Netgear’s Orbi promises home-blanketing WiFi for $400

Startups like Eero and Luma have built entire companies on betting that your home WiFi situation just flat out sucks. But why look to address dead spots after the fact when you can cut the problem off at the pass with a more robust networking system right out of the box?

Whatever configuration you ultimately opt for, the answer is ultimately going to cost you a pretty penny – or 39,999 of them.

Netgear’s new Orbi “WiFi system” was clearly influenced at least somewhat by increased competition from plucky little startups. It’s slick looking, curvy hardware with a suitably buzzy four-letter name. The setup includes a router and a “satellite,” two nearly identical pieces of hardware that essentially a primary and secondary device, the latter of which is designed to be placed pretty much anywhere in the house.

The company is banking on easy out of the box setup here (like the kind promised by the aforementioned startups), promising up to 4,000 feet of non-dead spot WiFi coverage designed for all that modern multimedia streaming. Orbi’s WiFi offering falls under a single network name, covering both 2.4 and 5GHz bands, with, according to Netgear’s numbers, speeds up to 3Gbps.

It starts shipping next month, priced at $400.