Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This review is for a NETGEAR Orbi Whole Home Tri-band Mesh WiFi 6 System (RBK752) – Router with 1 Satellite Extender | Coverage up to 5,000 sq. ft. and 40+ Devices | AX4200 (Up to 4.2Gbps). Android application version: 2.10.1.1583 Router and Satellite Firmware Version V3.2.18.1_1.4.14 Given how long Netgear has been in the WiFi Router business and comparing this to Netgear products I owed many years ago, I find this product profoundly disappointing and would in no way recommend it to anyone for any reason. This kit consists of an RBR750 router, an RBS750 satellite, two AC adapters with proprietary barrel adaptors, and a CAT 5e ethernet cable. My ISP is Comcast/Xfinity and I have Gigabit internet service through a Motorola MB8611 DOCSIS 3.1 Cable Modem, that supports 6 Gbps Max Speed. The router I am replacing is a Google Wifi - AC1200 - Mesh WiFi System - Wifi Router - 4500 Sq Ft Coverage - 3 pack. In my area there are 20+ WiFi networks, so there is a lot of interference that necessitates a mesh system for decent performance. I have about 30 devices in about 3000 square feet connected via ethernet and WiFi. All my cabling is CAT 6, which should easily support Gigabit speeds, and I have a wired backhaul connection between the router and the satellite. The android phone used was a Google Pixel 4a. Initial setup is through the Android Orbi app. It's supposed to be as simple as connecting the cable modem and router, starting with them powered off, then following the app instructions by powering up the modem, waiting for it to connect, then powering up the router. It took about half a dozen tries for the app to even recognize there was a router to set up (with the phone at various distances from the router from a few inches to several feed. I'm not sure why it failed several times and why it eventually worked. When it worked one of the first things it did was a firmware update before it established a network. Initial performance was poor - at best similar to the old WiFi 4 Google Mesh system, and in many places slower (about half the speed). I eventually figured out that while the setup process had updated the router firmware, it had not updated the satellite. Once I updated the satellite, speed improved dramatically, with many speeds about double the older Google Wifi, and in some places as much as 8x the speed. But why didn't it get updated on initial; setup? The Android app, the router web interface, and the firmware are primitive, unintuitive, feature poor,and buggy with similar actions often having different results, even small configuration changes requiring a router restart, and the results of software and hardware restarts often being different and causing different malfunctions. It's like bad software from the 70's and there is no excuse for it. One of the most annoying issues was the router would stop listing attached devices for no apparent reason and would require a hard power off of the satellite then the router and a hard power up in the reverse order to cause attached devices to reappear - then for no apparent reason at some point it would stop listing them again. This is a problem Netgear has had several times in the past with various firmware updates - again there is no excuse for this. Periodically, the network seems to freeze for a few seconds to a few minutes several times a day for no apparent reason. And finally to add insult to injury you are plagued for requests to purchase additional warranty, additional support, and an additional security subscription for an unreliable system that is very expensive for the quality and feature set and comes with minimal warranty, support, and a brief trial security subscription. Don't buy it. Choose a different brand that offers more value for money, has friendlier and more reliable software, and comes with better warranty and support and does not require additional subscriptions for functionality. Netgear - shame on you.