The demands placed on our home networks are higher than ever, especially when it comes to gaming. Netgear was undeniably one of the first router manufacturers to optimize the networking required for gaming with its series of Nighthawk routers. Now it is attempting the same thing with the new Orbi mesh router series featuring 6E capability. The Game Booster service is largely similar to the Nighthawk Pro Gaming app used to configure the XR series of gaming routers, with one glaring difference: it requires a subscription.
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The Game Booster service for Orbi devices will cost $50 per year and although this is not a huge amount of money, it certainly raises some questions about why Netgear is charging for a service that was previously offered for free on other devices. This decision becomes even more puzzling when one considers how expensive an Orbi system is, with some larger systems costing up to $1,500.
Netgear says that Game Booster offers more than just a quality of service (QoS) optimizer. In addition to making QoS easier to use, the Game Booster software, like the Nighthawk Pro Gaming, gives you easy-to-read metrics to help you improve your home network.
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Game Booster will allow you to prioritize server connectivity based on ping or location, and will allow you to allocate and reserve bandwidth for both downloads and uploads per device. However, Netgear has stated that this service is not a VPN nor is it intended to replace VPN .
While many of these features are available in other services, Game Booster will also include a built-in ad blocker with a regularly updated block list. The blocker will allow you to fine-tune which devices and domains are blocked, in addition to providing you with up-to-date metrics on its effectiveness.
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It is certainly good to have more granular control over your home network, however many of the features offered by this paid service ultimately rely on the assumption of an ideal network environment among other factors. It is also largely tools that other routers provide for free or, as in the case of an ad‑blocking program, can be built at a fairly low cost in advance by an experienced user. All of this raises some questions about whether this paid service will be beneficial enough to be worth the subscription.
The Game Booster application has been set to be available for Orbi devices of the 750 and 850 series from the first quarter of 2022.
Source of information: theverge.com
