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Forum Discussion
Does 2.1.2.18 make Orbi Pro unstable?
I know some folks here gave up on the regular Orbi and switched to the Orbi Pro and found it to be stable. Up until yesterday it's latest firmware was 1.12.1.28 which was stable. Similarly, 1.11.0...
Thanks, I'll try there. I may go ahead and buy one to try it.
There was an interesting post by a Netgear rep on the Orbi Pro site:
"we will typically release on the Orbi product first to reduce the likelihood of a service disruption for business customers"
Basically extra testing on Standard before releasing to Pro.
So if Netgear released it to the Pro they must have been pretty confident that it would work.
I bought and Orbi Pro and answered my own question.
Summary: Orbi Pro is NOT stable on 2.1.2.18. If you have issues with the regular Orbi home on 2.1.2.18 you will also have issues w/ Orbi Pro. If you don't have issues with the regular version, Pro will likley work for you.
I bought the Orbi Pro. It worked great for one day on 1.12.1.28 which it shipped with. Decided since it worked so great I'd try to update to 2.1.2.18. Bad idea. After installing 2.1.2.18, the router rebooted twice in about 1.5 hours. In addition, the satllite disconnected/rebooted (purple, then blue, then light off) when I moved from the living room (where router is) to my bedroom (where satllite is). The satellite did that three times. My wife's, my phone and my laptop had the issue where after a while it would show connected but sites wouldn't load (e.g. Youtube videos would never get past buffering, some sites would not load).
All these same issues occured on the Orbi home.
I DO have google and android devices and I AM aware that this is partly Googles fault. HOWEVER, the issues did NOT happen on 1.12.1.28. BTW, I did reboot all my chromecasts + Google Homes + update the Google Home app today (apparently Google released the update on 1/18, not sure if it acutally was recived by my devices yet but they do have the latest fw according to the published fw versions from Google).
Very surprising why Netgear would push 2.1.2.18 to Orbi Pro, especially when 1.12 was so stable. I can't imagine having a business where a client walks in with an android phone and takes down my business network!
My solution? No sense in paying $200 more for Pro when it has the same issues. I'll be returning it. I put V1.11.0.20 back on Orbi home, reset it to factory defaults, disabled auto-update and will stick with that. Even with 3 Google Homes, 2 Google Minis, 5 Chromecast Audios and 4 Android phones, I've had 0 drops/reboots on V1.11.0.20. The UI has an issue saying the satellite is disconnected, but it's false - it's connected and fully working.
If others are experiencing drops I suggest:
1. Downgrade to V1.11.0.20 (or 1.12.1.28 if you are stuck with Orbi Pro) + factory reset + disable updates and
2. Contact support and let them know. There are features missing in 1.x that some may want, so support needs to escalate this to engineering. Also request a feature to disable auto-updates, especially on a business device where updates should be on on a business's schedule. Same for Orbi home -- given all these issues and that this is _supposed_ to be a high-end router, the feature should available on the regular Orbi home too.Really sorry that the Orbi Pro did not work out for you.
However, I am grateful (and I'm sure others will be) that you have taken the time and effort to provide an overview of the experience.
It settles my mind as to the way ahead - and it certainly does not include Netgear of any description.
Thanks again.