Netgear orbi download app

It's admittedly a bit of a small environment for a mesh test, but it still lets me test average speeds from room to room with the router and the extender in controlled locations to get a comparative sense of how these things perform once you take them home.

That includes a look at band-steering, since most mesh systems like these put out a single network that automatically hands your connection off between the 2. Some systems do it a lot better than others. Netgear flat-out crushed this test. After dozens of speed tests across multiple days, my average speed in the living room, where the router sits, was a perfect Mbps. That number didn't drop any lower than in any other spot in the house, and my connection remained stable as I moved from room to room.

With an average speed of Mbps throughout the entire house, that's the best performance I've seen from any of the mesh routers I've tested in my home. That's your best middle-ground pick if Nest Wifi doesn't seem advanced enough, but the AX Netgear Orbi system seems too expensive. The Netgear Orbi AX system puts out a notably stronger signal than the Nest Wifi -- and note that both the router and the range-extending satellite appear more or less equally capable. With Nest, the satellite is visibly weaker than the router.

As for the Nest Wifi, the overall average throughout my house was Mbps. My connection was rock-solid as I moved from room to room Google's band-steering algorithm seems to be a strong point , but I wasn't able to hit top speeds at range like I was with the Netgear Orbi. With the Nest, my average close-range, living room speed of Mbps fell to Mbps in my back bathroom, the farthest point from the router.

That's plenty fast to stream a podcast during a shower without buffering, but still, advantage Orbi. With the router and the extender again in a fixed location, I use NetSpot software to log that signal strength across dozens of locations on both the main floor of the house, where I sit the router and its extender, and also the basement level below.

Doing so provides a set of neat-looking heat maps that show how strong the signal is from room to room. At 5, square feet, the space is larger than either system promises to cover, so it's a bit of a stress test -- and both systems did well.

Each was able to blanket the majority of the house in green good or yellow great. But note that the Netgear Orbi 6 was able to do even better, with orange-level signal strength in the immediate vicinity of both the router and the extender.

That's an outstanding result. Signal strength isn't the same as speed, mind you, but a stronger signal means that you'll have an easier time hitting those faster speeds. Again, advantage Orbi. It isn't as fully featured as a gaming router, but the Nest Wifi offers a good deal of easy-to-use system controls in the Google Home app, including the ability to prioritize traffic to specific devices for limited periods of time. Like most routers these days, both Nest and Netgear let you set your system up using an app on your Android or iOS device.

The process is relatively quick and painless with each system, but there are things to note. First is that you'll setup and manage your Nest Wifi system via the Google Home app. That's the same app that you use to control Google Assistant smart speakers and the third-party devices that you connect with them, so if you've already bought into that ecosystem, then adding a Nest Wifi into the mix might make a lot of sense. Then again, if you're an Alexa user or just averse to the idea of smart assistants to begin with , then the Nest Wifi approach might seem like more than you want from your router.

That said, the Google Home app is more polished than the Netgear Orbi app, which feels a little sparse by comparison. With Orbi, you'll be able to check the status of your system, pause the Wi-Fi to any of the devices on your network or run a quick speed test like you can with Nest, but there aren't many other features worth noting beyond that. The Netgear Orbi 6 uses the same app as other Orbi devices. It gets the job done, but if you want lots of advanced extras to play with, you might want something else.

In the end, you're sort of splitting hairs here, because neither of these routers will offer the same depth of features that you'll get with something like a gaming router. For something closer to that ballpark, you might consider taking a look at the Ubiquiti AmpliFi Alien , a Wi-Fi 6 mesh gaming router that's easy to use while also offering lots of extra features and controls over the way your network will perform.

One last point of consideration is security. Apr 10, Version 3. Ratings and Reviews. App Privacy. Size Category Utilities. Compatibility iPhone Requires iOS 8. Mac Requires macOS Price Free. Family Sharing With Family Sharing set up, up to six family members can use this app. More By This Developer. You Might Also Like. Amazon Key. Network Analyzer Master. By contrast, the Velop's throughput stayed about the same, while the AmpliFi HD's and Google Wifi's throughputs dropped about 25 percent each.

Again, in absolute terms, the Orbi's overall speed advantage blew away the competition. Percentages indicate change from line-of-sight tests at same distances without extensions. The Orbi also did well in complicated, 3D tests, with results very similar to the Linksys Velop's. With the router 30 feet and two walls away, the Orbi extension projected Moving the laptop further away decreased the throughput, but the Orbi extension helped greatly.

Second three tests add extensions to same configurations. Percentages indicate change in data throughput between two sets. In a three-story home with lots of thick walls, the Orbi stayed connected with client devices as far as feet from the router. That's the best score we've seen among recent routers, and was 20 feet and 35 feet farther than the Google Wifi and AmpliFi HD routers managed, respectively.

The Orbi network easily covered a 3,square foot home; with the router placed in the basement and the extension on the main floor, the signal easily reached to the top floor. The Speedtest. It stood up well to our informal saturation test, in which we played videos on Surface Pro 3 and iPad Pro tablets as a Samsung Tab Pro S moved data on and off a network-attached storage system and a MacBook Air played an online radio station.

The video and audio came through on all devices without a skip, stutter or drop-out. Netgear has taken the lead in the race to create a home Wi-Fi network system that all but sets itself up. The devices come pre-paired, and the installation doesn't require knowledge of IP addresses, Ethernet or encryption.

You don't even need to install a mobile app. Just type orbilogin. After Orbi's software does a network check, the router will be set up. Power up the Orbi satellite in the place where you want it to stay, and let the router scan for it. You may have to move the satellite closer to the router.

Then change the network name, access the password and administrative passwords you'll absolutely want to do this for security's sake , and restart the devices. It took us 10 minutes to create a fully operating network that filled a suburban house with Wi-Fi. Netgear includes a one-year warranty for the Orbi system, but only three months of tech support.

The Orbi support section on Netgear's website includes not only startup tips and videos, but also a downloadable manual that explains everything you can do with the Orbi. Netgear has technicians standing by 24 hours a day to help with a phone call, online chat or email. You can also connect with the help desk through the mobile app. All the Orbi mobile-app screens use portrait mode, and the app's functions are limited to the basics, without even a network-speed monitor. Netgear told us that it will soon add more capabilities to the Orbi app.

For more fine-grained control and diagnostic information, you'll have to use the desktop browser local interface or the Netgear Genie software, which applies to many Netgear routers but has many more features than the embryonic Orbi app. The Orbi app Dashboard shows the network name and password, but you can obscure the password. The Device Info screen shows the router's firmware version, but to update the firmware, you'll need to go to the bottom of the main Dashboard page. By contrast, the browser interface is more detailed, with a network speed and usage monitor.

It also lets you set up a guest network so that visitors can access the internet from their laptops or smartphones without using your main network's access password. Some security experts recommend putting smart-home devices on the guest network as well. You can also do more-technical things, such as adjust the router's maximum transmission unit, perform port forwarding and configure IPV6 addressing, but you can't adjust the Orbi's transmission strength or channel width.

Since the Orbi first shipped early in , a firmware update has added Amazon Alexa compatibility. To use Alexa, you'll need to create a Netgear account and install the Netgear Genie mobile app on a smartphone or tablet.

For now, Alexa commands are limited to turning the guest network on and off, rebooting the router, and reading out the Wi-Fi settings.

Alexa does not yet work with Netgear's line of Arlo security cameras. The Orbi ships with a semi-random network name and a unique alphanumeric administrative passcode that should be safe enough to use during the short setup routine. Still, you should change both the name and code to something more personal as soon as possible.

While the Orbi apps don't let you quickly pause the internet connection for dinner or family time, you can do so with the browser interface or the Genie app. Netgear engineers are working on adding this ability to the Orbi apps. That way, you can choose to block specific websites or let Netgear take care of the details by adjusting the overall filtering level between none and high.