Mesh Mashups: Which Netgear Mesh Extender is Best For You?
Mesh extenders or mesh systems? Tri-band or dual-band? There are umpteen of options when it is a question of configuring your home network for the best possible performance. As WiFi technology is evolving day by day, Netgear continues to add the latest gems in its mesh systems’ treasure. Now, the most recent Netgear mesh extender is from the Nighthawk family.
Talking about the Netgear mesh system, the Orbi tri-band WiFi mesh system is a pioneer. In contrast to other dual-band mesh systems that broadcast all data on only 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies, Orbi incorporates a third back-haul radio band for dedicated communication between the satellites in the network and router.
After Orbi’s roaring success, Netgear came with Nighthawk mesh extenders. Similar to Orbi, they also include tri-band capabilities to extend WiFi coverage to a great extent. However, this leads to a few queries: How do these products differ from one another? Which one is the best for my home wireless network?
That’s why we decided to compare dual-band mesh systems (e.g. Google WiFi) to Orbi (a tri-band mesh system) and Nighthawk mesh (a tri-band Netgear mesh extender). We have checked them on the basis of three main criteria i.e. speed, coverage, and compatibility to evaluate their performance. Let’s have a quick look at which is the best for you
Which Provides the Most Speed?
Dual-Band Mesh Systems
These systems make use of only two bands namely 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz to transmit data, whether between the devices and the satellites, the router and the devices, or the router and satellites. These bands often become very congested which ultimately decreases the overall throughput of your network.
Nighthawk Mesh
A Netgear mesh extender amplifies the range of your home and office router, be it is provided by your ISP or a state-of-the-art router with the most recent WiFi technology. Once you set up a Nighthawk mesh via mywifiext, it provides up to 100% higher speed and throughput as compared to the dual-band mesh systems.
Orbi
It is a robust tri-band mesh system, having two satellites and a state-of-the-art wireless router. Both of these devices communicate with each other via a third dedicated backhaul radio band. 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz are the available WiFi bands. They increase the WiFi device transmissions, resulting in the maximized throughput.
Which Proffers the Best Coverage?
Dual-Band Mesh Systems
These mesh systems deliver flawless, extended coverage to average-sized homes. As they don’t have the third dedicated backhaul radio band, so the available both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies turn out to be congested. It puts an adverse effect on signal strength and coverage.
Nighthawk Mesh
Coming to Nighthawk mesh extender, it provides great WiFi coverage. Nevertheless, the signal strength of Netgear mesh extender entirely depends on your WiFi router. Modern routers e.g. Netgear EX8000 with the most recent WiFi technology offers stronger signals over large areas.
Orbi
Orbi also delivers amazing WiFi coverage – even in the most palatial of homes. Because it is a multi-point system, so you can effortlessly use additional WiFi satellites to extend the coverage all over the home or workplace.
Note: Make sure to use the latest Netgear extender firmware version to make the most out of your device, be it a dual-band mesh system or a Nighthawk mesh WiFi device.
Which One is Compatible With My WiFi Devices?
Dual-Band Mesh Systems
The dual-band mesh system’s compatibility differs according to its model and manufacturer.
Nighthawk Mesh
A Netgear mesh extender is able to work with any WiFi router, ranging from the basic dual-band ISP router to the latest tri-band routers. To our surprise, it is even backward compatible with older WiFi-enabled devices.
Quick Tip: In case you are facing issues with the Netgear extender setup, bear in mind to contact our skilled experts.
Orbi
As a robust tri-band mesh system, Orbi comes embedded with two satellites and a state-of-the-art WiFi router. And these both are backward compatible with all your WiFi devices.
And the WINNER is………….
Dual-band and tri-band mesh systems and mesh extenders all use innovative wireless technology to deliver the flawless WiFi coverage to home networks. Frankly speaking, a tri-band Netgear mesh extender delivers faster speeds and extended coverage than dual-band mesh systems.
Which tri-band mesh product you found the best for your WiFi network: Netgear Orbi or Nighthawk Mesh? Do let us know by contacting us.
