Netgear Orbi 370 Review: Affordable Wi-Fi 7 Mesh That Doesn’t Suck

If you’re having a hard time with your home internet and you’re using a Wi-Fi router given to you by your internet provider, it might make sense to switch to a mesh router system. You won’t just get better wireless coverage; in many cases, it’ll save you a few bucks a month in rental fees. But not everyone wants to spill the many hundreds of dollars it can cost for some of the fancier mesh systems out there, and that’s where Netgear’s cheapest Wi-Fi 7 mesh system, the Orbi 370, comes in.

The Orbi 370 is a dual-band Wi-Fi 7 mesh kit aimed squarely at everyday households. Its looks reflect that—more oil diffuser than network equipment—as does its performance, which is solid but not designed to blast a firehose of data packets into your computer’s internet hole. And Netgear’s Orbi routers, including these, are very Eero-like, in that you have very little control over how they work. If that sounds terrible to you, then you can move on, friend; these aren’t the routers for you.

But plenty of people have no interest in plunging the depths of router configuration, and most of us don’t have access to better-than-gigabit (or even gigabit, for that matter) internet. That’s who the Netgear Orbi 370 is for.

More family sedan than hot rod

The Orbi 370 comes in packages of up to four tall, skinny routers—one primary and three satellites—that look nice enough to leave out in the open without being an eyesore. Those are $449.99; I tested the $349.99 three-pack, but a set of two starts at $249.99. It’s not the cheapest mesh system, but it’s in the ballpark of other, similar options like the Eero 7 ($279.99)^[1] or the TP-Link Deco BE25 ($229.99)^[2]. The primary router in each Orbi 370 system features two 2.5Gbps ethernet ports: one that you can plug a laptop into and the other to connect to your modem. The Orbi 370’s satellites have only one 2.5Gbps ethernet port each, so you’ll need an ethernet switch if you want to hardwire a bunch of devices to them.

See Netgear Orbi 370 at Amazon^[3]

Specs-wise, the Orbi 370 is fit for things like 4K video streaming and casual gaming. It’s limited to the 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands and has no 6GHz band, which means it also lacks Wi-Fi 7’s maximum 320MHz channel bandwidth. Think of that as a measure of the size of the “pipe” your data comes through—the bigger the pipe, the faster your downloads. It’s part of why, with the right gear, you can see an Ookla Speedtest result over Wi-Fi that hits well over 2 gigabits per second^[4]. Netgear’s mesh system does use 240MHz channels on the 5GHz band, which Wi-Fi 7 also enables, but only for the backhaul connection between router nodes, not to your devices. That should still mean higher throughput when you’re connected to a satellite device, but if you’re lucky enough to have something like a 2Gbps fiber internet connection, don’t expect this router to let you take full advantage of that over Wi-Fi; it’s just not built for it.

Another big feature of Wi-Fi 7 is multi-link operation (MLO), which lets you connect to two bands at once, in this case the 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands. The Orbi 370 uses the feature for its backhaul connection, but you’d also be able to use it with your smartphone or laptop, as long as they’re newer and have Wi-Fi 7 capability. The only trouble is, this feature requires WPA3, the most recent Wi-Fi security protocol, to be turned on, but the Orbi 370 uses only WPA2 by default—so you’d need to know to go turn WPA3 on if you want to use MLO. A lot of router companies don’t enable WPA3 out of the box because many older devices aren’t compatible, but none seem to go out of their way to make sure you know WPA3 is an option, or why you should strive to move your network to it. (The short answer is that it’s more secure^[5], particularly when used for public or business networks.)

But the Orbi 370 will get you where you’re going

My tests involved using a laptop that was hardwired to the Orbi and another that was connected wirelessly with an MSI BE6500 Wi-Fi 7 USB adapter^[6]. I measured throughput with testing software called iPerf^[7], which lets me simulate file transfers from one device to the other over the network—it’s better than just doing internet speed tests, since with those, I can’t be certain whether to blame a bad result on my router or my internet service.

I saw the best throughput results while using Wi-Fi 7 and only a single Orbi 370 and no satellites, pulling around 1.5Gbps while within about 15 feet of the router. Once I added a satellite and started adding other devices to my network, that figure dropped to between 900Mbps and 930Mbps, depending on which version of Wi-Fi I was using. Wi-Fi 5, the best version of Wi-Fi you’ll see on devices made between 2013 and 2021, was at the low end of that, but every other test I ran in that range, whether it was Wi-Fi 6 or 7 on the 5GHz band, or Wi-Fi 7 with MLO using both bands, was between 921Mbps and 927Mbps.

It was the same when I tested the connection in my office, except throughput seemed to be capped around 150Mbps. I adjusted my test settings, suspecting this was Netgear’s quality of service (QoS) at play. Routers use QoS to attempt to keep things smooth by tuning bandwidth per device, based on the type of data being used, like video streaming or gaming. Sure enough, once I accounted for that, throughput in my office nearly doubled… for one test, anyway. It dropped afterward, settling to an average 184Mbps.

Test numbers don’t tell the whole story, largely because of QoS and other, similar features; what’s more important is how your network hardware performs when it’s actually being used. To its credit, rolling with the Orbi 370 at the head of my network was largely indistinguishable from using the Eero Pro 7 or any other decent router, although some things took a little longer, like loading the video feeds from my security cameras.

An example: I streamed a mix of 4K and 1080p video from YouTube, Apple TV+, and Sony Pictures Core on seven different devices, all without any signs of extra buffering or compression. That’s not necessarily a big challenge, considering the low bitrates of most of those options except Sony’s service, which can push up to 80Mbps. (Physical media still rules, but if you have a Sony device that supports it^[8], Sony Pictures Core really is the next best thing outside of homespun local streaming with something like Plex.)

With my streaming bonanza in full force, I piled on by barking smart home commands to my HomePods. I also played a few online rounds of Mario Kart World’s lengthy, 24-player Knockout Tour. The Orbis handled it all mostly without issues, although there were signs in Mario Kart World, like my turtle shells missing, only for their target to go tumbling a few seconds later as though they hadn’t. Meanwhile, my various video streams stayed sharp throughout. All in all, the Orbi 370’s performance story was good.

Easy to use, impossible to tweak

Setting it up is a fairly painless experience, too. The easiest way is to use the Orbi app, which basically does it for you after you scan a QR code printed on a sticker attached to the front of the primary Orbi, but you can use your computer’s web browser^[9] instead, if you prefer. Connecting the satellites is as easy as tapping the sync button on the back of them, then doing the same on the primary router, and waiting for the status light on the satellites to turn blue.

Once you’re set up, the Orbi app lets you do a few things like change your network’s name (SSID) and password, look at a list of devices connected to each of the Orbi system’s nodes, run internet speed tests, and activate a guest or dedicated IoT device network. Otherwise, it’s a barebones experience that feels mainly like a pipeline to Netgear’s subscription services.

One of those is called Smart Parental Controls. It costs $7.99 per month (or $69.99 per year) and lets you set up profiles and add devices to it, then set time ranges those devices can be active or limit how long they can be used, as well as restrict the content the router will allow based on a few age range tiers. The other service is Netgear Armor^[10], a $99.99 annual subscription that adds virus- and- malware-blocking and turns your network into a VPN node through which you can route your traffic from devices that you install the Netgear Armor app on. Not every router company charges for features like these. Asus, for example, offers its own similar parental controls and TrendMicro-powered security software for free in the RT-BE86U router I reviewed recently^[11].

For more advanced router-y options like setting up IP reservations or configuring a custom DNS, you’ll want to head to the browser interface. But like a lot of mesh systems, you can’t split your SSID in two, one for 5GHz Wi-Fi and one for 2.4GHz. (The IoT network is sort of a way around this, but that doesn’t make your main SSID 5GHz-only.) And you can’t do any deep, enterprise-level customization of things like Wi-Fi radio strength or tweak QoS priorities—you get what Netgear thinks is best, and for most folks that’s fine. If it’s not for you, well, you probably already know about Ubiquiti, Asus, and the like.

How much control do you want?

Wi-Fi 7 routers are starting to get more affordable, and the Orbi 370 is part of that trend. $249.99 ain’t a bad deal for a two-router kit that can easily cover my nearly 2,000-square-foot home and then some (Netgear says it’s good for up to 4,000 square feet) and, at least in my case, seems to handle plenty of active devices with few issues.

The calculus changes if you’re interested in extra security and parental controls features since other companies offer such things for free. There are other good reasons to avoid the Orbi 370, like if you’re hoping to prepare your network for the eventual dream of fiber. If you expect to be, or already are, lucky enough to have better-than-gigabit fiber internet, a Wi-Fi 7 router with a 6GHz band could help you make better use of it. Also, not being able to control things like QoS prioritization or split your SSID is a deal-breaker for some people. As is the limited number of ports, at least for those who like to run ethernet cables to everything they can without using network switches. If you need more fine-grained control over your router, look elsewhere; some more configuration-friendly options include the Ubiquiti U7 Lite^[12] or the Asus ZenWiFi BD5^[13].

The Orbi 370’s strengths lie in its stable, reliable Wi-Fi and its easy-to-use software. If you haven’t made the leap to fiber internet and you’re not trying to speed up your game downloads, and you’re not interested in spelunking the depths of your router’s settings, then Netgear’s cheapest Orbi 370 mesh system is a

See Netgear Orbi 370 at Amazon^[14]