Amazon now has a sequel to its Prime Day event, which was held in July this year, in the form of its Prime Early Access Sale. This event, running on October 11 and 12, sees deals across the Amazon store on everything from electronics to home goods, and it’s the perfect chance to pick up some extras to make your home tech-ready for the winter. One upgrade that can really improve your quality of life, especially if you work from home or have a larger house, is setting up a mesh network. If you’re fed up with your Wi-Fi dropping out or having dead spots in your home, then a mesh network system can help. And now you can score a great deal on the Netgear Orbi Mesh Wi-Fi System, which is less than half price at $99, down from $200.
Why you should buy the Netgear Orbi Mesh Wi-Fi System
If you’ve been browsing mesh router reviews and best-ofs, then you’re probably familiar with the RBK13’s older sibling, the Netgear Orbi RBK50, especially given its striking design. Of course, the Orbi RBK50 is pretty expensive, which is why Netgear released the Orbi RBK13, a much more affordable version of the home mesh system that removes some features in exchange for the lower price. The main difference is that the RBK50 is tri-band while the RBK13 is dual-band, a 2.4GHz one and a 5GHz band with a combined theoretical maximum of 1.2Gbps speed. It also means that the dedicated backchannel has been removed, and while that may affect performance slightly, you probably won’t notice the difference unless your internet speeds are pushing past 300Mbps, which most folks aren’t, so this is a great mesh Wi-Fi Prime Day deal if you fit the bill.
Unlike the Netgear Orbi RBK40, which has four Ethernet ports on the secondary satellites, the Orbi RBK13s don’t, with there being only two Ethernet ports on the base station: one to connect to your router to gain access to the internet and another to connect to another device. While this may seem like quite a big omission, the truth is that most people likely won’t even use the Ethernet ports and, with the lack of backchannel, wouldn’t provide that great Ethernet speed anyway. Not to mention that the RBK13s are much smaller than their more expensive siblings, so they will be easier to fit around the house, making them overall more convenient to use.
Overall, while the Orbi RBK13 may not necessarily feature on the best mesh Wi-Fi systems lists, it’s a great little budget mesh system that will fit anybody who needs to extend their coverage and basic functionality. Setup is very easy, even compared to other Orbi systems, so if you aren’t tech-savvy, this also pretty perfect, and with a minimal UI and app, you won’t have to fuss around with a ton of extra features and settings. We certainly like it as a simple but great mesh Wi-Fi deal to pick up.
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