Share Your NETGEAR Armor Experience

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.

My experience has not been great.

I activated the trial on my RAX120 earlier this year and it seemed fine but definitely had some minor issues at the time. I decided to buy a subscription anyway and see how it went.

Since firmware 1.0.2.236 I have had endless problems with devices losing connectivity and the router hanging. I tried reinstalling the firmware using the downloaded file instead of OTA and also factory resetting. Took me ages to figure out that activating Armor was causing the issue. Since disabling it there have been no further issues.

The other things that really annoy me about Armor and add to the reasons I will not renew are:

1. Even when you have the bitdefender software installed on iPhones and iPads it doesn't recognise it so your score shows as lower than it should be.

2. Devices on the guest network also show as needing bitdefender installed which is pointless. I can't tell people to install bitdefender on their devices or install it on my work laptop either, so why have them show up in there at all and reduce the score? Isn't the point of a guest network to segregate devices from the rest of your home network?

3. Only being able to activate and deactivate on the mobile app is stupid. Both the mobile app and web interface are also way too limited to be of any use.

4. If the software that is supposed to be protecting your network is actually causing it to crash all the time, it's not very good software.

I have the some random printing with a Epson ET-2720 printer, usually once a week.

Attached a sample printing, they are all the sam.

I need it for remote printing.

Need a fix, was told by Epson that it was probably a Armor issue?

Paid for subscription but will probably end up getting rid of it since i need remote printing and hate wasting paper on random print.

Thanks

This seems to be one of the few residential-grade network monitoring solutions, so was happy considering the number of IoT devices on my network which obviously can't use security onboard.

Really frustrated with the customer service experience with Netgear; including Armor. I understand (though don't like) the short warranty period on the product--but Armor is a service which cannot always be contractually executed without support. This also includes shortcomings from within Netgear device firmware as evidenced by the upgrade notes.

Whitelist:  it was mentioned in the forums back in January/19 via Netgear moderator--is it still coming?

Netgear support form product drop-down list doesn't include Netgear products to select; only BitDefender

Having option to upgrade included BitDefender service with an additional fee

iOS BitDefender app is missing alot of key features, and doesn't have much functionality.

Hope that helps...

After some heroics to reach support re: Armor issues, it finally came out in the wash (and 5+ hours of data collection) that both Netgear and Bitdefender are selling subscriptions without having complete integration between the 2. After producing the purchase confirmation/activation email, Netgear had absolutely no record of my subscription. Apparently the only way to have Armor work was to do a 'shock' reset of the router with latest firmware. Issue now sent to engineering with hopes of another firmware update :(

Is this thread still monitored/being read?

I've had it for a year; however, after the firmware update in the summer, my computers get randomly disconnected from the router; however, the router itself is still connected to the internet.

I thought this was a firmware installation error, but after Netgear Armor expired, the symptoms went away.

After a few months, I renewed my subscription; however, the computers are starting to drop again. It appears Netgear Armor is causing my devices to randomly disconnect for a few minutes. I'm not sure why.

Anti-Theft doesn't appear to work, and NetGear Armor appears to show extra devices (see my other two threads).

Overall, I love the idea of Netgear Armor, but if it wasn't for special promo code & the Total Security packaged with it, I would ask for a refund

My Armor experience:  Overpriced crap with ZERO support for an annual fee.

Since purchasing R7000P with Armor (prior R7000 did not have Armor) all my printers print out a single nonsensical 3 or 4 line heading on four separate pieces of paper about once per week.

HEAD / HPPT/1.1

Host:  192.168.1.5:9100

User-Agent:  curl/7.59.0

Accept: */*

Is an example of one of the print-outs.  With 4 printers this is a signficant waste of paper.  Please find a way to eliminate this paper waste.

Gary

Since purchasing R7000P with Armor (prior R7000 did not have Armor) all my printers print out a single nonsensical 3 or 4 line heading on four separate pieces of paper about once per week.

HEAD / HPPT/1.1

Host:  192.168.1.5:9100

User-Agent:  curl/7.59.0

Accept: */*

Is an example of one of the print-outs.  With 4 printers this is a signficant waste of paper.  Please find a way to eliminate this paper waste.

I've had this router at least a year now, no issues, no "Armor" installed, I use the parental controls with Circle (First Generation) app. Works great. Love it.

About 5 or 6 days ago, we suddenly had issues with devices without internet, or hanging, or lagging. The router's internet signal indicates incoming internet is fine. This has never happened before.  Before, if/ when the internet goes out, it's because our internet provider is hiccuping, and we see the red light on the router indicating this.  Not this time; the light is white and reassurring and connections are blinking white as if data is passing along. So this was a new and annoying occurrence. Out of ideas, we turned off the router, waited, and turned it back on.

When it came back on, nothing worked. It seemed everything in the router had been reset - I had to log in from my computer to routerlogin.net or whatever, reset the Admin password to my prior password, re-enter the network SSID names I'd used before, set up passwords, the whole nine yards. Start from scratch. I also lost ALL my Circle information, but that might be unrelated.

That's the first time I noted this "Armor" stuff on my router.  What is this Armor stuff? I wondered. Okay, whatever. I had no intention of signing up for the paid subscription but if it's not bothering me, fine.

Since then - I have had to recycle the power on the Netgear router no fewer than 6 times, due again to devices not connecting, or video being watched on a computer on YouTube hanging or lagging, etc.  The router never "lost its brains" as it did the 1st time - but this situation is ANNOYING to say the least.  I attribute this continued performance problem to the Armor thing, as it's the only thing different. Not only that, but I have been connecting my home router to safe DNS servers (with OpenDNS) for years now, and I suddenly noticed no traffic when I go to my OpenDNS dashboard these last 5-6 days. In the router settings, it no longer shows the family safe DNS servers anymore. When I tried to change them back to the Family Safe OpenDNS server domains again, it tells me I'm not allowed to do that - I have to disable parental controls first.  What ??  since when ??

Finally today, after turning off / turning on the router AGAIN due to "no internet" problems -- I searched for this online and found the (not very intuitive) way to turn OFF Armor on my router.  I turned it OFF and I will now see if I can connect my router back to these two "SAFE" DNS domains, and see if my internet issues in these recent past few days continue or disappear.  I sure hope they disapppear.  This has been completely unacceptable and hugely annoying.  I work at home, I need my router to work reliably, which up until this past week, my Netgear Nighthawk has done.