Daniel J SaitNetgear Inc has enhanced its award-winning Orbi line with a powerful new antenna design and exclusive, patented technology that enhance the benefits of WiFi 7.
The Orbi 970 Series delivers speeds of up to 27 Gbps, 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.
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.
Orbi’s patented Quad-Band technology and 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 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,” says David Henry, president and 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.”
The kit comes with one year of Netgear Armor Powered by Bitdefender, 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.
The new Orbi 970 Series mesh system (three pack) covers up to 8,200 square feet – 10% 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 fast speeds and enhanced reliability on more wired devices, making true multi-gig WiFi a reality.
The Netgear Orbi 970 Series will be available soon in classic white and black via Netgear and at other major retailers subsequently.
Pricing:
BE973: 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