NETGEAR Nighthawk AX6 6-Stream AX4300 $99.97

Is there a 'significant' difference between this and the Orbi RBK50 ? I have 2 of the Orbi's and waiting for a great deal - wanted to stick with Orbi's for my next upgrade but not sure...

https://www.netgear.com/ca-en/home/wifi/mesh/rbk50/

I have a really dumb question,
What does this router do? I mean i have the default modem from Telus that they give you, and everything in my place is connected to it.
Why do people buy this? Is it more better coverage? Better speed? What does this add to my current setup??

Thanks if anyone answers

yjskj wrote: ↑ Is there a 'significant' difference between this and the Orbi RBK50 ? I have 2 of the Orbi's and waiting for a great deal - wanted to stick with Orbi's for my next upgrade but not sure...

https://www.netgear.com/ca-en/home/wifi/mesh/rbk50/

They're not really comparable at all, that's a wifi 5 mesh system and this is a single wifi 6 router. If you need a mesh system because you have gaps in your coverage, a single router won't cover those gaps and crappy signal in one area is far worse than wifi 6 everywhere else. Do you mean if you add a single RBK50 to your existing orbi system?

Omgjuno wrote: ↑ I have a really dumb question,
What does this router do? I mean i have the default modem from Telus that they give you, and everything in my place is connected to it.
Why do people buy this? Is it more better coverage? Better speed? What does this add to my current setup??

Thanks if anyone answers

Typically the router/modem gateway that ISP's offer is crap. If you have a small space, I'd argue it is not worth upgrading, but for a larger house you can typically improve your coverage and speeds by investing in your own network equipment. The wifi "pods" that most ISP's offer as a network upgrade are almost universally horrid.

well its oos, thanks anyway op

Omgjuno wrote: ↑ I have a really dumb question,
What does this router do? I mean i have the default modem from Telus that they give you, and everything in my place is connected to it.
Why do people buy this? Is it more better coverage? Better speed? What does this add to my current setup??

Thanks if anyone answers

Your Telus or any big telco provider is usually very locked down with only limited changes you could do (like change the wifi network name/password and other basic things. Speed is usually not an issue, as they do provide newer modems with fast WiFi.

These routers are much more powerful and have many more settings to allow for advanced config settings. Some allow you to connect to a VPN directly at the router for example, so everything using the network is using the VPN withou having to install it on each device. This is just one example of many things you can do with these and similar routers.

Omgjuno wrote: ↑ I have a really dumb question,
What does this router do? I mean i have the default modem from Telus that they give you, and everything in my place is connected to it.
Why do people buy this? Is it more better coverage? Better speed? What does this add to my current setup??

Thanks if anyone answers

My white Rogers modem/router had issues after about 30 devices were connected. It would randomly disconnect devices (laptops, phones, tablets, Google Nests, etc). Those devices couldn't get back onto the internet. I would have to reset the modem/router. Then my devices could connect but it would randomly disconnect some other device. So, the maximum seemed to be about 30 or just under 30 devices.

Once I bought a new DLink router (as suggested by somebody on RedFlagDeals) then presto. Everything was connecting just fine to the DLink router. Everybody kept saying the white Rogers modem/router should be able to handle over 100 devices. Apparently, this doesn't seem to be the case.

Also, after a firmware update, Rogers wouldn't let me assign different wifi names to the 2.4 and 5 Ghz bands. I originally had it set up like that with 2 different names. After the update it was still set up like that but nothing could get onto the internet (after 1 night; I found out that 1 night the firmware update got installed). That was a terrible change to their firmware. What a waste of my time.

I read that some people bought their own router because the new ones had more features. Some bought it because the new ones had more range on them.

This has been dropping for sometime now. I'd stay away. And those negative reviews. Do your homework before you plunk down any money and be back in a costco return line up in a few months. (or weeks)

Omgjuno wrote: ↑ I have a really dumb question,
What does this router do? I mean i have the default modem from Telus that they give you, and everything in my place is connected to it.
Why do people buy this? Is it more better coverage? Better speed? What does this add to my current setup??

Thanks if anyone answers

Not a dumb question, it really depends on your use case or how large your house is. If you live in a smaller dwelling and don't need any customization, keeping the ISP's default modem gateway should serve your needs. However, those with bigger houses, you may be able to potentially get better coverage depending on the WiFi router or AP you have installed throughout the house.

Non-ISP routers also offer much more configuration options like QoS, more flexibility in DHCP reservation options, more flexibility for port forwarding and firewall functionality, being able to be a VPN server or client and the list goes on. ISP modem gateways usually have bare bones features as more features often means more technical support required which drives up the ISP's support costs.

Personally, I built my own router using OPNSense to do the routing, it gives me a lot of enterprise-grade features and firewall functionality which I use. I then use my own mesh routers as APs around the house for optimal WiFi coverage.

fredkins wrote: ↑ will it provide better wifi coverage than Netgear Nighthawk AC2100 (r7200)?

Better coverage but speed also depends on how good the network adaptor in your receiving devices are.

RobHunt wrote: ↑ You probably can, you just need to set the AX4300 to AP mode and exactly mirror the SSID, WPA type, password, etc of the main router. It really isn't designed to be a mesh system but likely would work fine.

To promote hand-offs, assign the AP routers different channels (so that the devices can differentiate between the access points) and tweak to reduce the transmit power enough to maintain a good signal till where you want the AP to have a good coverage and then hand off to the other AP.

game_fanatic wrote: ↑ I currently run two Asus RT-AC86U units, the main unit in a basement closet (unfortunately this is the only suitable location for the modem) and the other on the 2nd floor. I run into issues where some network devices don't work great, i.e. trying to print to a wireless printer, and in general I'd like to cut back on the clutter in my home. Would upgrade to a single Wifi6 unit like this offer greater range, or is my 'Mesh' still the top option out there?

Are you running the two AC86U on ethernet backhaul?
In my opinion, two AiMesh AC86U on ethernet backhaul is superior than newer Wifi 6 mesh system on wireless backhaul, not to mention a single wifi6 router.
Wifi6 doesn't provide more range, it's more reliable and faster if your devices are Wifi6 enabled.
Just compare Asus AX86U and AC86U, they have the same performance in terms of range.

iencoder wrote: ↑ Was about to order but saw "25 maximum wifi connections" in the specs. If that's the case, half the "spots" on the router would be taken up by smart devices, never mind PCs and phones.

What happens to the 26th thing that tries to connect to the router?

It's easy to set up an old router as a dumb Wi-Fi access point to offload some of those devices and free up your other wifi router for active devices.

I have 3x R7000s covering my home and it handles a ton of devices without breaking a sweat.

Is there custom firmware for this? like Merlin or DDwrt?

Netgear is usually not good in updating their routers.

Just checked..63 still available..must have found more stock

paaji wrote: ↑ Is there custom firmware for this? like Merlin or DDwrt?

Netgear is usually not good in updating their routers.

DD-WRT doesn't have any custom firmware for AX class routers unfortunately.

Personally, if one is worried about updates, I would recommend considering building a low power PC with a couple NICs and use OPN/pfSense as the router. It will always be up to date with advanced features. No need to worry or wait for manufacturers to keep their routers up to date. I would then pick up any router or AP to act as WiFi APs.

If not, I would recommend sticking with ASUS routers for Merlin support. Plus, ASUS has been generally pretty good with firmware updates.

In general how do netgear routers compare to linksys?

I have a Linksys MR8300 and it's started losing connection st least once per day every day. Not sure if it's the router or my modem, but running just the modem I don't lose wifi

Can someone please tell me why would one need this when provider like Shaw already provides the XB6 Gateway wifi/router? I have been seeing deals like this but never know why I would need one. Thank you

bpopman67 wrote: ↑ Just checked..63 still available..must have found more stock

Nice work, 52 now!

Snagged one of the found stock.
Thanks

How can this router connect with Coax Cable? My Internet (Shaw internet) is provided with a Coax cable. This router doens't have a coax connection.