Despite the sluggishness, that is still better than getting a crummy signal or no connection at all in the basement if you had just one router.

Netgear’s Orbi works differently than traditional mesh systems. It has a dedicated Wi-Fi band, or connection, in which only the router and satellites can talk to each other; no other devices can interfere with their connection. Hence Orbi’s hubs can transfer data more quickly to one another than systems like Eero and Google Wifi can.

The other downside of a mesh system is they are not cheap. A pack of three Eero devices costs about $400, Google Wifi costs about $300 for a pack of three, and Netgear’s Orbi with a router and one wall-plug satellite costs $300.

Google says the rule of thumb for choosing a package is that each access point covers about 1,500 square feet of space. But configurations will vary depending on the layout of your home and the materials inside your walls. In my roughly 1,100-square-foot apartment, I needed two access points because my main rooms are separated by a long hallway.

Test Results

In my tests with Eero, Google Wifi and Netgear’s Orbi, all were quite fast in each room. The Orbi delivered the speediest results over all, and Eero and Google Wifi performed roughly the same. The Wirecutter, the product recommendations site owned by The New York Times, tested multiple mesh systems in a large house and also found Orbi to be the fastest, strongest system.

Yet speed isn’t everything. Eero’s app was the easiest to understand, which made setting up and checking on the status of the Wi-Fi system extremely smooth. Google Wifi’s app was also intuitive, though less polished than Eero’s. Netgear’s Orbi had the clunkiest setup, requiring an arcane web browser interface to get started, and the configuration language would probably be intimidating for those who are not information technology professionals.

In addition, the Orbi, which looks like a water purifier pitcher, is the bulkiest and ugliest of the three, so you may feel tempted to hide it behind a pile of books, which would weaken its signal.