Netgear Orbi 970 Series (RBE973) review

Netgear Orbi 970 Series (RBE973): Introduction

Netgear has took the covers off of its latest and greatest Orbi Wi-Fi mesh system, the Orbi 970 Series, at the end of last year; adding Wi-Fi 7 to the mix.

The new flagship Orbi system – as you’d expect – has a feature list the will make you want to chuck your existing Wi-Fi router in the bin.

Wi-Fi 7 really is the future of wireless networking. More than just a simple speed boost, as we normally get from interative versions, Wi-Fi 7 is designed to combine all available bandwidth, giving devices a massive speed boost.

With the Netgear Orbi 970 Series, we see what that really means, although at a price that many will find hard to stomach.

If you thought that Eero Max 7 was expensive, the Netgear Orbi 970 Series blows that out of the water, with a three-pack costing £2200 / $2300.

That’s a serious investment by any means but it’s also a serious bit of kit. Read our full Netgear Orbi 970 Series review to find out more.

Setup and specs

• Tonnes of fast Ethernet ports
• Quad-band Wi-Fi 7
• Uses the Orbi app

On review, I have the Netgear Orbi 970 Series (RBE973), which combines two satellites and a router into a single pack.

There’s also a two-pack (router and satellite) and add-on satellites available on their own:

• RBE973: Router and 2 Satellites – 3 pack, $2,299.99 / £2,199.99
• RBE972: Router and 1 Satellite – 2 pack, $1,699.99 / £1,599.99
• RBS970: Add-on Satellite, $899.99 / £799.99

Either way you cut-it, every version is highly expensive: this is the single most expensive mesh system that you can currently buy. Its most high-profile rival, the Eero Max 7, costs £1,699 / $1,699 for a 3-pack; so it’s a fair chunk of change more.

As you might expect though, this being Netgear, the high cost means that this mesh system is packed full of the latest technology.

Both the router and the satellites look the same from the outside, with a tall tower design replacing the larger, more bulbous design of previous Orbi systems, such as the RBKE963.

Turn them around, and there are differences. I’ll start with the router, which has to be plugged into your broadband connection, via its 10 Gigabit Ethernet Port. That’s more than enough speed for today’s fastest connections and even into the future.

Complementing this port are four 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports and a secondary 10 Gigabit Ethernet port. That’s a dramatic speed upgrade to your wired network there.

With the satellites, you get a further two 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet cables and an additional 10 Gigabit Ethernet port.

While the satellites can communicate wirelessly, using Ethernet (a wired backhaul) can improve connection reliability and let you put satellites at greater range, such as in a garden office.

It makes sense to use the 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports to connect your devices together, although you will need Cat 6 Ethernet cables; Cat 5E cables can be used for 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet.

Wireless is a serious business with the Netgear Orbi 970 Series, which is a quad-band system.

As with previous Orbi systems, there’s a dedicated channel for the wireless backhaul (the communication between satellites), with a 4×4 5GHz network with a total throughput of 8647Mbit/s.

This channel can be enhanced, as per the Wi-Fi 7 spec, by combining the 6GHz network, which is a 4×4 network with a maximum throughput of 11530Mbit/s.

This 6GHz network can be used for clients, plus there’s a 4×4 5GHz network (5765Mbit/s) and a 4×4 2.4GHz network (1147Mbit/s).

Again, the 5GHz and 6GHz networks can be used together for Wi-Fi 7 devices to improve throughput. Combined, each router provides 16 streams of wireless, which is huge.

Setup is easy, as the mesh system uses the Orbi app, which walked me through connecting the router to the internet, and setting up the satellites (wired or wireless).

It’s worth noting that, unlike Eero systems, nothing is ever backwards compatible with Netgear – so you won’t be able to use any previous Orbi satellites with the newer system.

Features

• Optional parental controls and security
• Has an IoT network
• Web interface gives more advanced controls

Most of the time, you’ll use the Netgear Orbi 970 Series through the Orbi app on your phone. This gives direct control over basic network settings, such as the wireless network’s name and password, as well as letting you see what’s connected to your home network.

As with previous Orbi systems, there are parental controls baked in, so you can set a profile for each house member and assign their devices to them.

With the standard controls, you can manually pause a person’s profile, but pay for the advanced controls (£59.99/$69.99 per year), and you get to set schedules, time limits and bedtimes.

Given the number of devices we all have, Netgear Armor (£84.99/$99.99 per year) is almost a must-have.

This runs on the router to protect all devices from attack, plus you get anti-virus software for all of your computers and mobiles, protecting them when you leave the comfort of your own home.

Having two separate charges for the services is a bit of a pain, but Netgear is looking at improving its offering with a simplification of the services in the near future

Jump into the web interface and there’s also control over which bands the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks use (but no option for 6GHz). Netgear also has Guest and IoT networks, which can be toggled.

The IoT network is designed for smart devices, and you can limit the connection to only use a specific band.

By using this network, you an isolate smart devices from your other devices on the network, which can increase security.

Performance

• Staggeringly fast
• Works well at range

I tested the Netgear Orbi 970 Series’s performance using a Xiaomi 13T Pro, which has Wi-Fi 7 built-in. More devices are shipping with Wi-Fi 7, though, and I expect the number of devices to rapidly increase over the coming year.

What sets the Orbi 970 Series apart, aside from that sweet 320MHz Wi-Fi 7 action, is its unique Quad-Band technology and Enhanced Dedicated Backhaul.

This tech combines a dedicated 5GHz band with a 6GHz band (these work separately with Wi-Fi 6E) to double the connection speed between the router and satellites, achieving a blazing-fast 10 Gig wireless backhaul.

I ran an OpenSpeedTest server on a computer wired into a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port on the Orbi router, and then tested speeds at different ranges using Wi-Fi 7.

At close range with a couple of metres of the router, I managed throughputs of 2334.50Mbit/s, which officially makes this the faster mesh system that I have ever tested, beating the Eero 7 Max.

Next, I moved 5m away from the router onto the first floor of my home, close to the satellite that I set up in the landing. Here, I found that speeds remained steady at 2047.42Mbit/s. Again, that’s the fastest that I have ever seen.

On the second floor, around 10m away from the router, I saw speeds of 1563.6Mbit/s, which is a little faster than with the Eero 7 Max.

However, I found that the upload and download speeds were more evenly matched on the Orbi system; with the Eero system, it was slow for uploads but fast for downloads.

Clearly, the Orbi’s dedicated backhaul and wider number of streams helps even-out performance.

A three point Orbi 970 system – one router and two satellites – gives a range of up to 8,200 square feet; a 10% increase compared to the Orbi 960 Series.

If you need more, you greedy swine, extra satellites can be added, each extending coverage by up to 2,700 square feet.

All of this is managed through the excellent Orbi app, which has a range of access, privacy and parental controls, and it’s all compatible with Alexa or the Google Assistant.

Final thoughts

The Netgear Orbi 970 Series is a beast of a mesh system, and capable of delivering the fastest wireless speeds that I have ever seen. It has a huge number of wireless streams, so can cope with large network full of wireless devices. It really is the best mesh network that I have tested.

It is almost comically expensive and the majority of us would struggle to justify the spend, with cheaper Wi-Fi 7 and Wi-Fi 6 systems that will do the required job available.

How we test

When we publish our reviews, you can rest assured that they are the result of “living with” long term tests.

Home Wi-Fi devices play a key part in controlling, a smart home ecosystem, or a range of products that – supposedly – all work in harmony.

Because we’re testing smart home kit all day, everyday, we know what matters and how a particular smart controller compares to alternatives that you might also be considering.

Our reviews are comprehensive, objective and fair and, of course, we are never paid directly to review a device.

Read our guide to how we test to learn more.

FAQs

Netgear Orbi 970 Series (RBE973): Specifications