Orb RB40 MAJOR DNS Issue

My $300 dollar Orbi investemnt appears to be a waste of money after 4 months use.  All of a sudden the Router stops responding to DNS requests.  I work in the network engineering field and have over 20 years of experience and ths issue is definalty with the router.  After searching forums about this issue, I am seeing tons of customers with the same type of problem, the issue does not appear to be new to Netgear.  I can expect bugs/hardware issue in network equipment, what I can except is a company that will not provide adequate support to address the problem, nor does it appear that they care about the problem since I see threads abou tthis across multiple product lines and from long time ago.

Issue - DNSMASQ service stopps responding - I can fix it by either toggling DNS servive from DHCP to static, or by telneting into the device and issue a command to restart the service.  /etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart   Issue resolves itself quickly by doing one of these two things.  Also when I hard code my PC to use a google dns server, issue does not happen on PC, all other devices that get thier DHCP from the Orbi router stop functioing.

Major Problem - With the pandemic I have kids e-learning at home, they are not tech savy and can't fix the issue themselves.

I tried to hard code thier school issued laptops to a static google DNS entry but as you expect the school does not allow students to get to the TCP/IP properties on the laptop.

Afer combing throught the forums, people have fixed the issue by purchasing a new NON Netgear router and placing the Orbi in AP mode only.   This is NOT a soltuion to the problem.  After spending over $300 for a mesh wifi system I expect all functionality to work and not have to procure addiational equipment to solve an issue that Netgear has on thier multiple products and is not fixing.

After contacting support , nice guy, but he was not able to asist since I did not have extended support.  Howver I am still under hardware warranty.  How do I know if this is a software bug or a hardware issue, could be either?  I asked to have the device RMA's but was unsuccesull.  In any case tech support was follwoing prototocols and said the router hardware is fine based on thier "system" info.  He had me check the lights, not sure if that is where the concllusion arose from. Without a support contract he was not able to provide any more help.

Woudld the call be differnt if I call back and say the router is not powering on. You can fry small electroncs pretty easy, woudl it then be covered under Netgears warranty?

I have owned multiple Netgear products in the past and have not had this type of issue.  This is one of the more expensive ones I purchased for personal use, and am very dissapointed.  I understand bugs happen, but this "bug" appears to be going on for a very long time with Orbi products, and Netgear is not addressing the issue for thier customers.

Needless to say I will not by buying any more Netgear products for my perosnal use or for my proffesional use.  NETGEAR you need to stand behind your products!!!

I am venitng my frustrations as well as starting my awareness campaign for anybody that is potentiatlly looking at Orbi product line.  STAY AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!