NETGEAR has launched a new addition to its Orbi line. The Orbi 860 Series builds on the award-winning Orbi 850 Series by future-proofing the best seller with a 10Gb Ethernet port, supporting multi-gig internet connections; upgraded antenna design for greater Wi-Fi performance and a bundled year of NETGEAR Armor™, providing homes with an automatic shield of security against internet threats across every connected device.

Following on the tremendous success of the Orbi 850 Series (Wi-Fi 6 AX6000 Mesh System RBK853), the Orbi 860 Series joins NETGEAR’s industry-leading Wi-Fi 6 Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi portfolio.

“The Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi portfolio ensures that you will no long suffer from dead zones, dropped connections, or buffering. This means that you can cover every possible area in your home with smooth, reliable, best-in-class Wi-Fi. The addition of the Orbi 860 Series is yet another feather in NETGEAR’s cap,” says Tobie van Schalkwyk, product manager for NETGEAR at Duxbury Networking.

The past few years have seen huge changes to internet usage spurred by the pandemic, including a dramatic increase in just about everything from home — working, shopping, learning, and socialising. As internet service providers enable faster multi-gig internet speeds of up to 10 Gigabits per second, and hackers create new sophisticated cyber-attacks, high-performance and secure Wi-Fi become imperative.

With NETGEAR’s latest Wi-Fi 6 tri-band and patented dedicated backhaul technology, the powerful Orbi 860 Series mesh systems are designed to keep connections strong and running at maximum speeds in every room without slow-downs or buffering, providing families with the bandwidth to address household demands even when simultaneously 4K/8K streaming, Zoom conferencing and Wi-Fi calling from a bedroom, basement or outside in the garden.

In an environment where homes are connected with Gigabit plus internet (1.4 to 10 Gigabit), and have an increasing number of connected devices — more than 25 on average — the new Orbi 860 Series provides the best Wi-Fi experience for Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 devices. It’s an upgrade from the Orbi 850 series with a stepped-up internet connection, from 1 Gigabit to 10 Gigabit, and a new antenna system with wider coverage areas.

The new Orbi RBK863 3-pack Wi-Fi Mesh System provides up to 2438 m2 of coverage (152 more than the 850 Series), with up to 6Gbps Wi-Fi speed and support for 100 devices operating at the same time. This coverage can easily be expanded with additional Orbi RBS860 satellites. To achieve this industry-leading performance and wider range, NETGEAR uses patented dedicated backhaul Wi-Fi technology and antenna design. The exclusive tri-band mesh system with NETGEAR’s pioneering innovation ensures speeds stay fast as more Wi-Fi devices connect to the home network, with less dropped connections.

“When we launched our flagship Orbi product line in 2016, we set a new benchmark for connected home products with faster speeds, higher capacity and wider coverage areas with our patented tri-band mesh design,” says David Henry, president & GM of Connected Home Products and Services at NETGEAR.

“Our new Orbi 860 Series is designed to continue to deliver on the promise of superior Wi-Fi. It provides the capacity to capitalise on higher incoming Internet speed, up to 10 Gigabit, an increasing number of devices and even better Wi-Fi range than the Orbi 850 Series. On top of that, we couple it with one of the industry’s best internet security protection services to help customers to secure all their home Wi-Fi connected devices, including laptops, phones, tablets, speakers, cameras, baby monitors, TVs, light bulbs, light switches and more,” adds Henry.


Some of the features of the Orbi 860 Series include: 

·          Faster speeds with Wi-Fi 6 —Wi-Fi 6 offers four times the speed, capacity, and bandwidth of Wi-Fi 5. You get best-in-class performance regardless of activity or device type. 

·        20% Wi-Fi boost with exclusive antenna array design — With unique Wi-Fi optimisation and a new, improved antenna array, the Orbi 860 system provides more range and speed compared to the previous Orbi 850 Series. 

·        Dedicated backhaul — Unlike competitors with a shared backhaul, Orbi’s patented dedicated backhaul connects the router to satellites with a dedicated Wi-Fi pathway exclusively used for communication between the base router and the satellites while competitors share that link when communicating with other connected devices. This dedicated backhaul design ensures blazing speeds throughout your home and on all your devices.

·        Orbi® App — Easily set up your Wi-Fi system, manage your network remotely, pause the Internet on any device, track your Internet data usage and more.


For added peace of mind, the Orbi 860 Series includes a year of NETGEAR Armor to protect the connected home from online threats. Unlike traditional endpoint antivirus products, NETGEAR’s Armor is built into the router as a comprehensive security solution to monitor activity going to and from the Internet, protecting computers, security cameras, baby monitors and other IoT devices, flagging external threats while eliminating the need for multiple security subscriptions or software. Additionally, it provides on-the-go protection and VPN for phones and laptops. Armor acts as a strong and effective ‘front- and back-door lock’ to any home network.

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