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Orbi MR 2.1 issues update 3/9/18
Let me give you a quick update on the status since the last time we posted. Over the last several weeks, we assembled a cross functional team, locked them in a room with food and coffee and dedicate...
Check out this post for an update on this issue:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-MR-2-1-Update-3-23-18/m-p/1533584#M26234
hmm, reading all these negative posts I'm betting paranoid that I might end up in the same situation. Currently I have no issues. I am not using the backhaul feature - which is likely the main reason for not having issues. I have one day left to return it and get a Velop instead. I am torn....I might need that backhaul eventually.
It seems those of you who switched believe you've made the right choice. The evidence in better customer support and warranty seems to speak for a switch. There has been no update since the OP on the subject, while it sounded like they are close to a solution. Maybe tomorrow I'll be throwing dice.
ok, since I cannot edit my own post above..
I decided to start the return process tomorrow and ordered the Velop which will arrive Sunday. I have a week to compare the two before I have to ship the Orbi back. I will then make the decision which one to keep.
Cheers
- My Orbi has been rock solid since 2.1.18, up over 50 days now and I get amazing speeds from both router and satellite (connected by Wi-Fi) I contribute this to add a little balance to the conversation.
I have similar circumstances. I've had my RBK50 for three weeks now and only experienced wifi disconnects (multiple clients) last saturday and then a random reboot last sunday morning. I have one week left to return the system and I am considering going out today to guy a Velop 3 pack. I have been waiting for a few days to get access to the beta firmware and after I agreed to the NDA or whatever I haven't heard back and all my follow-ups have gone un-answered.
Even though i've only had a couple glitches I don't want to take chance that after next week my system will start to drop wifi and start rebooting as is the case for other Orbi owners who've owned their systems for a longers period.
We really like Circle and I'm going to have to drop another $130CAD on the Circle device and attach that to the Velop solution...which alltogether will end costing a bunch more than the RBK50.
Anyway I'm tired of worrying about whether to return or not. I just hope I don't run into issues with the Velop.
- AFAIK the Circle device only has a 10/100 Ethernet port so your speeds will be maxed out at 100mbps, that was the whole reason I bought the Orbi instead. Would love to get a hold of the beta firmware to get Circle going. Router is working fine otherwise
Actually the speed of the interface for Circle doesn't realy make a difference. Latency would be more of an issue (wifi more latency vs wired). The Circle device is not an inline component so traffic does not go through it. It works by highjacking the DNS requests for managed devices through ARP cache poisoning. It does increase the broadcasts on the LAN and uses very little WAN bandwidth fromwhat I can tell. It doesn't have much impact on performance.
I bought a Velop 3pk and Circle box yesterday and have been doing lots of testing. The initial setup was very similar to Orbi and similar amount of time. I'm only using one satellite (wireless backhaul right now, i will test wired also) at this point to better compare the Velop to the Orbi RBK50. I placed the router and satellite in the same spots I had the Orbis. It took a while to reconfigure all my cams, home automation stuff, streaming devices, tablets, phones, etc.. 30+ devices, not counting PCs . I used the Speedtest app on my iPhone 7 in every room of the house and indeed the Orbi is usually faster. The roaming is similar for both brands (seemingly for iOS clients). It will maintain connection with the current node and drop to 2.4G when the second node is closer and a 5G connection would be possible.
This is day two so I can't comment on stability (dropped connections or internet). The Velop forums also show users having dropped connections and reboot issues so it suffers from similar issues the Orbis are having with the latest FW. Velop owners are also saying that speed gradually decreases over time and reboots are required to restore speed. I haven't seen that issue in the Orbi forums. Anyway things aren't that much better on the Velop issues side, alot of angry postings there too about the amount of time being taken to resolve issues.
My initial feeling is that I may actually stick with the Orbi. I've had a couple of issues with it with dropped wifi connections and one reboot in three weeks. I just fear regretting it later on. One of the major reasons, funny enough, is that the Velop web interface sucks, no advanced config, no stats, no VPN solution, logging, etc. The devices page is nicer in a way but devices frequently show as being offline (long time issue for Velop). Other little things too, way too basic. The iOS/Android app however is better IMO than Orbi's. Mind you not by much. They're both lacking.
Anyway I'm going to keep testing the Velop. I have 5 days left to return the Orbi.
I'm still hoping the moderators/engeneering will provide me the 2.2 beta but no one is getting back to me...