Share Your NETGEAR Armor Experience

This is a postscript to my previous lenghty post. Since I disabled Armor on my router on August 31st, I have not experienced any noticeable disconnects or dropouts on my Orbi network. The Armor router implementation was the cause of my problem all along.

---

millerre1959 wrote:

Hello,

 

This is lenghty but I think the full explanation will help someone, and perhaps give Netgear the motivation to fix a problem with their security service provider.

 

I own a Netgear Orbi RBK853 mesh system, which I purchased because my Google Nest WiFi mesh network suffered from random but frequent disconnects, and it wasn’t taking full advantage of the speed of my “up to 300 Mbps” Internet service. Initially, the Orbi system worked like a charm, with no dropouts and speeds that met or exceeded my service limits.

 

Suddenly, I began to experience disconnects at a rate of 3-4 times a day, and when I checked my hardware, neither my router nor my cable modem indicated any problems - no lights were active or blinking as if a problem was present. If I did nothing, the connection was restored after 3-4 minutes. I have an ARRIS SB8200 cable modem and, as I indicated, my Internet service is 300 Mbps download/10 Mbps upload through Shentel. The Orbi firmware version was V3.2.15.25_1.3.15. I purchased the 3-pack (1 router/2 satellites) and installed it on the day of delivery, which was May 26th. I've done a total reset and reconfiguration once to register the RBR850 router with my Netgear Armor subscription. I have one satellite unit at different levels of our split-level home. I started experiencing the disconnects around mid-July.

 

I contacted Netgear technical support and they sent me a link to a V3.2.15.32_1.3.25 firmware hotfix, and told me to configure my router as follows:

• 2.4GHz - Channel 11
• 5GHz - Channel 48
• MTU - 1484
• DNS Servers - Primary - 8.8.8.8; Secondary - 8.8.4.4

The dropouts appeared to have lessened, but they persisted and, eventually, they were back up to 3-4 times a day. I updated to the latest firmware, V3.2.16.6_1.4.4, and that is what I’m currently running.

 

After I read that Netgear Armor could be the cause of the dropouts, I disabled Netgear Armor on my RBR850 router. I only have an 18-hour sample size, but so far, I've not experienced a dropout of service. If the results are the same in 24-48 hours, then it's safe to conclude that Armor was the problem.

 

The question then is what to do with that information. I'm subscribed to the service until next July, and even though the router implementaiton is a failure, the unlimited Bitdefender Total Internet Security licenses for my smartphones, PCs and laptops makes the subscription worthwhile, and I do use the VPN service on my smartphone.

The best outcome would be for Netgear to figure out why the routers are disconnecting when running Armor and fix the problem so their customers get what they paid for.

---

Thanks.

Based on what I read I decided to let the Armor trial end without renewing it.