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Forum Discussion

ekhalil's avatar
ekhalil
Master
Jul 11, 2019

New Firmware 2.3.5.30

Just updated my Orbi to 2.3.5.30. Seems stable so far. I see few "ads" for the Orbi app and links for app download in the web GUI. Otherwise I could not see much more new things. I'm keeping to loo...
Goteborg's avatar
Goteborg
Tutor
Aug 13, 2019

Never again. This is one of the more expensive wifi systems out there and I have nothing but constant effing problems since I got it in March. I've spent hundreds of hours troubleshooting on my own and at the direction of Netgear support (regular and escalated "technical" support), only to have them close my case at the end of my 90 days. And they never resolved my issue!

 

It's a garbage product and, as far as I'm concerned, a garbage company. This is the worst customer support experience I've had in a very long time. It's like readin the Da Vinci Code to figure out what phone number to call or how to even access your case if you're able to create one. And as everyone is pointing out, each firmware "upgrade" that is released just breaks it in new ways. Are there any competent engineers at Netgear? Obviously, they don't have any talent but just mediocre competence would be great at this point.

 

I will never, ever spend money on Netgear. Even though I've used their products since the '90's, this experience w/my Orbi has been a nightmare. I've uttered no shortage of curse words towards this company over the past six months. Customer support doesn't exist here. 

ekhalil's avatar
ekhalil
Master
Aug 14, 2019
Goteborg wrote:

......... I've spent hundreds of hours troubleshooting on my own and at the direction of Netgear support (regular and escalated "technical" support), only to have them close my case at the end of my 90 days. And they never resolved my issue!

......... 

I agree with few points that you raised, but I still think that Orbi is a great product with excellent potential and Netgear is a good company with many high quality products.

This is how I see Orbi:

Good:

  1. Orbi's hardware and software design makes it one of the best mesh systems in the market, if not the best. Hardware capabilities are unique and until today not many other brands have anything close.
  2. The operating system on which Orbi is built is powerful and flexible which makes it easy to find and fix faults and introduce new features and functions.
  3. Every Orbi software release makes the product a better product by fixing bugs and introducing new functionality. In 2.3.5.30 the following was made better:
    1. Devices are roaming much better and more consistent in 2.3.3.50
    2. No more wireless devices showing as wired in Attached Devices.

    3. Looks like Netgear made improvements and fine tuned the radio parameters:

      1. I see that Band Steering is working now more effectively. Devices that have 5 GHz capability are -mostly- being moved to 5 GHz.

      2. Devices are moving between the bands and between the Router and Satellites with no disconnections.

      3. At the same time I see less DHCP events in the Logs which -for me- means that only needed "roamings" are happening, specially for the stationary IoT devices.

    4. Logs in Orbi are consistent (no missing log types), and not getting full very quickly as when I had the wifi disconnects.

Bad:

  1. Every new software introduces new faults that were not existing in previous releases. In 2.3.5.30 this following faults were introduced:
    1. Wired backhaul loops if you also have done wireless sync between router and satellite.
    2. Sensitivity to connected devices that can cause the whole system to stop fuctioning well.
    3. ISP lease time issue is still existing. This was introduced in 2.3.x software and is still there.
  2. Communication is not the best. We don't see presence for Netgear's support and design engineers to help usets to troubleshoot and fix issues. Also Support's response and resolution times are usually not acceptable.

What can Netgear do to make Orbi a better product:

  1. Better communication is needed. Netgear should monitor this forum, be present and provide feedback.
  2. Better testing. System and regression testing should be improved to avoid introducing new faults with every software.
  3. Introducing of built'in troubleshooting tools -in the Orbi app and web GUI- to help users to find and fix issues. For example it took me few days to find out that Orbi's sensitivity to a faulty speaker caused all wireless devices to continuously drop wifi, until I found out the culprit speaker and factory reset that speaker to fix the issue,