On a recent trip home, I had the opportunity to perform an onsite tech support project for my parents, a ritual of homecoming for many Instead of tinkering with TV settings or cleaning malware from laptops, this tech project was to switch my parents to a cable modem and mesh router My parents already had a mesh router (a Christmas gift, never to be set up), but to buy a cable modem we went to town and eventually to the local Costco

And on this latest childcare tech support quest, I found something fascinating When you buy Netgear products at Costco, the biggest drawback of Netgear is completely eliminated [There are many reasons to become a Costco member From great prices to cheap hot dogs to the (sometime) return of sample days, Costco does an unusually great job of keeping shoppers happy Costco's concierge service offers free technical support for everything from TVs and laptops to cable modems and routers

And in the case of Netgear, this one year of free technical support nicely fills one of the biggest gaps in the company's offerings If you purchase a non-Netgear networking product, you get only 90 days of free customer support That is not a very long time for a product that you may use for years

On the flip side, Netgear also offers subscription-based support, where you can pay extra to get a longer support period (Netgear can charge for additional technical support calls or you can purchase Netgear's extended warranty and support for $4999 for two years) This subscription fee is clearly an important part of Netgear's business model and is deployed on almost every Wi-Fi product the company makes

In Netgear's defense, most Wi-Fi devices work almost maintenance-free once set up However, if a Wi-Fi device malfunctions, it can spread throughout the entire home In fact, Netgear's short customer service policy has been the biggest problem with their excellent products over the past few years

There is only one wrinkle to this Netgear/Costco situation, and that is the fact that Costco carries its own versions of popular Netgear products with its own model numbers

For a regular retailer like Best Buy or Wal-Mart, such proprietary model numbers are a means of sidestepping the promise of price matching or offering a cheaper product (but usually cheaper quality), a kind of commercial sleight of hand

However, Costco has always been quite open about the fact that it genuinely strives to provide better-than-average quality to its members The Kirkland Signature brand is well known for being manufactured by the same people who make the leading brands, whether it is clothing or groceries, golf balls or mattresses A few examples: the Kirkland Signature mattress brand is made by Stearns & Foster, Costco's batteries are made by Duracell, and Starbucks brews Kirkland Signature coffee On top of that, Costco typically asks manufacturers to raise their usual standards so that shoppers can buy a slightly better product at a lower price

Consumer electronics, however, do not follow rebranding strategies The Samsungs and HPs of the world are not interested in offering private-label TVs and laptops So Costco instead doubles down on added value, offering what most retailers use as upsell opportunities: extended warranties, access to technical support, and a generous return policy for free

As a result, Costco has become the best option for those looking to save on big-ticket electronics (Costco has also been my secret to buying tech products over the years )

Which brings us back to model numbers

Costco's list of Netgear products includes many familiar faces from the Best Wi-Fi Routers and Best Mesh Routers selections, but the model numbers are slightly different

The Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 is listed as the Netgear Nighthawk RAXE450 Both offer Wi-Fi 6E speeds with the same distinctive design and more or less the same features The same is true of the Editor's Choice Netgear Nighthawk AX8 (RAX80), and Costco carries a virtually identical Netgear Nighthawk Tri-Band 8-Stream AX6200 WiFi 6 Router with the same feature set and very similar specs It has the same feature set and very similar specs

The mesh routers are the same: the Editor's Choice for the Netgear Orbi WiFi 6 (RBK852) review would be the Netgear Orbi RBK843S, while the more affordable Netgear Orbi RBK752 is the Orbi RBK753S In both cases, the features and performance are as seen in the review, but with the addition of Netgear's Armor Advanced Cyber Security (a service that normally costs $6999 after a free 30-day trial)

Even Wi-Fi extenders get the Costco treatment as top performers from the best Wi-Fi extenders: the wonderful Wi-Fi 6 model featured in our review of the Netgear AX1800 Mesh Extender (EAX20) is the Nighthawk available as the EAX18 AX1750 - there is a slight difference in total throughput, but it's a minor tweak in the face of Wi-Fi 6 speeds

Netgear routers have a big advantage in Costco's technical support, which is part of Costco's concierge service package A toll-free number gives you access to expert technicians to get the help you need, including troubleshooting and setup assistance Whether it's 91 days or 115 months after the device purchase, you get a level of personalized support that Netgear does not provide at no additional charge

I have used Costco's technical support services myself and have always been satisfied with their level of service

There is only one catch to this Costco customer service quality You have to be a member You need a membership card to enter the store (or go with someone who has one) You need the same membership card or membership number to purchase items at the cash register or on the Costco website And there is no non-member option to get the Costco Concierge service that comes with the technology products

But when you consider that a Costco membership costs only $60 and Netgear charges an additional $4999 for extended warranty and support, membership looks like a pretty good deal Especially when you consider that there are other perks that come with Costco membership, such as $5 rotisserie chickens, etc