A single router might not be enough for your larger apartment or home. You might discover dead zones around your home. Now, it’s impossible to walk up to your router every time you would like to shop online or watch a movie. A mesh Wi-Fi can bring a noticeable change to your home’s wireless internet.
Currently, Netgear Orbi and Linksys Velop are 2 powerful mesh Wi-Fi systems that can serve your residential wireless network necessities. Now, Netgear Orbi vs Linksys Velop: what should you select to eliminate dead zones around your home? Let’s review their similarities and differences so you can pick the right mesh Wi-Fi system for your home.
Technical Specifications: Netgear Orbi vs Linksys Velop
Before you move to a detailed comparison between Netgear Orbi vs Linksys Velop, you should check out their tech specs first.
Here’s what Netgear Orbi mesh systems generally offer:
- Speed: AC3000 (1733Mbps + 866 Mbps + 400Mbps)
- Wi-Fi band: Tri-band
- Memory Offered: 512MB RAM and 4GB Flash
- Antennas: Two 2 x 2 (on device), One 4 x 4 (backhaul)
In addition, Netgear Orbi comes with an Ethernet backhaul and a dedicated wireless backhaul. Now, let’s have a look at the tech specs of Linksys Velop:
- Speed: AC2200 (867Mbps + 867Mbps + 400Mbps)
- Wi-Fi band: Tri-band
- Memory: 4GB Flash and 512MB RAM
- Antennas: Three 2 x 2 antennas
However, Linksys Velop doesn’t offer a dedicated wireless backhaul. Still, it provides an Ethernet backhaul just like Netgear Orbi.
The Netgear Orbi System
Netgear Orbi is a mesh Wi-Fi system that is quite similar to Wi-Fi extenders. It covers your entire house with unfailing Wi-Fi signal transmission. However, Netgear Orbi isn’t a typical extender so your router’s signal doesn’t need to be stretched. Instead, the Netgear Orbi amplifies the wireless signal all around your home.
Now, Netgear Orbi flaunts a minimalist design, but its components are soft and round around the edges. Additionally, it’s loaded with many Wi-Fi features and smoothens your experience with a Wi-Fi connection. You can easily install a Netgear Orbi device at your home.
Connect the primary router to the internet and set up other routers at the right corners or places around your home. And, you’re good to go with its dedicated Orbi smartphone app. You can access parental controls, VPN access, and more with Netgear Orbi. Moreover, Netgear Orbi can cover an area of up to 5000 square feet at a wallet-friendly price.
The Linksys Velop System
Let’s learn some basics about Linksys Velop before leaping to the conflict of Netgear Orbi vs Linksys Velop. Well, Linksys Velop is another mesh Wi-Fi system, just like Netgear Orbi. Its routers are rectangular boxes with indicators that tell you whether the device is active. Besides this, Linksys Velop is easy to install and set up. Linksys Velop implements a mesh system through its nodes.
The mesh connection lets every node communicate with each other depending on their nearest nodes. Additionally, Linksys Velop offers an application too, and you can monitor and tackle nodes and their activities remotely. Furthermore, you can access parental control features or create a guest network for a custom experience.
Differences between Netgear Orbi vs Linksys Velop
So far, you have noticed how similar Netgear Orbi and Linksys Velop systems are. However, some major differences between Netgear Orbi vs Linksys Velop will also help you pick the right network device for your home. Let’s check how Orbi stands out from Velop and vice versa.
Design
Almost every modem, router, or networking device has classic arachnoid design and shape. Additionally, they are mainly black boxes with antennas here and there. If you want something refreshing and aesthetic for your network equipment, then Orbi and Velop are excellent choices.
After all, such white and beautifully crafted routers from Orbi and Velop systems will also enhance the look and feel of your coffee table. Since they are not hideous, you can place them anywhere you want. The Netgear Orbi system offers a main router with satellites. Well, the main router of Orbi has a blue ring light on top, and you can get the network status through the ring light.
On the other hand, the satellites are in the same shape as the main router. However, they lack the main light on their top. The Orbi Wi-Fi 6 has 4 Ethernet ports. And, you can use one for the main modem connection and the remaining 3 as LAN ports. Additionally, Orbi comes up with a power jack and a USB-A 2.0 port.
Whereas Linksys Velop is a 7-inch long rectangular tower. There are small vent holes on Velop routers. Interestingly, Linksys has built them identically, so you can use any of these routers as the main router. Overall, we found Velop’s design minimalist and eye-soothing. Like Orbi, they are white in colour.
The best part is that you can choose any mesh Wi-Fi system from Netgear Orbi RBK50 vs Linksys Velop regardless of their design aspects. Both are premium choices. However, Orbi offers more ports and enhances the overall usability.
Supported Features
This is a strong point in deciding the better Wi-Fi mesh system for your home. Linksys Velop and Netgear Orbi are undoubtedly packed with jaw-dropping features to improve your wireless internet experience. Both devices offer the MU-MIMO feature, which allows 2 x 2 multi-user, multiple inputs and multiple output connections simultaneously.
Apart from this, you will get the power of beamforming with both these routers. Also, they support Band-steering technology that lets your devices connect to either 5GHz or 2.4GHz bands. Thus, your devices can deliver the highest quality performance. Another perk of Band-steering is that the nearest node will automatically connect to your devices as soon as you move through your home.
On the other hand, both routers provide compatibility with leading virtual assistants such as Amazon Alexa. Be it Linksys Velop 6 versus Orbi 6, you can set up a smart home system with Amazon Echo or equivalent devices. In addition, you can take advantage of parental control, remote access through an app, guest network setup, etc., with Netgear Orbi and Linksys Velop.
The main difference between Netgear Orbi vs Linksys Velop’s parental control is how they are implemented. Well, Linksys Velop utilises conventional procedures to block specific URLs. Whereas Orbi uses smart parental controls derived from Disney. So, if you are looking for serious parental control filtering, Orbi is definitely the best choice.
Setup Difficulty
After features, you should see how difficult or easy the setup process is for Netgear Orbi and Linksys Velop. Frankly speaking, the overall setup process for both routers is extremely easy. No matter whatever mesh Wi-Fi system you choose, you need to connect the main router to the internet modem.
Next, you can install and access the respective mobile app to set up other satellites. As an alternative, you can even use any desktop browser to set up the mesh Wi-Fi system. The mobile app or the user interface system over the browser is user-friendly and intuitive. You don’t have to be tech-savvy to access them and set up the new Wi-Fi network.
Moreover, the dedicated apps of both Linksys Velop and Netgear Orbi let you configure your routers for VPN passthrough, parental controls, and more. You can opt for any of them, as both are clear winners regarding setup clarity under the Netgear Orbi vs Linksys Velop category.
Performance
This is the deciding factor if you are still stuck in the Netgear Orbi RBK50 vs Linksys Velop WHW0302 battle. For Linksys Velop, you can use any of the purchased routers as the main router. So, this is an ideal mesh system. After you have made the main node ready, the next node will automatically connect to it.
In addition, the third node will connect to either the first or the second node, depending on the throughput. The same thing continues if you add nodes to your Linksys Velop mesh Wi-Fi network. Now, returning to the band specifications, Linksys Velop is a tri-band device.
Hence, it offers two 5GHz bands and a 2.4GHz band to improve your wireless internet. Talking about speed, both 5GHz bands offer a speed of up to 867Mbps separately. While the 2.4GHz band delivers a speed of up to 400Mbps. For backhaul traffic, the Velop selects a band according to performance since there isn’t any specified radio frequency.
What about Netgear Orbi?
Now, Netgear Orbi flaunts a router and a couple of satellite setups. You need to connect the base station to the modem and place it somewhere middle of your house. Then, you have to connect satellites to the base station and place them where the base station is out of reach.
Adding extra satellites to an existing Orbi system is no biggie as it works on the daisy-chain method for pairing. Just like Velop, Orbi delivers 2 5GHz channels and one 2.4GHz channel. Now, the 5GHz channel dedicated to backhauling offers a theoretical speed of up to 1733Mbps.
On the other hand, the other 5GHz and 2.4GHz channels offer corresponding speeds up to 866Mbps and 400Mbps, respectively. If you are looking for real wireless speed, Orbi is a clear winner in this category.
The Ultimate Decision
We can’t miss the price point while discussing Netgear Orbi vs Linksys Velop conflicts. Honestly, Velop is more affordable compared to Orbi. Get Netgear Orbi if you prioritise wireless speed, brilliant signal reception, and massive area coverage.
On the other hand, consider Linksys Velop if you are looking for easy setup, remote network monitoring, aesthetic look, and moderate wireless speed. So, you can now decide the best fit for your home’s wireless mesh system from Netgear Orbi and Linksys Velop.