Get your home ready for Wi-Fi 7 with the Netgear Orbi 970 mesh system

There's no question that Wi-Fi 7 is the next big thing for wireless networking. And if you are ready to jump on that bandwagon and be one of the early adopters, Netgear has the mesh system for you. This is the Orbi 970 quad-band Wi-Fi 7 mesh system.

As you can probably tell from the fact that it supports four frequency bands, this is an extremely high-end mesh networking system. Here are its four bands and the maximum speeds that they support:

• 2.4GHz - 1,147Mbps
• 5GHz (dedicated backhaul) - 5,765Mbps
• 5GHz - 8,647Mbps
• 6GHz - 11,530Mbps

The total data transfer rate is a whopping 27,000Mbps.

The Orbi 970 dedicates a single 5GHz band for backhaul communications, and this can be enhanced (if the environment and situation allows) by using Multi-Link Operation (MLO), a feature of Wi-Fi 7, to combine with the 6GHZ to further boost backhaul performance.

The Orbi 970 also features fast wired connectivity. The main router has a 10Gbps WAN port, a 10Gbps LAN port, and a further four 2.5Gbps LAN ports. Each Orbi 970 node has a single 10Gbps LAN port and two 2.5Gbps LAN ports.

On paper, the Orbi 970 seems to be all geared up for the next generation of high-speed internet. The 10Gbps WAN port will play well with high-end 10Gbps plans and the additional 10Gbps and 2.5Gbps LAN ports will allow users to connect these routers to equally high-end desktop systems and/or NAS systems.

As I said, this is a very high-end mesh networking system that boasts very high wireless and wired speeds. It's probably overkill for most people, but if you are the kind that only goes for the best, this is one mesh networking system that should be high on your shortlist.

Pricing and availability

The Netgear Orbi 970 is available now with prices starting at S$2,799 for a two-pack set that consists of a router and a satellite unit. A three-pack set with one router and two satellites is S$3,799. Further satellite units can be purchased separately at S$1,499 each.

If it sounds expensive, that's because this is currently the highest-spec mesh networking system you can buy now. TP-Link also has Wi-Fi 7 mesh networking systems but their solutions are tri-band only and so are significantly less expensive. The extra band can be beneficial if you have a high number of devices at home.

You can find the Netgear Orbi 970 on Lazada, Shopee, and Amazon.

Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.