The coverage rating is arithmetic, and the pack sizes give it away
eero rates a single 6+ unit at 1,500 sq. ft., a 2-pack at 3,000 and a 3-pack at 4,500. The Pro 7 runs 2,000, 4,000, 6,000 and 8,000 across its four pack sizes. That is one per-unit figure multiplied by the number of units in the carton.
TP-Link’s ladder is not linear. The Deco BE63 is rated at 5,800 for two units and 7,600 for three, the third node adding 1,800. NETGEAR rates the Orbi 770 2-pack (RBE772) at 5,500 sq. ft., while selling the RBE770 satellite on its own as adding up to 2,750. The Orbi 750 2-pack is rated at 5,000.
Two things follow. Adding a node does not necessarily add a full unit’s worth of rated coverage on paper — on the Deco XE75, TP-Link’s published figures of 2,900, 5,500 and 7,200 sq. ft. say the third one adds less than the second. And not one of these six publishes a figure adjusted for a second story, a basement, or a detached structure. It is a ceiling your layout spends down from, and no manufacturer tells you the exchange rate.
Work out the node count from the layout, then use the rating as a check
Because none of the six publishes a derated figure, a square-footage total cannot tell you whether the wall between the house and the garage is the problem. A short sequence gets you further than the number does.
Start by listing the spaces that must have coverage and marking the one where the internet line enters — that is where the router goes. Every other separated space is a candidate for its own node: the upstairs floor, the finished basement, the detached garage. A two-story house with a detached garage is three such spaces and therefore a three-node problem, whatever the square footage adds up to. A two-story house with everything under one roof is usually a two-node problem.
Then use the pack rating as a sanity check rather than an answer. It only overrules the layout in one direction. If the home already exceeds the 2-pack figure — 3,000 sq. ft. on the eero 6+, 4,000 on the eero Pro 7 — the third node is settled before layout enters into it. If the home sits comfortably under the Deco BE63’s 5,800 or the Orbi 770’s 5,500, the rating has told you nothing useful and the structure decides.
Finally, check the cable. Which of those nodes could you reach with Ethernet, through a crawlspace, along a baseboard, or in conduit already run to the garage? That answer changes which system you should buy more than anything else on the spec sheet.
Wired backhaul is the one specification that removes the guesswork
Five of these six state support for wired backhaul: eero for the Pro 7 and the 6+, TP-Link as an option on the Deco BE63 and XE75, and NETGEAR as a 2.5 Gig option on the Orbi 770.
Port count matters as much as speed once the node is in a garage or basement, because those rooms usually have something else to plug in. A backhaul run consumes one port. That leaves three free on a Deco BE63 unit, two on a Deco XE75 unit, one on either eero unit, and one on the Orbi 770 satellite. The Orbi 750 satellite has four ports in total, though what they can be used for is less clearly documented.
Reserved band, dynamic band, or no band to spare
The systems here take three visibly different approaches, and the wording each manufacturer uses is the whole difference.
TP-Link’s support documentation for the Deco XE75 states that 6 GHz is used as dedicated backhaul by default and is not shared with client devices, with automatic fallback to 5 GHz or 2.4 GHz if the 6 GHz link is out of range or a mixed-generation Deco is added. That is the most specific published arrangement in the group, and it costs nothing on the client side: the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands stay free.
NETGEAR reserves a band on the Orbi 750 too — 5 GHz 4x4 at 80 MHz, rated 2,400 Mbps, stated as separate from the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands serving devices. That names the band too, but arrives with a trade: this is Wi-Fi 6 with no 6 GHz band, so the reserved backhaul takes 5 GHz capacity out of client use, leaving 600 Mbps on 2.4 GHz and 1,200 Mbps on 5 GHz for devices.
eero reserves nothing on either model. TP-Link describes the BE63’s arrangement as AI-Driven Mesh supporting wireless and wired backhaul simultaneously, with 320 MHz channel width available on 6 GHz, but names no reserved band.
If a node has to reach a detached structure on a wireless hop, the systems that name the band carrying that hop are the ones you can check before buying rather than after.
When two nodes are genuinely enough
They are enough when the second node does not have to serve a third separated space. A single-floor home inside the eero 6+’s 3,000 sq. ft. rating, or a two-story house where the router sits centrally and the only distant room is upstairs, is a two-node layout on every system here.
They are not enough when the far space is a detached garage and no cable can reach it. In that case the honest options are a third node or a wired run, and the systems differ in how cheaply, in effort rather than money, you can change your mind later. The Orbi 770’s RBE770 satellite is sold standalone with its own published rating of up to 2,750 sq. ft. TP-Link sells the Deco XE75 as a 1-pack rated 2,900 sq. ft. and a standalone BE63 unit for extending an existing system. eero sells the Pro 7 as a 1-pack rated 2,000 sq. ft. that can join an existing system. For the Orbi 750, no standalone add-on satellite appears in the retrieved material; NETGEAR sells the RBK753 3-pack as a separate kit.
Two things buyers check last and should check first
Device ceilings vary by a factor of five across this group, and a garage or basement node usually arrives with its own hardware attached to it. NETGEAR states over 40 devices for the Orbi 750 and up to 100 for the Orbi 770. eero states 75-plus for the 6+ and 200-plus per unit for the Pro 7. TP-Link states up to 200 for the Deco XE75 and over 200 for the BE63.
Physical size decides where a node can actually sit, and it is rarely on the spec comparison people build. The Deco BE63 measures 4.23 x 4.23 x 6.93 in (107.5 x 107.5 x 176 mm) per unit and the Deco XE75 4.1 x 4.1 x 6.7 in (105 x 105 x 169 mm), both narrow uprights. The Orbi 770 is 9.88 in tall, 5.28 in wide and 3.95 in deep at 2.02 lb per unit, and the Orbi 750 is 9.1 x 7.2 x 2.8 in at 1.9 lb. Measure the shelf or joist ledge before choosing: the Orbi units are 9.88 in and 9.1 in tall against 6.93 in and 6.7 in for the Decos. eero does not publish dimensions for either model in the material retrieved here.
