NETGEAR - Orbi 960 Series Quad-band WiFi 6E Mesh 3-Pack (RBKE963)

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.

Orbi mesh 6e model RBRE963E with satellites. I've used it with Sonic since it was released in late 2021 and it has been reliable. Pricey, but I understand Netgear has released less expensive Orbi mesh routers in recent years.

If your phone is dropping off WiFi it's probably due to weak signal. Upgrading to WiFi 7 won't necessarily improve signal range. What you might need are APs or a "Mesh" system with better antennas to improve your signal. These are the models my network planning software indicate have the best signal range (> 29dBm signal): * Eero 6, Pro 6, Pro 6E, 7 (not the Max 7 or Pro 7) * TP-Link Deco BE63, BE65 Pro * Netgear Orbi RBE770, RBE771, RBE973, RBKE963, RBR850, RBS850 There might be additional, newer models that also put out > 29dBm. My network planning software doesn't list every consumer-level mesh system, and mesh system manufacturers don't specify power levels in their specs. Ironically, these are all "Mesh" systems; standalone APs put out around 20-24dBm. Each 3dBm results in twice the signal strength, so the difference in range between 23 and 29dBm can be considerable. To get > 29dBm from an AP you'd have to step up to an audience-level AP that would cost over $500 each. It doesn't matter whether you use APs or a "Mesh" system with wired Ethernet backhaul. I put "Mesh" in quotes because, according to standards, that only applies to nodes interconnected via WiFi. But consumer brands have hijacked the term to describe both wireless backhaul and support for seamless roaming (802.11k/v/r). Anyway, APs tend to be more expensive than Mesh systems, and most require a controller (on the same brand router or dedicated appliance, or running on a Win/Mac/Linux or cloud system) to support seamless roaming. The only benefit of using an AP vs Mesh system is support for multiple, user-defined VLANs/SSIDs instead of the standard two or three VLANs that can't be modified (main and guest, sometimes also an IOT network).

Orbi 6 currently Costco usually has great deals on newer mesh systems.

Netgear Orbi 2 or 3 unit mesh wifi kit. Or, more expensive but with more options Ubiquiti kit. Those are your best performance choices.

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

I moved from a Netgear Nighthawk router and extender to an Orbi network... Well worth it to me.

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