Today Netgear has made an important announcement about a new product that will fundamentally advance the way we use wireless networks in our home. The Orbi Quad-band Mesh WiFi 6E system also known as the RBKE960. It’s an important product because it uses the new 6GHz WiFi band to deliver a wireless network that has four separate radio signals that can deliver much faster WiFi speeds to more devices at the same time, with less interference and wait time.
The RBKE960 is the most powerful generation of Orbi Mesh Networking system to date. It supports multi-Gigabit WiFi throughout the home, improving wireless the increasing number of devices we have in our home, devices like smartphones, computers, smart TV, music streamers, security cameras and all the technology that has WiFi technology built in. By using four bands across three different spectra, the new Orbi has the power to cope with many more users at higher speeds.
Over the past year or two, our WiFi at home has been put under a lot of pressure as more of us have worked at home. For example, in US households, peak Internet traffic has increased by 38% over pre-pandemic levels. Work from home, virtual Zoom meetings, first-run movie streaming, online shopping, exercise, gaming, and even the ordering food have become the norm and it’s our wireless networks that are taking the strain. At the same time, Internet service providers are ramping up Internet speeds with Gigabit connections ranging from 1.2 to 2 Gigabits. In some areas, even 10 Gigabit Internet connections are being rolled out to homes.
High-performance WiFi offered by Orbi is not only WiFi 6, the latest wireless technology, but it also uses a brand-new wireless spectrum that’s just been freed up for consumer use. Increasingly, the existing 2.4 and 5GHz bands are getting mortem crowded and congested. With the new 6E standard in the clear 6GHz band, wireless speeds at home will be able to cope with more traffic without buffering.
The new Orbi Quad-Band WiFi 6E system builds on Netgear’s premium Orbi Tri-Band WiFi 6 system (RBK853) by adding a fourth radio band for the newly released 6GHz WiFi standard. This new band provides additional WiFi spectrum to handle multi-Gigabit WiFi speeds that will be available on new smartphones and laptops launching now. The new band will be free of interference from other devices using the existing 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. And the WiFi 6E ecosystem is poised for rapid growth. Many devices already support WiFi 6E, such as the Samsung Galaxy S21, and Fold 3 mobile phones, Dell Latitude 5520 and Lenovo Think pad T14 laptops, Samsung Neo QLED 8K TV and Intel WiFi 6E PCIe card. And there will be more products launching in the approach to Christmas.
Devices that use the 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi bands will also get to see an improvement in coverage and increased speeds by up to 30 percent with the Orbi RBKE960 Series because the system has upgraded WiFi and antenna designs. To augment the faster WiFi speed, the Orbi RBKE960 has been upgraded to support up to 10 Gigabits, the fastest Internet speed available now or in the near term. Additional 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports have been added to the Orbi router and satellites so users can use more multi-Gigabit Ethernet devices.
This is the industry’s first quad-band WiFi 6E system using 16 WiFi streams – the highest specification available – in all 3 bands: 2.4, 5 and 6GHz. Like previous tri-band Orbi systems from Netgear, the RBKE960 series uses a dedicated WiFi 6 backhaul that was pioneered by Netgear. The backhaul is used exclusively for sending and receiving data between the Orbi router and satellites without sharing the airspace with connected devices.
The Orbi WiFi 6E three-pack (RBKE963) provides wall-to-wall Internet access for homes up to 9,000 square feet for WiFi 6 connections and can easily be expanded for larger spaces or denser coverage using WiFi 6E connections. Extra satellite units can be added as needed.
The new system supports the new, more secure WiFi Protected Access 3 (WPA3). With 128-bit encryption, the next generation of WPA protects against weak passwords that are easily cracked by hackers.
The new Orbi system can be set up to have four separate WiFi networks that can be named so you could have, say, one network for the home, one for work or guests. In addition to the default home WPA3 mesh network for 2.4, 5 and 6GHz devices, users can also set up their new 6E devices to only run on an exclusive WiFi 6E network, so these devices get their own special fast lane. There’s also a network for smart home devices like smart plugs, lights, security cameras, etc. That network only supports WPA2 security which enables them to be set up for network configuration, maximum performance and the separation from less secure devices on the main network.
The, Quad-band Orbi WiFi 6E includes a free 30-day trial of the new Netgear Armor service which can protect a home network from online threats. Unlike traditional security software that can be installed on computers and other devices, Netgear’s Armor is built into the Orbi router that monitors everything going to and from the Internet, the system protects all the devices on the network, and that includes Smart TVs, security cameras, game consoles, smart speakers, streaming players, and all those countless smart home gadgets which typically don’t come with Internet security.
The Network Armor system can protect regular computing devices such as smart phones, tablets, laptops and desktops, eliminating the need to install anti-virus and security software separately on every device. Also available as a paid subscription on the new system is Netgear's Smart Parental Controls, which enable parents to manage the access their children have online. This can include how long they spend on it and what they can connect to across all devices on the network.
Availability: The Orbi Quad-band Mesh WiFi 6E System RBKE963 (a router and two satellites) will be available for preorder in the US and UK on Netgear’s webstores. The units will ship towards the end of the month. Other regions will be able to buy the new system as and when the new WiFi 6E spectrum is released for consumer use. For a limited time, Netgear will offer the Orbi WiFi 6E as a Black Edition alongside the standard White finish. For people with larger homes or spaces, Netgear will offer additional satellites and bundles for sale.
Pricing: Orbi Quad-band Mesh WiFi 6E System
RBKE963: Router + 2 Satellites – 3 pack: $1,499.99 / £1,499 / €1,699
RBKE963B: Orbi Black Edition + 2 Satellites – 3 pack: $1,499.99 / £1,499 / €1,699
RBSE960: Add-on Satellite: $599.99 / £649.99 / €699.99
More info: netgear.com and netgear.co.uk
Features:
- First quad-band WiFi System: supporting 2.4, 5 and 6GHz bands for connecting the router/satellite to devices and an additional dedicated fourth 5Ghz WiFi band for connecting the router to the satellites.
- All-new 6E 6GHz WiFi band: The 6GHz WiFi band has more than double the bandwidth of 5GHz, helping to reduce interference and congestion in the 5GHz WiFi band with multi-Gigabit WiFi speed for connected WiFi 6E devices.
- 16 WiFi Streams: for the best speed, range and performance with WiFi speeds to match the speed provided by providers of superfast broadband.
- 10 Gbit Ethernet port for fiber Internet: Support of Internet connections up to 10 Gbps.
- 2.5 Gbps Ethernet port for wired devices: Multi-gig Ethernet port for wired connections to devices like network storage, LAN gaming, in-home media streaming. Router and satellites can also be connected via Ethernet as a backhaul.
- Four different WiFi Networks: Up to for network signals can be supported for separating usage like legacy and IoT devices. These a 6GHz Only WiFi Network for all latest WiFi 6E devices, plus a Guest WiFi Network.
- Orbi App: WiFi System can be managed remotely with tracking for Internet data usage and more.
