NETGEAR Orbi - WiFi System App

• Free

Last verified 4 Sep 2026

4.7 351807 ratings · App Store

1. 5/5Setup in less than 10, all devices 25 min

   I was having terrible connectivity around a townhouse style condo, main living on top floor (basically three stories high) and a garage on ground level. I tried moving nether ac6900 router from closet to central location but didn’t help. I also had a Linksys extender at front door to try to help garage and front door area but didn’t help. I followed setup instructions in or I app. It made it through successful setup in about 5 minutes but when it tried to transition to the main menu (I am guessing) it showed an error. I waited a few minutes with no change so relaunched the app and it launched to main menu and I was able to carry on. Note/tip... if you have multiple network SSIDs consider which has most devices you’ll need to reprogram. I have a lot of smart devices on 2.4g but I chose my 5g name first. It was a simple few minute rename in the orbi app but during setup I had realized my mistake. Once switched all my devices showed up. One thing that or I manual doesn’t say but BestBuy product page video says is to forget all your local wifi on the phone running the orbi app. Anyway really easy app driven setup and great speeds so far. Will have to see if it lasts but it is looking good. Note the front door satellite is at the bottom of a long flight of stairs out of sight from the main router but it is working fine. It shows 200Mbps+ download and 5+ upload (6+ in living room) and 10ms ping everywhere whereas I used to have connectivity and speed problems just moving around main floor.

   yamoinca · 4 Sep 2026

2. 4/5Great product, but the app, ugh

   Router & satellite are amazing compared to Google wifi Mesh. Yes I like Orbi RBK50 design, it does fit into our space nicely. Counting all the Ethernet ports Netgear gave us (7) not including port for modem which makes eight. It really does makes a difference hardwiring smart TV’s, Apple TV and other devices through Ethernet ports like PlayStation. I have notice zero refreshing while streaming cable television or watching Apple TV. All cable providers stations look visually good and thinking about it my 5.1 surround sound sound fantastic. I have 22 devices connected including security cameras etc. I haven’t experienced one single hiccup. App: It’s basic but very functional for what’s immediately important. I do question quality of Speedtest just because sometimes it gives ridicules low results compared to browser Speedtests which put Orbi off the map and beyond the stars fast. Maybe update for app will fix issue. I don’t mind having a second app called Circle to manage family members because it keeps apps much cleaner and less junky. What I don’t like is paying monthly subscription and since I don’t use Circle anyways it really doesn’t matter but I do get occasional notifications which is annoying from apps. Security: Running Bitcoin Core drives security features nuts and yet too redundant. I think to open ports and assign static addresses Orbi needs access through a browser. I haven’t needed to do this.

   Carbonbreath · 4 Sep 2026

3. 3/5If problems when setting up, it’s useless

   I have a modem-router from Comcast I had to turn the router portion off for. It took me a while to remember and couldn’t understand why it wasn’t connecting to internet. There was zero ability to get to a troubleshooting page to suggest this needed to be done (I knew because I’d done extensive research before I purchased the orbi, but most non tech people probably wouldn’t have). Once I took care of that on my laptop I was still having issues. Sometimes the app said it could find internet but didn’t detect Ethernet cable, sometimes it detected neither. FINALLY a screen popped up suggesting I needed to do advanced setup which... I looked at and INSTANTLY knew I did need to. Of course, I needed the info from my modem-router where I turned the router off and that info was saved on laptop which I now was unable to access from my laptop, even by doing a hotspot to my phone, no idea why. I called my internet provider on the phone to get the info then went to enter the info, BUT... I couldn’t figure out how to get that screen to get back! There was no menu or anything! After multiple attempts at starting from the beginning by closing and reopening the app, it FINALLY offered me the option to go into advanced settings! It took almost THREE HOURS to set up what could have been minutes had there been a menu or troubleshooting option to access from set up. Once I got past that stage, app seems fine, but the set up SUCKED for me, someone with a non typical set up situation. One size does NOT fit all!

   directk · 4 Sep 2026

4. 2/5Parental controls are cumbersome and lacking

   I was wondering pretty excited about getting this WiFi router. I’ve been hearing such great things about mesh type WiFi routers. Setup was easy and comes in two flavors; the Orbi app or a web browser. I chose the Orbi app and it was easy. Our WiFi was up and running within 20 minutes. Every item we have connected easily to the router and speeds seemed great (no specific speed tests were run, just watched Netflix on each device). I have a 14 year old and needed to setup some limits. I had time limits for each day on my old router where it would allow a connection to the internet between 7am and 10pm on his devices. I also have a few websites blocked through my old router. I could not do this on the Orbi. You had to use Open DNS (separate website) along with the Orbi’s parental controls menu to setup websites or servers. You could not, however, setup times for internet access to devices. This is unacceptable to me. The Orbi has Circle Disney setup on it, which gives you more parental controls at a cost of $5/month?!?! That is also a separate login. Both Circle and what little parental controls within the Orbi router was just too complicated and lacking for me to keep the device, so we returned it and reconnected our old WiFi router. We now will be looking for another router manufacturer for our home.

   Leemoknows · 4 Sep 2026

5. 1/5Orbi 770 with 2 satellites! Nothing but problems

   WiFi drops frequently. Multiple calls with tech support over the last 1.5 years (with probably 10+ hour on calls to troubleshoot). Then to make things worse after a system firmware update the system became very unstable TV’s either would not connect or had very poor connection. More hours on the phone troubleshooting. Finally the issue was escalated to high level and after a few days a firmware patch was sent, this at least got me back to the original performance level (not great but better, still had drop outs), but for the most part the system was stable. Now yesterday another auto system firmware update happened and I am back to a very unstable network with TV’s security camera’s and doorbell cam’s intermittently connecting and when they do connect we get very poor performance. I have struggled with this system for a year and half, and my conclusion is it is junk, worst system I have ever used, and I previously had a Orbi system that I was very happy with. Huge dollars for nothing but frustration. FYI I am a RF hardware engineer, so very experienced with technology ( but not a network engineer). I just purchased a third satellite then I hoped would fix the intermittent dropping issues however I have not unboxed it and after this latest firmware update and I think I will return it and probably sell this system and find something else as the performance level is poor and the frustration level is high. My time is too precious to spend so much of it on issues that I should not be dealing with.

   C50TGUY · 4 Sep 2026

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