Competition among lower level of wifi 7 products including Orbi 370 and Deco BE25 are very tight, how these two products are compared, which one gives you better value?
In this article:
What this Orbi 370 does?
Netgear offers a wide range of wifi 7 mesh products ranging from entry level to the best premium products, and a new addition to the wifi 7 product line is the Orbi 370 series, the lowest series of the latest wifi 7 technology products offered by Netgear.
Even though this product is categorized as the entry level of wifi 7, it doesn’t mean this one is for low level of networking tasks. This product is capable of covering your whole home with dual band wifi network up to 6,000 sq ft (3-packs) and delivering smooth signal up to 5Gbps dual band. The good thing is that this product supports up to 2.5Gbps Internet speed your internet service provider can service. Make sure that your modem can supports Ethernet port up to 2.5Gbps such as Arris S33 and Netgera CM2000 cable modems.
The top level of wifi 7 products offered by Netgear is Orbi 970 series, it’s a quad band wifi 7 product that delivers up to 27,000 Mbps. The similar product is offered by TP-Link with its Deco be95, higher bandwidth than Orbi 970 series. See also comparison between Deco BE95 and Orbi 970 series.
Orbi 370 vs Deco BE25
TP-Link always offers products with lower prices than other competing products from big vendors including Asus and Netgear. Previously, tp-link has released similar product as Orbi 370 series, it is Deco Be25. See also comparison between Deco be25 and Asus bd5.
Table 1 below shows you spec comparison between the two products; we can use this spec comparison table as reference. The prices are almost the same, now you have options whether to select Orbi 370 or Deco 25, while in general, during the holiday season such as Christmas and new year, vendors give lots of discounts on their products. Now, let’s spill what are the differences the differences between the product if any?
Interchangeable unit
Unlike Deco, Netgear separate between Orbi router and Orbi satellite, they cannot be interchangeable like Deco can. With deco 25 you can function each of the unit to work either as router unit or satellite one, but with Orbi you cannot.
Ethernet Ports
One apparent thing that the deco 25 has one step more advantage than orbi 370 is the number of Ethernet ports. The orbi router comes with Internet port and one Ethernet port, but each of Deco unit comes with two 2.5Gbps ports that support WAN/LAN auto sensing.
With Orbi, almost all Orbi series come with separate router and satellite units, in case of the router unit is failed, the other Orbi satellite cannot replace the faulty one. So you have to purchase the router unit for replacement. With Deco, when one of deco unit failed, the one that originally work as the router unit can be replaced by the other unit. And the system still can work as normal, except you miss one unit that should cover the area it used to cover.
Backhaul link
Both orbi 370 and deco 25 support optional wired backhaul, if you connect each unit by using Ethernet connection as wired backhaul, the backhaul system can optimize the link that combine both wifi and wired backhaul for best link connection between units, this is the nature feature of wifi 7 which is called multi link operation (MLO).
With deco that comes with two Ethernet ports each unit, you can connect them using daisy chain method wired backhaul. But with Orbi you cannot do the daisy chain method wired backhaul because the satellite unit comes with only one Ethernet port. You can use the wired backhaul by adding unmanaged switch to connect each of the deco unit.
So, technically the wire backhaul implementation for orbi 370 is more complicated than Deco. Other series of Orbi mostly come with two Ethernet ports instead of one.
Spec comparison table
Table 1 Orbi 370 vs Deco 25
| Wifi 7 products | Orbi 370 (3-packs) | Deco be25 (3-pack) |
| Wifi speed | 4324 Mbps (5 GHz) 688 Mbps (2.4 GHz) | 4324 Mbps (5 GHz) 688 Mbps (2.4 GHz) |
| Internet Port | 2.5 Gbps | 2.5 Gbps |
| Ethernet ports | 1x 2.5 Gbps | 2x 2.5 Gbps (WAN/LAN auto-sensing) |
| Wireless and wired combined backhaul | Yes | Yes |
| Antennas | High-performance internal antennas with high-power amplifiers | 4x High-Performance Internal Antennas |
| Network protection | ||
| Prices (on Amazon) | USD 256.50 | USD 269.99 |
What Next
The TP-Link deco 25 has been reduced by up to 27% so far, making it a great choice for a December Christmas and New Year bundle for your loved ones.
To learn more details, click the product link below for shopping on Amazon.
- Click here to shop Orbi 370 series on Amazon (#Ad)
- Or you may like to Click here to shop Deco 25 on Amazon (#Ad)
Related products
Should you are loyal users of Google products, consider Google nest, and see which one gives you better value between Google nest and deco be25. You can consider Google nest if you are convenience with wifi 6e technology, or you can taste the wifi 7 technology with almost the same price offered by deco be25.
Instead of wired connection for backhaul, you may consider powerline backhaul. Powerline backhaul uses existing electricity wiring as wired connection. See products that support powerline, including Deco px50 and Asus XP4 powerline.