Introduction

Ah, WiFi 6, you are finally here! We took a look at a 60 GHz IEEE 802.11ad based product last year, which was just one of a handful of implementations using the high bandwidth, terrible signal attenuation protocol. Indeed, companies that had plans to make routers supporting 802.11ad/ay quickly canceled them in favor of some WiGig networking solutions and instead began to focus on WiFi 6. Technically known as the IEEE 802.11ax standard, WiFi 6 got a nice marketing coat of paint for consumers to better relate it to the more widespread 802.11n/ac, wherein the latter is now referred to as WiFi 5. It is 2021, WiFi 6 has become more common in consumer products to where we now have WiFi 6E, the upstart aiming to make things more complicated again. NETGEAR is how we kickstart our coverage of WiFi 6 consumer products, and thanks again to the company for sending TechPowerUp a review sample!


NETGEAR had actually sent a set of three new WiFi 6-compatible networking solutions, and this just happened to be the first one out of the box. We have previously looked at the company's Orbi lineup of successful mesh WiFi systems, be it the then-flagship Orbi RBK50 for 802.11ac or newer hybrid wired/mobile Orbi LBR20 earlier this year. I have the consumer side of the Orbi WiFi 6 lineup here too, but did you know that there is a separate Orbi Pro line from NETGEAR intended for small businesses and prosumers who want more control and monitoring compared to the more user-friendly Orbi products? We go through the two-pack Orbi Pro SXK80 AX6000 WiFi system in detail now.

Specifications