The only all-in-one cable modem with mesh wifi 6 products released by Netgear is the Orbi cbk752. Which one gives you best value between netgear orbi cbk752 and the new release of Motorola mg8725?
Netgear Orbi Cbk752
There are three all-in-one products of wifi 6 routers with cable modems that will have been released by Netgear up to Oct 2022, Netgear Nighthawk Cax80, Cax30 and Orbi Cbk752. The first two products are wifi 6 routers and the last product is Orbi Cbk750 mesh wifi 6 which all of these three products come with built-in DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem.
Netgear Orbi Cbk752
For those who don’t like clutter of many devices at home for a mesh wifi network, Netgear Orbi CBK752 is the preference product. This Orbi cbk752 comes with Orbi Cbr750 mesh wifi-6 router with built-in DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem plus one unit of Orbi Rbs750 satellite. You can add more Orbi rbs750 satellites when you need to extend the coverage. Each unit of orbi cbr750 or rbs750 can cover up to 2,500 sq ft.
Today you can find that Arris and Motorola released few similar products. Arris releases surfboard g34 and g36 ax3000 wifi 6 routers with cable modem and Motorola released mg8725. With the emerging of latest wifi 6 products you may upgrade your aging wifi 5-based products including previous models of Netgear Orbi cbk40 to latest wifi 6-based products.
Orbi Cbr750
Orbi Cbr750 is a three band ax4200 mesh wifi-6 router with built-in DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem.
This product is the same as Orbi Rbk750 series – a tri-band mesh ax4200 wifi-6 router with 8 streams with wireless signal rates of up to:
- 600Mbps @2.4Ghz with 2 x 2 MU-MIMO,
- plus up to 1,200Mbps @5GHz 2 x 2 MU-MIMO
- 2,400Mbps 4 x 4 MIMO @5GHz for dedicated backhaul between Orbi units
To form a whole home mesh wifi system, you can add one or more Orbi Rbs750 satellites, each unit can covers up to 2,500 sq ft. See also Orbi Rbk750 ax4200 vs Velop mx10.
In addition of Orbi cbk752, previously netgear released Netgear nighthawk cax80 and the newer model is nighthawk cax30. What is the difference?
Orbi Cbr750 vs Nighthawk Cax80
What is the main different between these two models? Cax80 is a wifi-6 router while Cbr750 is a mesh wifi-6 router; both come with built-in DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem. It’s similar with the one offered by Arris – the Surfboard Sbg8300 cable modem router, however this product is based on AC2300 wave 2, not latest wifi-6 technology. The latest Arris products are Surfboard g34 and g36 that come with wifi 6 routers.
Technically comparison between the two models of cable modem wifi 6 routers can be shown in the following table 1.
Different wifi system
Orbi Cbr750 is a simultaneous tri-band mesh wifi ax4200 system, you can add one or more Rbs750 satellites to form mesh wifi system in home. However, not all the three radio bands are used for clients connections. One of the two radio bands @5Ghz speed up to 2,400Mbps is used for dedicated backhaul link between Orbi mesh router and Orbi satellites.
On the other hand, Nighthawk Cax80 is simultaneous dual band ax6000 wifi-6 router, similar concept as Surfboard Sbg8300 dual band AC2300 and all the two radio bands are used for connected devices. When you need to add coverage, you need to add wireless range extender such as Netgear Nighthawk eax80 wifi-6 extender.
Take a look at the following spec comparison table to see more spec differences.
Table 1 Orbi Cbr750 vs Nighthawk Cax80
| Cable modem router | Orbi CBR750 | Nighthawk CAX80 |
| Wifi technology | Simultaneous tri-band ax4200 mesh wifi system with 8-streams with MU-MIMO | Simultaneous dual band ax6000 wifi 6 technology with 8-streams with MU-MIMO |
| Wifi speeds | 600Mbps @2.4GHz 2×2 MU-MIMO 1,200Mbps @5GHz 2×2 MU-MIMO 2,400Mbps @5GHz 4×4 MIMO (dedicated backhaul link) | 2.4GHz AX: up to 1.2Gbps 4×4 5GHz AX: up to 4.8Gbps 4×4 |
| Cable modem | DOCSIS 3.1 compatible with 32×8 DOCSIS 3.0 | DOCSIS 3.1 compatible with 32×8 DOCSIS 3.0 |
| Ethernet Ports | Four (4) 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports | 4x Gigabit LAN ports with 2 link aggregated ports and One 2.5Gbps LAN port |
| USB Ports | N/A | 1x USB 3.0 |
| Processor | Powerful Quad-Core 1.4GHz processor | Powered by 1.5GHz dual core processor |
With the Netgear Orbi Cbk752 that consists of the Orbi Cbr750 – a two-in-one mesh router and DOCIS 3.1 cable modem, plus one Orbi Rbs750 satellite that you can place in another room or on the second floor of your house, the wifi-6 signal is evenly distributed with one network name. If you need larger coverage you can add one or more Orbi satellites.
Netgear Orbi Cbk752 Highlights
- Consists of Orbi Cbr750 mesh router and Rbs750 satellite simultaneous tri-band mesh wifi-6 ax4200 mesh wifi system
- Wifi speeds 600Mbps @2.4GHz + 1,200Mbps @5GHz + 2,400Mbps @5GHz (dedicated backhaul link)
- 4x Gigabit LAN ports (Orbi router), 2x Gigabit LAN ports for Satellite
- Coverage up to 2,500 sq ft each router / satellite
- Orbi Cbr750 comes with built-in DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem (32×8 DOCSIS 3.0)
- Powered by Quad core 1.4GHz processor
- Compatible with major ISP providers
- Auto firmware update
- Netgear Armor advanced cyber threat protection service plan
Cons
- No USB port
With this two-pack of Orbi Cbk752 kit you can remove clutter of cable modem and configuration is simpler. This product was tagged around $599.00 (MSRP) and today (end of Oct 2022) you may find the price is dropped around $499.00 in Amazon (#ads).
Click here to SHOP Orbi Cbk752 in Amazon (#Ads)
Which one gives you better value between Netgear Orbi cbk752 (2-units) and Motorola mg8725 (1x Unit)?
Orbi cbk752 vs Motorola Mg8725
With two Orbi units / Cbk752 (Orbi router and one unit Orbi satellite) can cover an area of approximately 5,000 sq ft, depending on conditions, this product is suitable for network environment of two-story houses, or large houses to the backyard. If you need wider coverage then you can add one or more add-on satellite units. It’s quite easy to extend the coverage because the nature of the Orbi system is mesh wifi system.
While the Motorola mg8725 can only cover about 2,000 to 3,000 sq ft and if you need to extend the wider coverage then you need to add one or more wifi extender devices. You need to find suitable wifi range extender products that can work well with this mg8725 router, because this product is only a wifi router, not a mesh wifi system. See also comparison between Motorola and Arris Surfboard cable modem.
Table 2 below shows you spec and feature comparison between these two products.
Wifi router
Both products provide different total aggregated bandwidth to connected devices, and you can see the network segment specs that Motorola is apparently superior with a total bandwidth of up to 6000Mbps. Compare this with Orbi which only provides a total bandwidth of up to 1800Mbps, because 4,800mbps is used as a dedicated backhaul link between nodes.
Moreover, if the connected 600Mbps adapters that support 1×1 mu-mimo; then Orbi can send two data streams to two 600Mbps adapters at once.
While Motorola mg8725 (with 4800Mbps 4×4) can send data streams to 4 x device adapters that support 600Mbps or 1200Mbps mu-mimo at once. Or it can send two data streams at once to two devices that support 2×2 1200Mbps. That looks tricky right? Forget about the mu-mimo calculation, what you need to see is the apparent network segment, ax4200 for Orbi or ax6000 for Motorola.
Network name
Orbi cbk752 which is mesh wifi, it has become common that both 5ghz and 2.4ghz radio bands use the same network name and guest network. While Motorola allows you the opportunity to configure multiple name networks up to 4x ssids, two ssids per band. For office needs that require network partitioning according to the name of the division, this is very beneficial.
With multiple SSIDs, it will be difficult if you have to add one or two range extenders that cannot forward multiple SSIDs. For that, if you need a single network name evenly distributed throughout the house or your mobile devices move from room to room without having to change SSIDs, the Orbi mesh network is a preference.
Extending coverage
There will come situation that you need to extend the coverage, things like adding new room or need to cover backyard with barbeque that need internet access for mobile devices, when those spots are still dead zone then you need range extender.
With cbk752 what you need is to add one orbi satellite, orbi rbs750 or adding netgear eax80 range extender. However, adding the orbi satellite is preference. With Motorola mg8725 what you need to add is one universal wifi range extender, and the choice of netgear eax80 is also preference since this range extender is universal in connecting to any third party router and the good thing is that this eax80 features mesh extender. You can configure the extending wifi with the same network name and password. See also netgear nighthawk eax80 range extender.
Table 2 Orbi Cbk752 vs Motorola Mg8725
| Model | Orbi Cbk752 (1 Unit router + Satellite) | Motorola Mg8725 (1 Unit) |
| Wifi technology | Simultaneous tri-band ax4200 mesh wifi 6 with 8-streams | Simultaneous dual band ax6000 wifi 6 with 8-stremas |
| signal rates | 600Mbps @2.4GHz 2×2 MU-MIMO band 1 1,200Mbps @5GHz 2×2 MU-MIMO band 2 2,400Mbps @5GHz 4×4 MIMO (dedicated backhaul link) band 3 | 1,200Mbps @2.4GHz 4×4 MU-MIMO; band1 4,800Mbps @5GHz 4×4 MU-MIMO band 2 |
| Antennas | Six (6) high performance internal antennas with high-powered amplifiers | 4x dual band internal antennas with power boost wireless amplifiers |
| SSIDs | 1x SSID both radio bands | 4x SSIDs; 2x SSID /each band |
| Ethernet Ports | Router: 4 x 1.0 Gigabit LAN Ports Satellite 2 x 1.0 Gigabit LAN ports | 1x 2.5Gbps LAN port 3x 1.0Gbps LAN ports with auto sensing technology |
| USB Ports | N/A | N/A |
| Cable Modem | DOCSIS 3.1 | DOCSIS 3.1 |
| Internet plan | Up to 1Gbps (Spectrum and Cox) Up to 800Mbps (Xfinity | Xfinity, Cox and Spectrum for Plans Up to 1200 Mbps |
| Security | WPA2 PSK, 802.11i, 128-bit AES with PSK Netgear Armor anti-virus and data protection | Wireless Security: WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK, WPA/WPA2,TKIP/AES, WPS, 802.1x |
| Dimension and weight | 9.6 in x 7.7 in x 3.5 in, Weight 3.1lb each | 8.8 in x 5.7 in x 3.5 in Weight: 32 Ounces |
| Price (Oct 2022) | $499.99 | $409.99 |
Now you can make up your mind which one is suitable to meet your need and will give you better value. Netgear Orbi cbk752 is ideal for large home and is easy to extend by adding add-on satellite, or Motorola mg8725 with high aggregated bandwidth for covering up to 2500 sq ft area.
The prices listed may be different with current price. Click the product’s link below to learn more spec details and shop in Amazon (#ads).
Click here to SHOP Motorola Mg8725 in Amazon (#ad)
Related products
For Asus loyal users, you may consider Asus cmax6000 vs Cax80 cable modem wifi 6 routers. Asus is less popular in cable modem devices in the market compared with Netgear, Motorola and Arris. For native cable modem, you may consider Netgear cm2000 DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem with 2.5Gbps Ethernet port.