Netgear Brings WiFi 7 to Its Flagship Orbi Family, Unleashing Elite Connectivity at US$2,300

[TheLostSwede]

NETGEAR, Inc., the leading provider of award-winning connected products designed to simplify and improve people's lives, today took its award-winning Orbi line to new heights with a powerful new antenna design and exclusive, patented technology that enhance the benefits of WiFi 7. Born of over 25 years of NETGEAR pioneering WiFi expertise, the Orbi 970 Series delivers unparalleled performance, speeds of up to 27 Gbps, a slim, elegant design and high-performance antennas for 360-degree coverage across just about any home, no matter the layout.

With the rise of faster multi-gig internet speeds now available to more households, the growing number of connected devices per family and the ever-increasing growth of bandwidth-intensive applications such as 4K/8K video streaming, HD Zoom calls, graphics-focused work, highly interactive real-time gaming and immersive AR/VR entertainment, the need for faster WiFi speeds, lower latency and more capacity becomes imperative. Enter WiFi 7. While WiFi 6E opened the 6 GHz band as a superhighway for the latest, fastest devices, WiFi 7 builds on that promise by expanding the channels to 320 MHz and unleashing unprecedented speeds and performance. The Orbi 970 Series maximizes the potential of the new standard with innovative, new technology that ensures the benefits are delivered throughout the home, from the front door to the backyard, across all devices simultaneously.




Unmatched speeds, ready for the future
Orbi's exclusive, patented Quad-Band technology and unique Enhanced Dedicated Backhaul ensure WiFi stays fast across all devices. Setting Orbi apart from competitors, NETGEAR configures multi-link operation (MLO), a feature of WiFi 7, to create Enhanced Dedicated Backhaul which combines a dedicated 5 GHz band with a 6 GHz band to double the connection speed between the router and satellites and achieve 10 Gig wireless backhaul for reduced latency, and data delivery with maximum speed. The system's Smart Connect feature also intelligently selects the fastest WiFi band for each connected device.

The router features a 10 Gig internet port as well as one 10 Gig and four 2.5 Gig Ethernet ports, to achieve the fastest speeds available today. The new, elegant, cylindrical bodies of the routers and satellites are purposefully designed for optimal performance while gracing the home with their slim profile and smaller overall footprint to fit unobtrusively on a desk, entertainment unit or shelf. They feature 12 high-performance internal antennas with high-powered amplifiers for 360-degree, wall to wall, front to back coverage.

"The Orbi 970 Series is another major milestone in delivering the extraordinary power of our patented Quad Band technology across the whole home - from the wine cellar to the game room to the backyard grill - with speeds up to 2.4x faster than WiFi 6," said David Henry, president & GM of Connected Home Products and Services at NETGEAR. "We've combined our extensive RF (radio frequency) expertise and new patented technology with the features of WiFi 7 to provide the fastest WiFi speeds, ensuring anything and everything connected to the Orbi 970 system operates at optimal performance even across the most demanding smart homes."

Valuable Services
The kit comes with one year of NETGEAR Armor Powered by Bitdefender 2, providing an automatic shield of security for connected devices. Unlike traditional endpoint antivirus products, Armor is built into the router as an all-in-one security solution to monitor activity going to and from the internet, protecting computers, security cameras, baby monitors and other IoT devices on the network and flagging external threats and nefarious outbound activities from IoT devices while eliminating the need for multiple security subscriptions or software.

Orbi 970 Series also comes with NETGEAR Smart Parental Controls to easily manage kids' time online across their connected devices and promote good online habits for the family. Basic features are available free of charge. A subscription fee applies for a Premium Plan after a 30-day trial.

The NETGEAR Orbi app also enables convenient setup of the router and satellites, and access to the router features for network management from anywhere - at home or afar.

Need more coverage, look no further
The new Orbi 970 Series mesh system (3 pack) covers up to 10,000 square feet - 10 percent more than the Orbi 960 Series --and supports up to 200 devices. To extend coverage, extra satellite(s) can be added. Each add-on satellite increases the coverage of an existing Orbi 970 system by up to 3,300 square feet and each has one 10 Gig and two 2.5 Gig Ethernet ports to unlock unbeatable speed and reliability on more wired devices, making true multi-gig WiFi a reality.

Technical Specifications:

• 320 MHz high-capacity channels - New, ultrawide bandwidth means up to 2.4x the speed to connected devices and is fully backward compatible with older WiFi devices. WiFi 7 smartphones and laptops can get up to 5 Gbps.
• 4K QAM - Increases speeds for users by more efficient usage of the available bandwidth.
• Preamble Puncturing - Enables a wider channel than would otherwise be available in areas of high interference.
• Multi-link Operation - Uses multiple WiFi bands at once, for both backhaul and fronthaul to improve network reliability, reduce latency, and ensure data is delivered with maximum speed.
• Enhanced Dedicated Backhaul - Leverages multi-link operation (MLO), to combine dedicated 5 GHz with a 6 GHz band to get 10 Gig wireless backhaul speed between router and satellites.
• Multi-Gig Speeds with 10GbE Internet Port - Use the 10 Gig internet port for cable and fiber plans up to 10 Gbps. Compatible with any internet service provider.
• 10GbE LAN Ports - Option to use 10Gig wired connection between the router and satellites.
• More Capacity for Data-Intense Activities - Connect up to 200 devices, such as security cameras, smart home devices, and speakers, while enjoying smooth 4K/8K video streaming, ultra-responsive online gaming, AR/VR entertainment, and uninterrupted UHD video conferencing.
• More Multi-gig Wired ports on Router and Satellites - Plug in wired devices to improve performance via a 10 Gbps and four 2.5 Gbps Ethernet ports.
• Wi-Fi 7 Qualcomm Networking Pro Series platform - Delivers uncompromising WiFi 7 performance for today's hyper-connected homes.

Availability
The NETGEAR Orbi 970 Series is available now in classic white on NETGEAR.com and at other major retailers subsequently. The Orbi black limited edition is available exclusively on NETGEAR.com.

• RBE973S: Router and 2 Satellites - 3 pack, $2299.99 MSRP
• RBE972S: Router and 1 Satellite - 2 pack, $1699.99 MSRP
• RBS970: Add-on Satellite, $899.99 MSRP

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Double-Click]

I'd only need one additional node but whoa - I'm gonna wait for that to come down from the stratosphere first.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I'd only need one additional node but whoa - I'm gonna wait for that to come down from the stratosphere first.

Yeah, that price is insane. It's almost as if Netgear got some Nvidia hubris...

 

[Operandi]

What the actual *&#), who is buying this stuff at these prices? Far less gets you into business class / small enterprise gear like Ubiquiti Unifi. I'm sure Orbi holds you hand more through the setup process but Unifi is pretty easy to work with manage and expand and is supported like business class hardware cause thats what it is.

 

[TheLostSwede]

What the actual *&#), who is buying this stuff at these prices? Far less gets you into business class / small enterprise gear like Ubiquiti Unifi. I'm sure Orbi holds you hand more through the setup process but Unifi is pretty easy to work with manage and expand and is supported like business class hardware cause thats what it is.

It's WiFi 7, so it's priced at a premium for now.

 

[Operandi]

It's WiFi 7, so it's priced at a premium for now.

Adopting bleeding edge Wi-Fi standards is never a good idea. Regardless though this category of network hardware is always overpriced and there are more flexible solutions out there for less money that are likely more reliable and are going to be supported far longer. Unifi is just one solution but anyone reading tech news on a site like this shouldn't have much of a problem with it, just avoid this stuff and make a smarter purchase, the end.

 

[TumbleGeorge]

It's WiFi 7, so it's priced at a premium for now.

This is a half-baked meal, given that it does not even cover 60% of the maximum speeds that are declared for the purposes of the standard

 

[Aquinus]

What the actual *&#), who is buying this stuff at these prices? Far less gets you into business class / small enterprise gear like Ubiquiti Unifi. I'm sure Orbi holds you hand more through the setup process but Unifi is pretty easy to work with manage and expand and is supported like business class hardware cause thats what it is.

This. You can get a dream router and 3 access points for under $1,000 easy and you can wire the ones you want to wire and mesh the ones you can't. Works damn good. Just did that very setup for my father-in-law. Used some MOCA 2.5 adapters for the places where the coax runs weren't shot and meshed the rest. Works great at 1/10th the cost.

 

[TheLostSwede]

This is a half-baked meal, given that it does not even cover 60% of the maximum speeds that are declared for the purposes of the standard

I think you need to read up on the specs again.
It all depends on how many transmitters you put inside the router and consumer routers are highly unlikely to ever get more than four transmitters.
As such, 4x4 is limited to 11.5 Gbps-ish in theoretical bandwidth.
The 46 Gbps number is for a 16x16 setup and even 8x8 is 23 Gbps. I doubt either will ever end up in a consumer device.
Client devices are unlikely to exceed 2.9 Gbps, although we might see some that does 5.8 Gbps using a 320 MHz wide channel, even though real world speeds will be nowhere close.
Keep in mind that the manufacturers still combine the speed of all the radios in consumer routers for silly numbers you won't get.
That said, WiFi 7 is supposed to make it possible to combine multiple frequencies for higher throughput, but we'll have to wait and see how well that works in the real world.

For some anecdotal evidence, my phone synced with my 4x4 WiFi 6 router at 2.4 Gbps, but actual speeds were around 800-900 Mbps when testing against my NAS using iPerf3.

This. You can get a dream router and 3 access points for under $1,000 easy and you can wire the ones you want to wire and mesh the ones you can't. Works damn good. Just did that very setup for my father-in-law. Used some MOCA 2.5 adapters for the places where the coax runs weren't shot and meshed the rest. Works great at 1/10th the cost.

Does that router have two 10 Gbps and four 2.5 Gbps ports?
I'm not trying to defend Netgears pricing here, as it's stupid, but the hardware should be pretty solid.

 

[Minus Infinity]

It would cost far less to wire your entire house up for ethernet and buy a 16+ port switch. This will run $4K+ in Australia, they are literally smoking crack.

 

[claes]

Does that router have two 10 Gbps and four 2.5 Gbps ports?
I'm not trying to defend Netgears pricing here, as it's stupid, but the hardware should be pretty solid.

Gotta emphasize this. Even the satellites have a 10G wan and two 2.5G Ethernet. That’s as halo as it gets afaik. Wire your house for 10G and have stupid fast internet in every room, just be willing to part with your limbs I guess

 

[Guwapo77]

Like someone said above, they are playing the Nvidia game with their pricing. I thought the WiFi 7 would take the place of the WiFi 6E's spot at $1500. As good as Orbi is, there is no way in hell would I cross the $2,000 mark.

 

[bobsled]

What the actual *&#), who is buying this stuff at these prices? Far less gets you into business class / small enterprise gear like Ubiquiti Unifi. I'm sure Orbi holds you hand more through the setup process but Unifi is pretty easy to work with manage and expand and is supported like business class hardware cause thats what it is.

Ubiquiti and Business Class/Enterprise in the same sentence?

Ubiquiti is prosumer at best, with bottom of the barrel chipsets and lacklustre quality control.

Netgear is also taking the piss.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Fuck that pricing.

 

[zlobby]

Top tier TVs don't even have SAMBA/NFS clients and DLNA is nowhere near 4K, let alone HDR and 8K.

This router is nothing more than overpolished piece of PE/PVC/whatever plastic it is (hopefully an RF transparent one), running on a $20 Broadcomm/Mediatek/whatever chipset...

Enjoy!

Ubiquiti and Business Class/Enterprise in the same sentence?

Ubiquiti is prosumer at best, with bottom of the barrel chipsets and lacklustre quality control.

Netgear is also taking the piss.

I am inclined to agree. Ubi are a distant shadow of their former selves.

It would cost far less to wire your entire house up for ethernet and buy a 16+ port switch. This will run $4K+ in Australia, they are literally smoking crack.

Actually, you can even get 10Gbps FO with the price of SFP+ modules dropping like crazy.

It's WiFi 7, so it's priced at a premium for now.

Sadly, many dweebs will think it will boost their Fortnite FPS and latency, so...

 

[TheLostSwede]

Top tier TVs don't even have SAMBA/NFS clients and DLNA is nowhere near 4K, let alone HDR and 8K.

This router is nothing more than overpolished piece of PE/PVC/whatever plastic it is (hopefully an RF transparent one), running on a $20 Broadcomm/Mediatek/whatever chipset...

Enjoy!

Qualcomm, but you would've known that if you'd bothered reading the press release.

Sadly, many dweebs will think it will boost their Fortnite FPS and latency, so...

Well, that's not likely, unless they have some latency issues with their WiFi.

 

[Solaris17]

Wire your house for 10G and have stupid fast internet in every room, just be willing to part with your limbs I guess

I do and I didnt part with any limbs because there are far better options if your not a laymen, not to mention I dont think wifi 7 is even ratified. This might all just be fine, but if there are changes now you have beta hardware.

 

[zlobby]

Qualcomm, but you would've known that if you'd bothered reading the press release.

Well, that's not likely, unless they have some latency issues with their WiFi.

OK, so it's a $50 chipset because of Qualcomm. A mistake on my end.

And the second statement was sarcasm. We are basically on the same page there.

 

[TheLostSwede]

OK, so it's a $50 chipset because of Qualcomm. A mistake on my end.

Actually, Qualcomm has started to charge some serious premiums for their high-end router hardware, but I'm guessing the new eero from Amazon is using something from the same chipset family and a triple pack from them is $600 cheaper(or a three for two in comparison), so clearly Netgear has Nvidia hubris, as I pointed out above.

Amazon Launches the eero Max 7, the Fastest, Most Powerful eero Yet, Starting at US$599.99

Amazon announced eero Max 7, its first Wi-Fi 7 mesh system and the fastest, most powerful eero yet. eero Max 7 combines the company's patented TrueMesh networking technology with the latest Wi-Fi 7 standard to dramatically increase speeds, avoid interference from neighboring networks, and...

www.techpowerup.com

I do and I didnt part with any limbs because there are far better options if your not a laymen, not to mention I dont think wifi 7 is even ratified. This might all just be fine, but if there are changes now you have beta hardware.

It's not ratified, but the companies seem to be following the draft specs a bit closer since the mess of 802.11ac.

 

[zlobby]

It's not ratified, but the companies seem to be following the draft specs a bit closer since the mess of 802.11ac.

Like .11ax or 6E are better in terms of ratification and vendor support.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Like .11ax or 6E are better in terms of ratification and vendor support.

A lot better. Just as en example, Qualcomm's first gen 802.11ac WiFi chips ended up being dumped, as they had a hardware bug in them. Only TP-Link ever sold any hardware with them, but that router was pretty much useless and they didn't do a recall.

 

[zlobby]

A lot better. Just as en example, Qualcomm's first gen 802.11ac WiFi chips ended up being dumped, as they had a hardware bug in them. Only TP-Link ever sold any hardware with them, but that router was pretty much useless and they didn't do a recall.

Do you remember intel's AX200?

 

[TheLostSwede]

Do you remember intel's AX200?

Right, I was talking AP/router hardware, not client hardware. My bad for not clarifying.

 

[trsttte]

It would cost far less to wire your entire house up for ethernet and buy a 16+ port switch. This will run $4K+ in Australia, they are literally smoking crack.

Depends on the type of construction used where you live, in Europe where the majority of buildings are brick and mortar you just don't do a rewire job like this unless you're a rich lunatic (not because of the price per say but it would be very messy and an overpriced solution like this starts to be almost sensible).

Wire your house for 10G and have stupid fast internet in every room, just be willing to part with your limbs I guess

The expensive part is the switch if you want something decent. You can run 10G over regular cat6.

 

[Wye]

I love it how they boast speeds of 27 Gbps, and then they proceed to equip it with 10 Gbps and 2.5 Gbps ports.
Because of course you're not going to get 27 Gbps. You're not going to get even 2.7 Gbps. You're going to get barely past 1 Gbps if you are next to it, no objects between and no neighbors are using any Wi-Fi.

The amount of lying in Wi-Fi has reached mythical levels.