rather than Eero’s very simple app. It offers a couple of things that Eero doesn’t, such as a separate IoT network and more flexibility in restricting which network is on which band etc. Eero’s are more compact and simply look better, and I’m completely satisfied with how mine work. One Pro is upstairs with a wireless backhaul, but ethernet-wired to our TV and Sonos sound bar, no problem, hits the cars in the driveway too. The other Pro has wired ethernet backhaul to the gateway. We have 2Gbps internet fiber service. We have good WiFi coverage all around. House is 2100 sq ft. Edit: forgot to mention, the Orbi 960 system would lose internet on the regular…the router would show its red/pink light and would have to reboot or power cycle it. Annoying. Have had zero outages/reboots with Eero in the past couple of weeks.

There is cheaper but I don't think you can go wrong with a Netgear Orbi mesh.

Maybe commenters posts would be clearer if they included intended audience information but my wireless Netgear Orbi 750 mesh serves me well and my son has no complaints about his Orbi 9xx system. I suspect posters are confusing good enough, even excellent, with what is the best possible.