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Forum Discussion
Orbi WPA3 protocol
Looking to purchase an Orbi system in 2018. When will the Orbi use the new WPA3 wifi protocol ?
To be clear, the links I posted are from the wifi certification org and the linked PDF shows the certification of Qualcomm's (a chipset manufacture) erference design based upon the IPQ8065 and Wi-Fi componet QCA9984/5. As I recall, from a 2016 press release, Netgear selected Qualcomm to colaborate with on the Orbi. A quick google seems to confirm Orbi RBR50 & RBS50 uses Qualcomm's IPQ4019, the same as Velope. Hopefully Netgear is ahead of the game and can quickly determine if Orbi will support WPA3. Suave buyers will consider a support plan for the same in choosing their solutions.
You are giving them way too much credit. They don't even have the orbi operating correctly now with soooooooo many things including QOS, wired backhaul, etc. Proper selection of the right device and band when connecting to wifi. Let's have them get this stuff fixed first or I can guarantee even if wpa3 is in Beta, it won't work. While Netgear has top notch hardware and generally I've loved their products, the firmware on this product is either written by total idiots, or they just don't care. And when it comes to tech support, if you are outside your purchase window, forget it unless you pay hundreds more for something you already paid hundredds for to begin with and they still won't fix it.
None of the consumer router manufacturers have issued any statements on this. None of the laptops or mobile devices you can buy today support WPA3.
https://www.howtogeek.com/339765/what-is-wpa3-and-when-will-i-get-it-on-my-wi-fi/
The Wi-FI Alliance hasn’t announced anything about existing devices receiving WPA3 support yet, but we don’t expect that many devices will receive software or firmware updates to support WPA3. Device manufacturers could theoretically create software updates that add these features to existing routers and other Wi-Fi devices, but they’d have to go through the trouble of applying for and receiving WPA3 certification for their existing hardware before rolling out the update. Most manufacturers will likely spend their resources on developing new hardware devices instead.
Even when you get a WPA3-enabled router, you’ll need WPA3-compatible client devices—your laptop, phone, and anything else that connects to Wi-Fi—to fully take advantage of these new features. The good news is that the same router can accept both WPA2 and WPA3 connections at the same time. Even when WPA3 is widespread, expect a long transition period where some devices are connecting to your router with WPA2 and others are connecting with WPA3.
I googled this, because I was curious, and I did find an unattributed statement from Netgear here:
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/better-news-about-wpa3-device-support.47434/
I can't say for sure where they got the quote from, but it's promising if true.
Nice find, David. 'The "will they/won't they" (upgrade existing stuff) question now boils down to how vendors view the priority of supporting existing products vs. pumping out new stuff.'
- this is exactly why I made my original post on this thread. Not because I lack knowledge about the topic by any means. I have been working with wireless communication technologies in one form or another since I was a teenager in the mid 1980s. I remember quite well when WEP (1997), WPA (2003), and WPA2(2011) were released - and how long it took for past changes to roll out to consumers. I am watching propogration of this to the consumer closer than I did the release of Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum the 902-928 Mhz and 2.4Ghz bands when it was finally released to the public allowing me to talk about technology otherwise undiscussed due to the classified nature of any equipment I might have mentioned with it at the time.
While there are clearly some dissatisfied customers in this forum voicing dismay here, I believe Netgear needs to hear what their customers apt to recommend their product to other consumers want - so they can plan accordingly. This is not to imply that I think the customers complaining have valid grip about issues. I have had only minor setup issues myself despite the 'you'll see soon' messages. My presumption is NetGear has more one developer and uses code checkout so that only one or one team working in cohort can work on a segment at a time. If that the case, I see no reason they could not if they want develop more than one part of it at a time. However, I admit, while I have first hand knowledge of how other software companies handle this, I have no real knowledege about Netgears shop. I presume it must be top notch to handle their product load at the quality I see.
Unless something has changed, it is not required to be certified to impliment the new standard. Stepping up the wireless backhaul would be a good method for Netgear to get their feet wet with it in test without pissing off the less tolerant consumers, if they make it an opt-in trial. Having WPA3 on the backhaul will make the device still usable for me, even if the front end is not able to support it. A good protion of my network is wired to the Orbi switches and using that backhaul. And, no doubt, if Orbi does support it - I will stand up a separate older device to isolate traffic from those legacy devices that are not upgraded yet. to attatching with a different router for isolation on my network.