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Forum Discussion
The 2.1.2.18 nightmare
I won't bother going through how angry I am at Netgear for this firmware MESS (I already have in several posts) since they don't bother offering ANY customer support after they screw you out of your ...
Here is my story: Installed the Orbi AC3000 12 days ago with firmward V2.1.2.16 and it had been stable. Woke up on a nice Sunday morning to find the entire home network down (including the 20 wired deviced out of 27 total). Rebooted the modem; nope. Connected laptop to modem; connection to internet OK. Rebooted router; nothing. At this point I removed the Orbi and reinstalled my old Netgear X4 router just to get internet access for a while. Later hooked the Orbi router back up; still not behaving. Rebooted the satallite; showed signs of life, but network down again. Unplugged the satellite from the ethernet backhaul; Problem located. Rebooted Satellite and let it connect using wireless backhaul; system back up and running. Hey, but I purchased this system specifically for the ethernet backhaul ! At this point I looked back to see what firmware I installed 12 days ago and realized I was the victom of a push update. Powered down the satellite and reconnected the ethernet cable and powered up; amazingly it works now... but I wasted several hours of a weekend. Is there a way to Op OUT of getting push firmware updates?
Here is an update to my router/satellite reliability experience and firmware push updates.
About a month ago, while still running 2.1.2.18 my network went down for a random unknown reason. I fixed the problem by rebooting the satellite. This makes me suspicous that the satellite(s) reduce overall reliability of the network. At that point, since my satellite is within good signal strength of the router, I unplugged / abandoned the wired backhaul and went to wireless backhaul.
I do not have the Netgear app on my moble devices and did not receive or did not see the notice for the upgrade to 2.1.4.10. The push upgrade went smoothly without a network outage. I only noticed after checking this community and then confirming with orbilogin. We have since had a wall added in the exact center of our house. With the hope of improving overall network reliability, I am tempted to pull CAT5 wires to this point and only use the router without the satellite. The signal strength should be adequate. Would still have the advantage of a single wireless connection for both bands (instead of using a traditional dual band router). Reliability is very important to me as so many Smart Home devices depend on it while I am away. Thoughts?