NETGEAR's Orbi Mesh Networking Enhanced with WiFi 7, Coming Soon to the UK

The award-winning Orbi wireless home networking range will soon boast a trio of WiFi 7 enabled SKUs in the Orbi 970 series – the RBE970, RBE972 and RBE973 – that go beyond even WiFi 6E’s impressive capabilities.

PRESS RELEASE

London – September 19, 2023, 1.30 PM – 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[1], 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 6GHz 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 maximises 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 back garden – 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 8,200 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 2,700 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:

– 320MHz 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 5Gbps.
– 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 5Ghz with a 6GHz 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 fibre plans up to 10Gbps. 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 10Gbps and four 2.5Gbps 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® will be available soon in classic white and black on https://www.netgear.com/uk/ and at other major retailers subsequently. To stay up to date, visit https://www.netgear.com/uk/home/discover/wifi7/.

RBE973: Router and 2 Satellites – 3 pack, £2,199.99 MSRP
RBE972: Router and 1 Satellite – 2 pack, £1,599.99 MSRP
RBE970: Add-on Satellite, £799.99 MSRP

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[1] Maximum wireless signal rate derived from IEEE® 802.11specifications. Actual data throughput and wireless coverage will vary and be lowered by network and environmental conditions, including network traffic volume, device limitations, and building construction. NETGEAR makes no representations or warranties about this product’s compatibility with future standards. To achieve maximum wireless/wired speed requires devices that use the latest wireless/wired standards and support maximum speeds.

[2] NETGEAR Armor™ Powered by Bitdefender® requires a paid subscription after the initial 1-year free trial. Visit https://www.netgear.com/uk/home/services/armor/