Netgear Orbi 970 Wi-Fi 7 Quad-band Mesh – BE27000 and 16 streams for excellent speed and coverage (networking)

The Netgear Orbi 970 Wi-Fi 7 Quad-Band Mesh router and satellites should provide the fastest mesh system for larger homes and heavy-duty users.

There are a few key differences to previous Orbi Mesh systems (US Site – Orbi 970 Series Quad-Band WiFi 7 Mesh System – 3 Pack – Black – RBE973SB – NETGEAR Exclusive.

• Wi-Fi 7 maximum throughput BE27000*
• Quad band 1 x 2.4GHz, 2 x 5Ghz (one for Wi-Fi backhaul) and 1 x 6Ghz
• 16 streams (4 each x 2.4, 5 and 6Ghz)
• Ethernet 10Gbps backhaul (router and satellites) or uses MLO for 5 and 6Ghz Wi-Fi backhaul
• New 12 internal antenna for improved 3D coverage
• Easy App installation with Web Interface as well
• Home, Guest and IoT networks that are isolated from each other.
• 4 x 2.5Ghz LAN ports (router) and 2 x 2.5Ghz ports (satellite)
• NETGEAR Armor – Powered by BITDEFENDER – Premium Online Protection  (optional Internet security)
• NETGEAR Smart Parental Control | Internet Filter | Internet Safety | NETGEAR (optional network-based controls)
• Not compatible with older Orbi satelltes.

* The ACMA has only approved partial use of the 6GHz band, and the actual bandwidth will be less. Read Wi-Fi 7 BE – what it means to you

Price

• Router and two satellites for coverage up to 660m2 (Ethernet backhaul) $4,299
• Additional Satellites $1,599

CyberShack’s view – Netgear Orbi 970 Wi-Fi 7 Quad-band Mesh is for power users

Not to put wimpy users off, but this is likely the fastest and strongest Wi-Fi 7 mesh router that we will see until Wi-Fi 8, 9 or 10 comes along. And it is terrible overkill if you don’t have Fibre-to-the-Premises and internet speeds over 1Gigabit!

In terms of bands – you have heaps. Having a dedicated backhaul on 5GHz plus using 6GHz MLO means that it is not as critical to use Ethernet backhaul, and you can probably place these up to 10m apart.

• 6GHz (4×4/320MHz, 4K-QAM): 11,530Mbps
• 5GHz-1 (4×4/240MHx, 4K-QAM): 8,647Mbps, Dedicated Backhaul
• 5GHz-2 (4×4/160MHz, 4K-QAM): 5,765Mbps
• 2.4GHz (4×4/40MHz, 1K-QAM): 1,147Mbps

It addresses pretty well everything a power user or large homeowner could want.