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OrbiOS 2.1.1
The Orbi team at NETGEAR is aware that some users are experiencing higher than expected Orbi Router reboots, special characters in WiFi Passwords and WiFi / Internet disconnects. We believe these is...
Let me give you a quick update on where NETGEAR is with the OrbiOS.
Just before Christmas break, we paused the distribution of OrbiOS 2.1. Very soon, we're about to restart the distribution of a slightly updated version of the beta (2.1.2). In addition to the major new features introduced in 2.1 (e.g. Circle, Ethernet Backhaul), this firmware is expected to address the high CPU issue, as well as the special character in PSK issue as well as support for the Outdoor Orbi. Check Release Notes for complete list.
We are continuing to work on the issues with Google devices that have been documented in the press (several users have provided links here).
My recommendation is that you should either use the Orbi Mobile App (if you haven't seen it recently, check it out, we've made some major improvements) or the Web UI to check for new firmware or wait until your system gets auto-upgraded.
To answer your question, Stars_fan. When Orbi are connected over Ethernet backhaul, the 5GHz band becomes hot standby.
Orbi Product Management
I’m using the beta and it is not as stable as 074
I have had a pretty mixed experience with my Orbi RBR50 and 1 satellite over the past year or so that I have owned them with the big issues being random device disconnects and instability. I have thus pursued firmware updates vigorously to try to make this a device I can brag about as I have with other Netgear items in the past. I really want these to work as Orbi's inclusion of enough ethernet ports on the router is the weakness on all other units that prevents me from jumping ship. I also like the Netgear web interface though their iOS app is trash.
Firmware wise, I moved from 2.1.1.16 to 2.1.2.10 18 hours ago. Following that, I have yet to experience a router or satellite reboot (though admittedly this was happening only about every 8 days or so before) and I have yet to find a device disconnected which happened a couple times under 2.1.1.16 on a once a day sort of interval.
I will say my most stable version was 2.0.0.76 which is a version I kept here as a backup should future builds continue to offer problems since .76 included the Krack Wi-Fi fix.
A few more notes about 2.1.2.10
* I have about 28 device attached and more of them are connecting on 5G than has been the case in the past - I prefer 5G to 2.4 for speed and reduced the 2.4 power level to 50 percent to hopefully encourage 5G connections over 2.4.
* I have a few devices which I am anticipate are really connected to the satellite or router but are reporting the opposite so the mappings still look a littel suspicious to me or there are some real distatnce linkages happening for me (my implicit beamforming is off as is MIMO)
* My Ring Pro doorbells are seemingly getting solid 5G connections which was not always the case
* My router and satellite CPU usage still seems high to me at between 15 and 30% with not real heavy use but who knows what normal should be on this anyway. At least I have not seen over 45% in recent times.
* My only Android devices are some Amazon Echo Shows so can't help much with the Android concerns
* I did see some oddities happening over on the Linksys Vellop list as well. It makes me wonder if the Qualcomm chipset isn't part of the problem here.
* I am glad Netgear is still chugging along on this but I wish I had a greater sense that some real experts were behind the developments--it looks almost like a hobbiest development team given all the random problems that keep surfacing. I don't mind this on betas and I don't want to complain about betas as we need to try to help them figur this out but so many main release builds have giant problems that it just make sme wonder what is happening and where in the world the development is happening for Netgear.
If any of the other manufacturers released a mesh system with 4 or more ports on the main router I'd jump ship for that but until then, I'll stick with Netgear and hope it gets better soon.
Okay, I've been up on the beta for a day and six hours at this point. I was having horrible disconnect problems, enough to switch to Eero, but I put the Orbi's back in now because I wanted to try the beta, and hopefully it would fix things and I could save $500.
Right now all seems good.
The difference right now is that before I had all ports filled on the router AND satellite. Right now I only have a printer on the router, and my Hue hub on the sat. I'm wondering if that plays into anything at all.
For those of you who have tons of stuff jacked in and a lot of disconnects, I'd be curious to see if uptime goes up if you remove most of those. It's not ideal AT ALL, I know, but for me I can live with it if that makes things stable. Maybe the internal switch is part of the issue?
Good luck all,
Grey
I'm running the Orbi as a router with two satellites attached with wireless backhaul - one one satellite I have plugged into ethernet my TV, an AppleTV 4K, Sound bar, and Xbox1X. No issues - of course I don't have any switches plugged into my Orbis. The Router has the Shaw cable modem in bridge mode, a Synology NAS, a Chaimberlan garage door hub, with one spare port. Upstairs I have a satellites in a den that connects a laptop when someone's working from there. No stability issues with those things plugged in. Tons of other things attached through Wifi - Ring Doorbells, Cameras around the house, Wemo devices, Wifi lights, iPhones, iPads, for a total of 24 devices on at all times going up to about 35-40 devices when everything is on.
Thanks for sharing. Sounds like it’s stable for you. Three unit wired orbi with latest beta 2.1.2.10 was stable but suddenly it rebooted for no reason. Nothing changed so it’s hard to explain the sudden reboot.
The iOS app is stable but not up to par. With 45 devices, there’s no way in the app to list the devices in a table (must go through the web to get) and no way of knowing to which satellite devices as connected through the app. Not a polished app in my view.
The instability of the Orbi forced a switch back to Google Wifi, and soon to test out Eero Pro 3 unit wired. Loved the orbi (wired) until it rebooted itself without reason, and again and again.
Best of success. Hope it stays stable for you aaz
how many of you guys did a factory reset?
and how many of you are doing MORE than a factory reset?
and if so, what all are you doing to try to set these things back to a "default" state?
- Until I am told by Netgear that I need to do anything more than just install a firmware update "as is", I don't think I should have to experiment.
larryindublin wrote:
Until I am told by Netgear that I need to do anything more than just install a firmware update "as is", I don't think I should have to experiment.i agree on the experimenting part!
but seeing how it feels like i was sold a half baked net gear experiment, i was looking to see what others have tried.
not sure anyone else noticed, they are busy building LED control into the firmware instead of fixing stability issues