Selecting Your Home WiFi Network

Orbi

RBKE963 in Black

RBK753

eero

eero Pro 6

eero 6

The Bottom Line: I highly recommend the Orbi over the eero. The only scenarios in which I recommend the eero are when your home is wired for ethernet and you want the WiFi access points to be virtually invisible.

ORBI EERO
MAX WIRELESS SPEEDS
Up to 4.8 Gbps (RBKE96x)
Up to 2.4 Gbps (RBK85x)
Up to 1 Gbps (RBK75x)
Up to 1.3 Gbps (eero Pro 6E )
Up to 1 Gbps (eero Pro 6 and eero 6+)
Up to 500 Mbps (eero 6)
COVERAGE AREA PER DEVICE
1,500 - 2,000 sq ft
800 - 1,000 sq ft
PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS
(11 x 7.5 x 3.3 in) Orbi RBKE96x
(10 x 7.5 x 2.8 in) Orbi RBK85x
(9.1 x 7.2 x 2.8 in) Orbi RBK75x
(5.5 x 5.5 x 2.2 in) eero Pro
(3.9 x 3.8 x 2.6 in) eero 6

COST

$1,500 for 3 Orbi RBKE96x
$1,000 for 3 Orbi RBK85x
$500 for 3 Orbi RBK75x
$700 for 3 eero Pro 6Es
$479 for 3 eero Pro 6s
$300 for 3 eero 6+
$250 for 3 eero 6

FAQs

Not really. Currently, there are very few devices that can take advantage of 6E’s additional frequency band. Also, the highest internet speed being offered in the LA area is 2 Gbps offered by Frontier in limited areas. For most day-to-day usage, very few of us will require 4.2 Gbps download speeds in the next five plus years.

The RBK85x tops out at 2.4 Gbps for wireless connections whereas the RBK75x only reaches 1 Gbps. The RBK85x is also able to manage over 100 devices on the network compared to the RBK75x’s 50. If you are planning to take advantage of 2 GB speeds being offered by fiber internet providers in the next few years, you should invest in the RBK85X.

Other than size, the primary difference between the eero Pro and the eero 6 is a dedicated frequency band for the eero devices to communicate with each other. Since I only recommend using eeros with an ethernet backbone, you will not really benefit from the additional band. The eero Pro has slightly better coverage — because of its size —and is flatter so is easier to mount. Those are the only real benefits.  

Where to Buy