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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...
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.I also read the Wire Cutter review and that helped me decide on the Oribi, about a month ago.
I found this forum and was worried about all the issues so I was prepared to return it with 30 days (Amazon) at the first sign of disconnect.
It's been a month now and I have had zero issues.
I am on the latest BIOS, I have used both Ethernet and wireless backhauls (currently Ethernet).
A lot of people clearly have issues and they need to fix them for sure.
But a lot of people probably do not have any issues and don't have any reason to go post in these forums to say that it's working well for them.
After all, it's a router. If it works, there is really no point talking about it :-)
I do hope they will fix these issues soon, it's not good for any of the owners (with working or defective units) to have this drag on and possibly destroy the product success and lifespan
They pulled their own firmware! They wouldn't have done that if there wasn't a problem!
"When you buy this product, it comes with firmware the company has deemed defecitve. You'll have to downgrade each component yourself. 5 Stars!!"