Netgear Orbi vs. Linksys Velop: Which Wi-Fi system is best?

Wireless internet has come a long fashion in the concluding few years, and although having a unmarried router is still a viable option, there are as well solutions for anyone having a difficult fourth dimension reaching every terminal corner of their home. Known loosely equally mesh Wi-Fi, the Netgear Orbi (RBK50) and Linksys Velop (WHW0302) are both powerful devices that can blanket a large surface area in a wireless signal. Let's take a closer look at the similarities and differences to assist you decide which is best for you.

Run across Orbi at Amazon
See Velop at Amazon

Netgear Orbi vs. Linksys Velop: Specs

Category	Netgear Orbi	Linksys Velop
Speed	AC3000 one,733Mbps + 866Mbps + 400Mbps	AC2200 867Mbps + 867Mpbs + 400Mbps
Wi-Fi	Tri-Ring	Tri-Ring
Antennas	Two 2 x 2 (devices) One iv x 4 (backhaul)	Three ii x two
Retentiveness	4GB Flash 512MB RAM	4GB Flash 512MB RAM
Ethernet backhaul?	Yes	Yes
Dedicated wireless backhaul?	Aye	No
MU-MIMO?	Yes	Aye

Netgear Orbi vs. Linksys Velop: Design

Linksys Velop

A lot of traditional, modernistic routers are still using the mildly arachnoid shape, looking like a large black square covered in long antennas. It isn't exactly something yous want on the coffee tabular array, but at least there's only i to hide away in an office or behind a article of furniture. If anything, y'all might have a separate range extender plugged into an outlet to help with covering a corner room.

Since at that place are likely going to be two, three, or even more pieces of hardware when using the Orbi or Velop, the pattern is much softer. The Velop is a rectangular belfry nigh 7 inches tall. The back is covered in small vent-holes, and on the meridian are more than vents and small LED that lets yous know the status of the connection. Information technology'south minimalist and easy to set downward somewhere and not have it draw attention. All Velop nodes are the verbal same and whatsoever can act as the central router that's connected to the open internet through your modem.

The Orbi is based on the classic idea of a router with satellites, has a main router with a large bluish ring light on pinnacle that denotes the condition of the network. The satellites are the same shape, but without the master light on pinnacle.

Netgear Orbi ports

As for ports, each Velop has two Ethernet ports on its lesser alongside the ability jack and a reset push. The Velop node you utilise equally the primary router volition have one Ethernet port taken up for a modem connexion, while the other volition be left for LAN, whether to have a wired connection to another node or for a wired connection to a device.

On the other hand, the primary Orbi router has four Ethernet ports, ane for a modem connection and the rest for LAN, with the satellite having the same amount. Even using Ethernet backhaul, the Orbi will be better for anyone who has plenty of devices that requires a wired connection alongside a powerful wireless network. You'll likewise find a USB-A 2.0 port and power jack on the dorsum of the Orbi.

Netgear Orbi vs. Linksys Velop: Features

Linksys Velop coverage

Both of these systems are rich with features that go in a higher place and beyond but delivering data to your devices. Perhaps most importantly, specially when looking to the future, both support 2 x 2 multi-user, multiple-input, multiple-output (MU-MIMO) connections. Instead of delivering data to your devices in a rotating manner — your phone gets some, your Xbox gets some, and then your PC gets some before repeating the circle — MU-MIMO allows a constant stream of data.

Beamforming plays a big role in efficiently delivering data to your devices, and both devices support this tech. Ring-steering, which automatically places your device on either the 5GHz or ii.4GHz band according to all-time performance, should as well occur with both systems, and if you're moving through your domicile, you lot'll be passed off to whichever node or satellite is delivering the all-time signal. With both the Orbi and Velop, you lot'll run into merely one network rather than separate 2.4GHz and 5GHz access points.

For anyone working on a smart-home setup, both systems are compatible with some of Amazon Alexa'southward voice commands, and if you're working on a family, both have parental controls. The Velop uses more conventional methods of blocking certain URLs, whereas the Orbi has joined Disney's Circle of smart parental controls for some serious filtering.

Equally for setup of either system, you plug the principal router into a modem, open the app (available for Android and iOS) or browser user interface (UI), and yous're well on your way to having Wi-Fi inundation your home. Inside the web UI or app, you accept access to in-depth settings as you would on pretty much any standard router, including VPN passthrough.

Netgear Orbi vs. Linksys Velop: Role and performance

Netgear Orbi coverage

The Linksys Velop is a truthful mesh organization. If you purchase a three-pack of nodes, any one of them can serve as the link to the exterior internet using your modem. Once that initial node is fix upwards, the adjacent node will connect to it. The third node, instead of daisy-chaining to the 2d, will choose to connect to either of the first 2 based on operation. If you lot continue adding nodes, they will again connect to whichever other node is offer the all-time signal. When transferring data, it will find its style along the shortest, quickest route, and if one node loses power, the network will discover a new mode to route data.

This is a tri-band device, meaning that there are 2 5GHz bands and 1 2.4GHz band to work with. You lot're looking at a theoretical speed of about 867Mbps on the old bands and about 400Mbps on the latter band. When sending data back to the principal router and to your modem — known as "backhaul traffic" — one of the three bands will be used. There's no dedicated radio for backhaul, only the Velop volition cull a band based on performance.

The Orbi is more of a traditional router and satellite setup. You accept the base station somewhere well-nigh the middle of your home connected to your modem, and a satellite in a corner where the base station can't quite achieve. You can add boosted satellites to the setup, connecting them to the chief router, or you can daisy-chain with other satellites to striking truly far-reaching areas of a home or property.

Orbi and satellite

If in the by you've used an extender with a router, you might have experienced a big hit to performance, especially when daisy-chained. This likely had to do with backhaul traffic eating up your bandwidth, but that shouldn't be a problem here. The Orbi has a dedicated 5GHz backhaul channel that tin can hit theoretical combined speeds of about 1,733Mbps, with another standard 5GHz aqueduct (866Mbps) and a 2.4GHz aqueduct (400Mbps) for delivering data to your devices.

Both systems accept Ethernet backhaul — the Orbi received an update Dec 2022 to enable it — so if you're already dealing with a well-wired home, y'all can connect the stations with an Ethernet cable and not accept to worry about bandwidth existence eaten up when sending data back to the main router. Unfortunately with the Orbi, using Ethernet backhaul doesn't free up the defended backhaul band to be used normally with your devices.

I was not able to run specific tests to compare existent-globe speeds between these two systems, but there were plenty performed over at SmallNetBuilder. If you'd like to become into the technical specifics of how well each performs in a wide number of scenarios, exist certain to check information technology out. Lesser line? The Orbi seems to perform better than the Velop in pure wireless speed, though for most people the difference is negligible in everyday usage. Information technology will more come downward to whether or not you prefer a truthful mesh organisation over something that more than resembles a router and extender setup.

Netgear Orbi vs. Linksys Velop: Price and determination

Netgear Orbi

To get started with the Orbi RBK50 that I compared hither, a two-pack including main router and i satellite costs about $370. These 2 pieces are enough to cover about v,000 square feet of space, but if you need more, a three-pack costs about $530. At that place's also an indoor/outdoor bundle that has 1 weatherproof satellite alongside a standard satellite and main router, costing about $660.

See Orbi at Amazon
$225 at Walmart

Linksys Velop

The Velop system is a bit cheaper, plus there's the option of starting out with a single node interim as your router earlier working your way up to a full mesh organisation, though you volition pay more in the long run. A single node costs about $200, whereas a 2-pack costs about $350. With 2 nodes, y'all should be able to cover up to about 4,000 foursquare feet. If you lot demand more coverage, three nodes costs nearly $480 and will cover about 6,000 square anxiety.

See Velop at Amazon
$90 at Walmart

Choosing one or the other will really come up down to what y'all use your network for. If you need the best functioning possible, the Orbi will likely be your all-time bet, simply if you similar the idea of true mesh networking, the Velop looks like the better choice.

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