NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion
do we need to do nvram wipe for this 2.1.1.16 Firmware just released today? noticed it downloaded automatically.
Is there a proper way to perform a firmware update? Some manufacturers recommend a complete reset to factory default then do the update. What does Netgear recommend?
All these firmware problems might be excusable if Netgear was a newby, but Netgear has been making routers for decades. I've been using Netgear routers for decades and I never had a problem with firmware updates causing issues. This release of v2.1.1.16 firmware looks like a classic case of insufficient testing. Sure when you first install the firmware everything looks fine, but three hours later, all the attached devices have dissappeared from the satellite and the router has rebooted itself twice. Someone at Netgear seems to have dropped the ball and it is NOT giving me a good feeling about this product.
If the Netgear software engineers did their job correctly, there wouldn't have to be a magic sequence of updating the satellites before the router, or doing a factor reset or not, or doing a resync or not. Unless Netgear fixes these firmware issues, word is going to get out that Orbi is NOT a very good router system after all.
I checked with Amazon and I have until the end of January to return my Orbi RBK50. If the next firmware release doesn't fix the stability and functional problems, I going to send this puppy back to Amazon for a refund. If ASUS every brings a mesh wifi system to market, you can bet that it will be rock stable, it will function as advertised, and it will have all the features that you wish Orbi had.
- Asus = AiMesh
I already have a AC86U in my setup so am currently exploring the options.
Suffice to say it looks impressive.Came home from dinner to find another full network disconnect.
Orbi is boxed up, Eero is back in place and running w/out issue, no glitches, no problems.
I may wait a bit (my return window is into mid to late Jan) or I may just send it back and forget it. I don't have very high hopes that I will feel confident enough to take a chance on it again.
- Yep. Likely looking at returning mine.
Performance has dropped, attached devices issue and random dropouts is becoming untenable. I’ll have to move to Google Wifi or something as we don’t have Eero here in australia.
Disappointing that it wasn’t made better. :-(
- Asus does make a mesh product, Lyra. It sucks. Lousy throughput...
I have Orbi BRR50 systems (with RBS50 satellites) in two residential locations and they have worked well (never flawlessly but "well") until Netgear released the v2 firmware updates. That's when the frequent reboots started. The situation went from just annoying to unworkable when Netgear released v2.1.1.16 and you know that was just before everyone left of the Holidays (and there was no support to be found between Christmas and the New Year. Wasn't that fun for all of us?
Wrote to Netgear just after Christmas for help, since both systems have serious rebooting problems and backhaul issues, including loss of connections to satellites that require resets of the router and setellites to factory settings to remedy (no other changes for those who have posited there may be user errors in play). Of course Netgear support has been silent even a week after the Holidays. Which part of "customer support" don't they understand?
Finally replaced one system with a Linksys Velop system a week ago and guess what? It's both rock stable and faster!
Couldn't afford to switch the other system (yet) and gauged the risk of ugrading to the next Orbi firmware beta, based on others' comments, as far too high. Of course, I was unable to find the download site easily on Netgear's site so it didn't matter. It's OK though, since Netgear likely saved me hours of additional wasted time.
Here' is some possible help for those who have read this far. See this article on how to set up Ethernet Backhaul (https://kb.netgear.com/000051205/What-is-Ethernet-backhaul-and-how-do-I-set-it-up-on-my-Orbi-WiFi-System). I was able to reposition my satellites and run cables to set this up and now (so far) the disconneting satellite problem is now solved. We'll see about the reboots and will report back if it's not solved.
Could there be another Velop system in location 2? You already know my threshold is very low to switch, since that system is now on sale at Best Buy and Netgear support is nowhere to be found. Will let you know in a future post if I make that switch, as well.
I finally gave up. Velop was nice, but even wired, speed wasn’t really what was was hoping for, plus it eventually started showing low wired backhaul speed for whatever reason. I ended up with 2x Nighthawk R7800s as APs and my Mikrotik hEX router I’ve had for a while. Coverage is a bit better, but signal and throughput are much better on 5GHz. 2.4GHz is marginally better. Only downside is lack of AP/band steering, but much fewer disconnects without it. It is an expensive alternative, but I wanted a bit more future proofing and all these other issues kinda scared me away from mesh products for now. Pretty happy with my decision ATM. Considered Eero, but thatwas more than the current solution. This setup works even better than the Ubiquiti AP Pros that I tried in terms of speed and coverage. Far less managability, but I deal with that enough at work as it is.
