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.

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.

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?

It depends, I guess. I have a Netgear Orbi Wi-Fi 6E with three satellites using Wi-Fi backhaul. I have the Orbi in AP mode and NOT router mode as I prefer to used my own dedicated hardware for routing AND it avoids all kinds of routing issues with the Orbi. Perfectly stable with a Sonos setup around the house and I think that's a GOOD test! I have a VoIP app on the iPhone and that is absolulty fine on the Wi-Fi with no issues on latency or jitter (at least to my ears!). Did a Oookla speedest just now from my iPhone going iPhone Wi-Fi --> Orbi Satellite 1 --> Wi-Fi backhaul to Orbi base --> wired to LAN switch --> router/firewall --> 2nd router --> ISP ONT --> ISP 1 Gb/s CGNAT service --> Internet. Speed was around 980 Mb/s up and down. I'm getting great Wi-Fi coverage around the house. Your milage my vary of course, depending on your environment. I'd have gone to the trouble of putting in wired backhaul for the Orbi satellites but just using the Wi-Fi backhaul is more than good enough for me, so I've stopped right there.

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?