Assuming you have a stable, powerful fibre connection to your home, what you do with it after that can either make or break the way you access the internet. The wrong router setup can cause an unfathomable chokepoint and any money you're paying an ISP for high-speed service will be immediately wasted.

When I reviewed the Orbi 960 mesh Wi-Fi system from NETGEAR late last year I had no doubt this was the best home Wi-Fi solution I'd ever tested. A quad-band network based on the very latest Wi-Fi 6E protocol, the Orbi 960 router and its satellites were so powerful it was, to be quite honest, overkill. Like running my house's electricity requirements off its own, dedicated nuclear reactor.

Not that I'm suggesting it isn't great to have access to more Wi-Fi than is required but not only was the 960 the best system I'd used, it was also easily the most expensive - probably pricing itself out of the budgets of most "average" users.

So it seemed like a good idea to give something else a go - perhaps I don't need to wear a three-piece business suit around the house 24 hours a day when some smart, comfortable casualwear might be more appropriate.

That doesn't mean Orbi isn't still the solution though...

NETGEAR'S Orbi 860 AX6000 Wi-Fi 6 mesh system offers much of what the 960 series does but at a much more affordable price. Yes, there are some compromises to be made but they're compromises I'd suggest the vast majority of consumers wouldn't even be aware they were making. I knew I was making them and it didn't seem to make any difference at my place.

Best of all, unlike the 960, the 860 router and any satellites you add don't just come in white but also in fashionable (and patriotic) black. This may seem like a trivial distinction but compared to many other Wi-Fi devices, the Orbi 860 stations are quite large; 25cm tall and 19cm wide - so they're not the kind of thing you can easily hide away out of sight behind a vase of flowers. Therefore, if you can choose between black or white, you'll be much more likely to fit the 860 system in with your decor.

But enough of such trivialities! Let's talk performance - surely that's all that really matters when it comes to suping up your home network? Well, sure - sheer download speed and reliable streaming is what you want at the end of the day but there's an all-important and potentially frustrating step in the middle; setup. Unless you can configure your network correctly (and easily) what's the point?

The Orbi app makes this a foolproof process. You can't really go wrong as long as you identify which device is the router and which is the satellite (or satellites). This is something NETGEAR does slightly differently to some other manufacturers when it comes to mesh Wi-Fi; often all the stations in a pre-paired pack are basically interchangeable but with an Orbi system there's a "master" unit with the crucial 10 Gig WAN port - this means if you're lucky enough to have access to a Hyperfibre plan like I do, you can funnel all of that fat, juicy, high-speed connectivity directly into the router from your modem so you can then spread it liberally around your home, either via Wi-Fi or through any of the four 1GB ethernet LAN ports. (There are four gigabit ports on each satellite as well as on the router itself)

The Orbi 860 system comes in a 2, 3 or 4 pack - with the satellites all pre-paired and ready to go as soon as you power them up. Additional satellites can be added with a simple press of the physical Sync button but with 360 square metres coverage from the 2-pack I was sent to review, I don't think I'll need to be adding on any time soon. More on that later.

The Orbi app is very clearly set out - once you've done the obvious things like name your network and assign passwords you can easily access a list of connected devices, activate a guest Wi-Fi network, view usage data and check your internet speed - although this last tool only confirms the speed between the internet and your router. This is useful for confirming you're getting what you're paying for from your ISP - but it's not the tool I'll be using in the video below because I'm more interested in the coverage the Orbi 860 is providing around my house.

There are also some paid features you can try through the Orbi app; my 860 2-pack comes with a year's free subscription to NETGEAR Armor; a full-featured cyber security suite that scans any connected devices for vulnerabilities and lets you download Bitdefender Security to your connected phones, tablets and computers. A 12-month trial is pretty generous and will  give you plenty of time to decide if you think it's working for you and worth the paid subscription afterwards.

What I think is less of a good deal is the 30 day trial of premium Parental Control features. As with most home Wi-Fi systems you can create profiles for each user, assigning connected devices so you can see who's logged-on, when and for how long. For a month you can use the Orbi app to closely monitor what your kids are accessing online and you can restrict certain sites, set time limits and all that other mean stuff parents have to do to turn their kids into normal human beings. I think these features should be included free permanently - especially on a premium device like this.

However, at my house this isn't really an issue because as much as I'd like to be able to tell the users what they can access and for how long, the youngest of them is almost 20 and I don't think that would go down very well.

What does go down well is the amazing speeds and coverage we're getting from the Orbi 860 all over my house. Although the more expensive 960 system I reviewed last year offers quad-band Wi-Fi 6E as opposed the the tri-band Wi-Fi 6 from the Orbi 860, I have to say I can't really tell the difference. As my video clearly demonstrates, I'm getting blistering performance everywhere I need it and what's more, so far the reliability has been totally bulletproof.

The fact is, the extra bandwidth and connectivity options the higher-specced 960 system offers probably won't be fully utilised until some time in the future. Right now, most of my devices are still not Wi-Fi 6E compatible - it's likely only the latest phones and computers at your place are and from what I've seen the real-world benefits of the newer 6E protocol just aren't there yet.

Don't get me wrong here; I'm not trying to dissuade you from splurging on the awe-inspiring might of the Orbi 960 - and at around NZD$1600.00 for the 2-pack, the Orbi 860 is far from a budget option either. However, given I've tried both and found the results at my place to be very similar, I'd suggest if you decide to save hundreds - and go for the black option - you'll be very happy with your Orbi 860 system fo some years to come.

 

 

    

 

Click here for more information on the NETGEAR Orbi 860.