NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Tell the Wire Cutter to reconsider their recommendation of the Orbi
I bought the Orbi 3 pack at Costco on the recommendation of the Wire Cutter. It might have been a fine product then, but it's garbage now (and has been for months). I've reached out to the review sit...
I bought my RBK53 three pack at Costco in November 2016, its been a pleasure to use for almost 1.5 years.
I recommended it to two of my friends, they are happy with it as well. While there are a lot of complaints on this forum, I think there are many more it works great for.
same here....bought mine from Costco last Nov 2017. Other than a few disconnects, it works. I'm able to get to the Internet.
That it annecdotaly works for some people (and apparently only some of the time at that) doesn't make it a product worthy of their highest recomendation.
Products worthy of recomendation don't have their firmware downgraded for months on end. Netgear didn't do that just for kicks. People are having real problems.
In its current state, the Orbi is not worth recommending to anyone.
It may not work reliably for you but it does for me. I've had one minor issue a couple of releases back which has been resolved since 2.1.2.18.
Annecdotaly I can also say that in addition to myself; I've had my best friend, 2 co-workers and my sister all buy either the RBK50 or RBK53 kits and they've a great experience running their systems for at least 6 months each.
Forums like these don't represent reality as those who have had a positive experience rarely come to the forums to say so. Conversly, those who have had a bad experience will spend as much time as possible complaining. This is especially true for a product as expensive as the Orbi.
Netgear should definitely do more to fix issues and respond sooner but I don't think the Wire Cutter needs to modify their recommendations.