NETGEAR - Orbi 860 Series Tri-Band WiFi 6 Mesh System

I did have similar issues with my first Orbi which was an RBK50 it was fine for 1-2 days when dropped down to 1/4 of my speed. Rebooted it was fine again. Always happened. Tried a different router and that was fine for a wee but again the Orbi dropped to 1/4 speeds after 2 days when I changed back. (On all devices including wired) I read that someone was having the same issues on another brand mesh system and he replaced the LAN cable from the Fibre ONT to router and he was fine. That’s what I did and I never had a trouble with that set again. Went fine for another couple years until I upgraded to the 860 series haven’t had issues with this one yet

I hated the WiFi 6 Orbi system I bought. It was lacking so many fairly basic features, such as QoS, firmware updates breaking basic functionality, and a very lackluster app-focused experience.  I replaced it with an ASUS WiFi 7 system comprised of a RoG router with two Zen nodes and it’s been a lot more solid with far more configuration options than I’ve ever seen on a residential router.  Maybe the Orbi WiFi 7 line has solved their earlier issues, but I’ll never buy one again based on my prior experience. 

Netgear Orbi mesh all the way

Netgear switches - great Netgear Pro AV - great Netgear consumer Orbi - total shit

Had an ORBI for many years, its had numerous minor issues over the years but it finally stopped functioing a month or two ago and I go myself an Archer AX10, quite happy with setup and no issues so far.

I love the Synology management features but I have found their range and signal strength is horrible compared to other mesh systems and I have a lot of hiccups with Apple devices that I didn’t have on the Orbi. I just didn’t like paying for parental controls so I switched. Now that my kids are older, I’m considering going back to Orbi or trying out Eero.

It depends on what you want. I have a Nether Mesh system that I disabled the router function on and use a home built pFSense unit running on a micro pc with multiple LAN ports. I don’t get full functionality out of it and I intend to learn more about it. Works great. The NetGear Orbi series is a good base to learn from

If you are going to depend on WIFI mesh is a great choice. Main with one remote with 1700 ft is probably great but one with two even better. You don't necessarily need all the newest wifi whistles and bells but the user interface on the newer mesh systems is a huge help. My orbi system has all kinds of things like idiot lights that while I don't need them still are nice.

The wireless backhaul is nothing to sniff at on the better domestic mesh systems. I've got a higher end orbi system, and move an absolute boatload of data around, with more than 50 attached devices on the network, and it holds up very, very well. Your average home user will be well served by a Deco mesh.

Since I've had Sonos gear in my house, I've run three mesh wifi routers: a Netgear Orbi, a Tp-Link XE-75 Pro and now a Eero 6E. By far the Eero has been the easiest, most stable and most reliable of the bunch. The TP-Link was absolute garbage and nothing but a headache for the 6 months I had it.