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Forum Discussion
Anyone else want a refund for the Orbi that Netgear is slowly bricking via Forced Firmware?
So in the past day since updating to the latest firmware, my devices are losing connectivity 2-5 times per hour. What in the world did you guys do? Send out firmware to basically brick our $400 route...
Already tried rolling back to an earlier software version with the support team. It didn’t work!
I'm just about ready to demand a refund myself.
I just tried rolling the Orbis back, manually, to the v2.0.0.56 firmware - since it now appears the Netgear support site is showing THAT as the "latest version".
Already though, I'm reminded why I didn't like this firmware release; can't see which clients are connected to which Orbi satellite on wi-fi -- and seeing the issue with my iPhone 7 where it chooses the 2.4Ghz wi-fi instead of 5Ghz for no good reason. (My wife's iPhone 7 in the same room selected 5Ghz!)
I'll give this a try for a few days just to see if it's more stable.... but all my I.T. buddies (I work in I.T. myself) are chiding me for buying the Orbi instead of a Ubiquiti setup. I'm starting to agree.
I'm just about ready to demand a refund myself.
Demand? Good luck with that. Let us know how that goes.
DarrenM, Can I get a PM for a refund info too?, Not being able to stop the auto update is what made my orbi so unstable. This piece of crap update itself so many times, it can't even stay on an older stable version of the firmware.
Ok, perhaps "demand" comes across as too strong a word. But when you just took a loss reselling 3 good, working Apple Airport Extreme wi-fi routers that used to be providing coverage in the house, and then invested hundreds into the Orbi -- I think it's quite understandable to be angry when the product doesn't really work right!
It's actually not too strong of a word. If you ask, you'll be told to try the next firmware revision. Again, and again, and again. I guess you could say "insist", but tsig would probably be scoffy about that as well. There are a lot of trolls here.
Oh, and @tsig, since I have had that experience, I'll answer your sarcastic question.
1. I contacted support about the disconnects that have been plaguing users since at least early 2017 (in the early 1.x firmware series) and they told me I was outside of my support window.
2. I wrote an Amazon review. As a result of that review, Netgear got me in touch with a dedicated support rep.
3. After I realized this new support rep was just going to keep shoving new firmware at me, and not even attempt to understand the symptoms, I built my own way of verifying the issue. By this time, everyone in my house was bugging me about the disconnects almost daily.
4. I "demanded" (see, there's that strong language again) the product operate as advertised (using the test case as a validation point) or refund my money. They refunded my money and I shipped them back the unit.
Other people have just thrown their hands up and puchased other products. I understand that, but paying Netgear for this terrible experience was a hard pill to swallow.
