Orbi RBK50, should I buy from Verizon or Amaxon?

[Ned_O]

Hi I am a Verizon Fios TV/Phone/Internet customer.

I currently have the FIOS actiontec router and a moca extender.

My contract is up and the wifi is not keeping up to all the devices in the house.

So I am going to upgrade to the Quantum Router probably Friday, hoping they have some deals.

I am thinking about the Orbi RBK50 AC3000, Verizon has it on sale today for $279 but is $278 at Amazon all the time. The one I would get from Verizon direct has does not get its firmware from Netgear but from Verizon.  So I am wondering if I should buy that one or get the Amazon one that gets firmware direct from Netgear.

I have read about it a little and it looks like either way I would have to use Orbi in AP mode only since I have TV and a fair amount of hardwired cat 5 drops and a switch that plugs into the actiontec now. I guess I could move that switch , my NAS and WDCloud to the Orbi.

Has anyone compared what diffreneces there are between the verizon and netgear firmwares? Does the verizon one give any advantages since it is tailored for FIOS or it is just gimping it in someway? Can you still use the circle parental controls if you are in AP mode?

Maybe I should try run the quantum gateway in bridge mode instead?  How is the Orbi interface if you do use it as a router?

Or maybe I should skip the Orbi and get the latest version of the Moca extender?
Thanks

[AMG989]

If I had to do it again, I would just buy the Orbi from Netgear. Verizon dropped the ball on firmware updates which means that the new stuff like the RBS40V smart speaker satellite would not be properly recognized as a smart speaker because Verizon never updated nor will the updated the firmware. I did find a solution using a TFTP file transfer. Through trial and error I did get it to work and replace the Verizon firmware with the updated Netgear firmware. 

[kh-gary]

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