eero Home WiFi System vs Netgear Orbi RBK50

This device has twice the range(120ft) of a traditional router(60ft) while offering up to 5x's the connection speed at the same distances. The software and companion app help you place the devices in the best locations for signal strength, allowing you to play video games in your treehouse with the main router in the basement.

This comes with a companion app that allows you to monitor your internet speeds, monitor your network away from home, even set up usage schedules for other household members.

You can buy 1 or 3 of these and make the most of a network you already have built at home, or completely replace it. This product can work with a multitude of network adapters, allowing more options than buying the bundle of 3.

Keeping the Orbi router around 30 feet and two walls away, the Orbi extension projected 429.1 Mbps to a laptop one floor above. This is almost double the performance other mesh network systems provide.

In the Purch Labs material-penetration tests, the Orbi's transmissions were powerful enough to penetrate a metal-frame wall, a ceiling and a soundboarded wall with very little drop-off.

This tri-band AC3000 device can deliver theoretical throughput speeds of 1,266Mbps (400Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 866Mbps on the 5GHz band). The third 5GHz band can reach maximum speeds of 1,733Mbps. In real life testing the Orbi router turns in a score of 480Mbps, and the satellite delivers 470Mbps.

The Netgear Orbi WiFi system can cover up to 6,000 square feet home. The router itself can cover 2,000 square feet and one satellite unit covers additional 2,000 square feet. It’s possible to add a second extender for a total coverage of 6,000 square feet.

The idea is that you would put the main router near your ISP's modem and then just add the extender where it’s needed the most.

Setting up the Orbi is very easy, you don't need to have any prior knowledge on how to set up a mesh network or how Wi-Fi works. All you need to do is to turn on the main router, download the Orbi app, and follow few simple steps.

Then you need to find a place for satellite where you can get best possible coverage. Connection between main router and satellite will be done automatically.

Netgear Orbi supports some integration with Amazon Alexa. Admittedly for now it only supports simple stuff like turning on or off the guest network, but the potential is there.

Besides the obvious, like changing the password and network name, the Orbi desktop app, once connected allows users to customize things like adjust the router's maximum transmission unit or perform port forwarding and configuring IPV6 addressing.

You can also set up a guest network using the desktop app.