ORBI 770 Series Tri-Band WiFi 7 Mesh 3-Pack Review
DISCLOSURE -THIS ITEM WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE THE REVIEWER’S OWN.
Reviewed by Paul
I previously had the Orbi RB850 system installed at my house, which is a 6,700 sq ft Victorian property. Because of the layout and construction of the building it required five satellites dotted around the house to provide a reasonably stable connection. Even then, the thickness of the walls created challenges. In some places the walls are between five and six feet thick, particularly around the chimney stack and some of the later Victorian extensions. While the RB850 system did a respectable job overall, there were still a number of areas where speeds dropped significantly.
My internet connection is 1gb fibre to the door, but across most of the house I was typically seeing around 250 to 300mb speeds. In the more difficult areas of the house, particularly the furthest rooms and top floor spaces, speeds could drop to under 10mb which made video calls, streaming, or even basic browsing frustrating at times.
This year I decided it was time to upgrade the setup properly and after looking into the available options I chose the Orbi Wi-Fi 7 770 series as the best solution for my needs. Before the system arrived I ran a single CATe cable from my study up to the loft three floors above so I could make use of a wired backhaul connection if needed. Given the size and layout of the property I wanted to make sure I had the best possible infrastructure in place before installing the new system.
When delivery day arrived the first thing that struck me was how much slimmer the new satellites are compared to the older RB850 units. The previous generation worked well but they were quite large and could be difficult to place discreetly in some rooms. The newer design is noticeably more compact and blends into the background far more easily. They now sit comfortably on hallway tables, shelves and smaller surfaces where the older units simply would not have fitted.
Setup was extremely straightforward. I opened the Orbi app, followed the onscreen instructions and set up the new system from scratch. Within about ten minutes all three units were online and operational. The app indicated that the satellites were optimising their connections, which I assume is part of the mesh system establishing the best possible communication between each node.
Naturally the next step was to test the performance. I spent about twenty minutes walking around the house running speed tests in different locations and comparing them with what I had previously experienced. Across roughly 80 percent of the property I was now seeing consistent speeds of around 500 to 600mb. That alone represented a huge increase compared with my previous setup, but what was even more noticeable was the stability of the connection.
The previously difficult areas of the house that struggled to reach 10mb were now achieving just over 100mb. That alone was roughly a tenfold improvement. At that point I remembered that I had provisioned the wired backhaul connection up to the loft and decided to test it. I had almost forgotten about it because the wireless backhaul using the 5ghz and 6ghz bands was already performing far better than expected.
After connecting the CATe cable to the loft satellite the system recognised the wired connection almost immediately. By the time I returned to my study three floors below the connection had already been established. Logging into the admin dashboard confirmed that all satellites had a good connection and that the loft satellite was now running on wired backhaul.
With that in place I went back upstairs to test the speeds again. The improvement was immediate and significant. Speeds that had been sitting at just over 100mb increased to around 849mb, which is an incredible result considering the structure and age of the property.
Since installing the system I have also enabled the guest Wi-Fi network which is useful as we regularly host large gatherings and parties with well over 100 guests. Keeping guest devices separate from the main network helps maintain performance and security. I also created a dedicated IoT network for smart devices such as fridges, washing machines, smart plugs and other connected equipment around the house.
Overall the upgrade has made a noticeable difference to how the network performs throughout the property. Coverage is stronger, speeds are significantly higher and the system has been stable since installation. The slimmer design also makes it easier to place the satellites discreetly around the house.
My next step will be extending the network further. I plan to run a CATa cable to my furthest satellite and daisy chain an additional Orbi unit out to my garages which cover another 7,000 sq ft. If the performance so far is anything to go by, this should finally allow me to bring reliable connectivity and smart devices into the garage space as well.
PRICE AND WHERE TO BUY
£759.00 excluding delivery. Click on the link to find out more; https://www.netgear.com/uk/home/wifi/mesh/rbe773/#twister-list
Rating: 5/5