Netgear Releases Small Orbi Routers for Wi-Fi 5 Mesh Networks – Update

Netgear is releasing a new set of Orbi knife routers. These relatively small devices have a square design and support Wi-Fi 5. They don’t support Wi-Fi 6, unlike the new Orbi generation that Netgear announced in September.

The mesh routers, designated model number RBK12, measure 10.4×10.4×6.9cm and are capable of bandwidths of up to 400Mbit/s on 2.4GHz and 866Mbit/s on 5GHz, according to Netgear. Combined, speeds of up to 1.2 Gbit/s would be possible. According to the company, a basic router and a single satellite are sufficient to provide a room of approximately 300m² with WiFi.

The basic router has two gigabit Ethernet connections, but the satellites lack these connections completely. The routers have two internal antennas and support band steering, allowing automatic switching between 2.4 and 5GHz. There is also support for voice control via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant and the routers have a quad-core processor that runs at 710MHz.

The RBK13 mesh routers cost 220 euros for a package with the basic router in combination with two satellites. Netgear will also sell a package with the basic router and a single satellite, but Euro prices for this set are not yet known. At a major American retailer, a package with the basic router and a single satellite costs 149 dollars, which, converted and including VAT, amounts to 163.35 euros.

Update, 10/16/2019, 11:23 AM: The euro prices of the mesh routers have now been announced. The article has been adapted accordingly.