The only Orbi series based on wifi 6e introduced by netgear is the top notch orbi rbke960 series which mostly sold at the market with orbi rbke963 (3-pack) kit.
In this article:
- Orbi Rbke960 Series
- Quad band Routers
- 6GHz for connected devices
- Router and Satellite Node
- Orbi rbke963 vs Linksys Atlas Max 6e vs Deco xe200
Orbi 960 Series
Netgear doesn’t introduce couple of orbi series based on wifi 6e like other vendors including tplink or asus. You can find tplink introduced few models of deco wifi 6e products including popular deco xe75 pro axe5400 and deco xe200 axe11000. Asus introduces two models of mesh wifi 6e products, asus zenwifi et12 axe11000 as the ultimate wifi 6e product and the middle one is asus zenwifi et8 axe8400.
Wifi 6e is the enhancement of standard wifi 6 technology with the introduction of 6ghz radio band in addition of common 2.4ghz and 5ghz ones. This 6ghz band is clean and fast lane and will also be available on the next generation of wifi 7 technology whihc is just around the corner.
Back to netgear orbi rbk963 we will discuss here.
If the Orbi rbk852 still doesn’t give you enough bandwidth to drive all bandwidth-intensive applications, streaming 4k or 8k video, online gaming with high density connected devices, you may consider the ultimate Orbi rbke963. Below you can see comparison between orbi rbke963 and linksys atlas max 6e and also tp-link deco xe200.
Quad band Router
Netgear Orbi Rbke963 is the industry’s first quad radio bands mesh wifi 6e product available in the market today. Later, when new wifi 7 products available in the market you can find the ones with quad radio band including 6ghz band.
Orbi rbk960 was released to answer the challenge of advanced wifi 6e technology which adds one @6ghz radio band in addition to existing one @2.4ghz radio band and two @5ghz radio bands so that wifi 6e provides three distinct radio bands. Orbi rbk963 is Orbi kit which consists of one orbi rbr960 router plus two orbi rbs960 satellites.
6GHz for connected devices
Most mesh wifi 6e products add one @6GHz radio band in addition to 2.4GHz and 5GHz ones, making this 6GHz band a dedicated backhaul link or sharing with compatible wifi 6e compliant connected devices. Orbi does not use this 6GHz band as a dedicated backhaul link, however it adds another @5GHz radio band as a dedicated backhaul link so that the 6GHz radio band is used for wifi 6e compatible devices.
You can compare it with Linksys Atlas Max 6e, deco xe200 and Asus ET12 which design its 6ghz radio band as dedicated backhaul or shared with other wifi 6e devices.
Orbi doesn’t use 6ghz band as dedicated backhaul is a good thing so you can connect all compliant 6ghz-based devices to this available fast lane band dedicatedly. Currently there are few models of wifi 6e pci-e adapters available in the market such as the OKN ax5400 and Fenvi ax5400. Should you prefer USB model, you can find TP-Link Archer TXE50UH or Netgear A8000.
Router Node and Satellite Node
In contrast to other mesh wifi product models that can be exchanged between router and satellite nodes, Orbi always distinguishes which one is the mesh wifi router and which one is a satellite node. On Orbi rbke963, the difference is physically apparent where the router node comes with 10Gbps multi-gig WAN port in addition to the 2.5Gbps port and 3x other Gigabit LAN ports. On the other hand, the satellite node doesn’t come with 10Gbps WAN port.
To get a deeper insight about this ultimate Orbi series, I’ll get two other wifi 6e products to compare technically: tplink deco xe200 and Linksys Atlas Max 6e.
Orbi rbke963 vs Linksys Atlas Max 6e vs Deco xe200
The ultimate wifi 6e product offered by Linksys so far is linksys atlas max 6e, and the one offered by tplink is deco xe200. Both series are mesh wifi 6e products have been around in the market up to early 2023. Few models of deco wifi 7 series have been showcased in its website.
You can refer to table 1 below to show you spec comparison between Orbi rbke963 and Linksys Atlas max 6e, and table 2 does between orbi and deco.
Wifi Segment
It has been discussed briefly above that Orbi uses 4 radio bands and one @5ghz radio band @4800 is used as a dedicated backhaul, so that three other radio bands with total aggregated bandwidth of up to 6,000 Mbps (1,200 + 2,400 + 2,400) are specifically for compliant connected devices.
Unlike Orbi, Linksys atlas max 6e uses dynamic backhaul method; the system will allocate how much bandwidth for backhaul when communication between nodes is needed. The wider bandwidth used for connected devices the greater the bandwidth for link communication between nodes. In general, for backhaul link that shares bandwidth with connected devices, no more than half the maximum bandwidth is used for backhaul link. If Linksys uses dynamic backhaul involving all three radio bands, the maximum bandwidth for backhaul is 4,200mbps while the total bandwidth for clients is also the same (4200Mbps).
Deco xe200 uses dedicated backhaul @6ghz by default. You can enable this band as network share if you have few 6ghz devices to connect.
Wired backhaul
Besides wifi backhaul, Orbi, deco and Atlas series provide wired backhaul option for connecting between nodes using cat5e or cat6 utp cable. All products have more than two Ethernet ports allowing you to use either star topology or daisy chain wired backhaul topology depending on which one suits your needs.
If the placement of two satellite nodes in series, naturally the daisy chain topology is applicable. If the two satellite nodes are on the left and right side of your mesh router, the star topology is more suitable.
The wired backhaul option is certainly more profitable if running the network cable is not too difficult to do. However, if you have to drill holes in the walls between rooms is a problem, or running network cable through the ceiling is troublesome, it’s a good idea to find the right location for each satellite nodes to use wifi backhaul.
Ethernet ports
Both orbi and deco axe11000 come with multi-gig 10gbps wan port, but linksys doesn’t. linksys atlas max 6e is equipped with 5gbps wan port, half of orbi and deco.
So why 10gbps wan port, is there internet provider ready with 10gbps internet speed for home’s consumers? Yes, if you are in San Francisco, you can advice Sonic fiber optic. However, I believe that the 10gbps internet speed is to welcome the next generation of docsis 4.0 cable lab technology. Currently the available docsis 3.1 cable modem products with 2.5gbps have been offered by few vendors including arris s33, netgear cm2000 or Motorola mb8611. Check here comparison Arris S33 vs CM2000.
LAN Ports
Orbi provides one 2.5Gbps LAN port for both router and satellite in addition to 3x 1.0 Gigabit LAN ports. If you choose wired backhaul then use this 2.5gbps port. However, if the number of satellite nodes is more than one, for example two or three nodes use a multi-gig switch and use star wired backhaul topology to get high speed wired backhaul up to 2.5gbps. You need to use an unmanaged multi-gig switch for example the tp-link TP-Link TL-SG105-M2 which is equipped with 5-port 2.5Gbps port.
Besides the technical hardware spec, orbi gives you separate four SSIDs for home standard network name for the three radio bands (2.4Ghz; 5Ghz and 6Ghz) like mesh wifi in general, special SSID for wifi 6e, special SSID for IoT devices, and the last one is guest network.
For more details, take a look at the following spec comparison table between these two products, Orbi rbke963 vs Deco XE200.
Spec comparison table Orbi vs Linksys
Table 2 Orbi rbke963 vs Deco xe200
| Wifi 6e model | Orbi Rbke963 | TP-Link Deco XE200 |
| Wifi technology | Simultaneous four band axe11000 | Tri-band axe11000 with 16 streams and AI-driven mesh technology |
| 16 data Streams # | Yes | Yes |
| Signal rates | 1200 Mbps @2.4GHz 4×4 2400 Mbps @5GHz 4×4; 2400 Mbps @6GHz 4×4 ; 4800Mbps @ 5GHz 4×4 (backhaul) | 1,148 Mbps @2.4GHz 4×4; 4,804 Mbps @5GHz 4×4; 4,804 Mbps @6GHz 8×8 (backhaul) |
| Antennas | 12x high-performance internal antennas with high-power amplifiers | 16x High-Gain Internal Antennas |
| Ethernet Ports | Router: 1x 10.0 Gbps WAN port; 1x 2.5 Gbps LAN port; 3x 1.0 Gbps LAN ports Satellite: 1x 2.5Gbps LAN 3x 1.0Gbps LAN ports | 1x 10.0Gbps WAN Port; 2x Gigabit LAN Ports |
| USB ports | N/A | N/A |
| Backhaul | 4800Mbps @5GHz dedicated backhaul and optional wired backhaul | Dedicated default @6GHz by default, or share network. Optional wired backhaul is also available. |
| Processor | Powerful Quad-Core 2.2GHz processor 512MB NAND Flash and 1GB RAM | 2.2 GHz Quad-Core 64-bit Qualcomm CPU with 2x 512MB DDR4 Memory |
| Coverage | 9000 sq ft (3-pack) | 6,500 sq ft / 2-pack |
| Security | Netgear Armor | WPA2, WPA3, HomeShield |
| Works with Google assistant and Alexa | Yes | Yes |
| Dimension | 11 in x 7.5 in x 3.3 in (279.0 mm x 190.5 mm x 83.8 mm) | 5.12 in × 4.86 in × 9.49 in (130 mm × 123.5 mm × 241 mm) |
| Price | $1,498.99 (3-pack) | $799.99 (2-pack) |
Price tags
So far, Orbi rbke963 is tagged with the most expensive price than Linksys max 6e and deco xe200. Prices are fluctuating over time, click the product’s link below to see current price, get best deal and read more details each the product in Amazon (#ads).
Related Products
Should you ready with the next generation of wifi 7 standards which has been around on the corner, you may like to consider Deco BE85 or Asus BT10, more bandwidth to cover your homes.
Or you may like compact all in one Cable modem router with latest wifi 7 standards, you may consider Arris G54, wireless 7 BE18000 router with built-in DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem.