Can Netgear PLEASE allow us to use names for attached devices that are long than 15 characters? 15 characters is, frankly, amateur hour. As is forced capitalizing all the names that you were able to acquire off the network. We are not living in 1992 anymore. Bit are cheap, bytes are cheap, kilobytes are cheap. Have some pride in your work -- and that includes understanding how people want to use your products, which means rich names strings like "Netatmo Sensor - Upstairs Bedroom". Fing, for example, as a company that's in the same sort of space, but that understands how UI works in the 21st century, doesn't have these idiotic limitations.

I didn't try the iOS app, but using the web interface it's 15 characters. Beyond that it just won't accept characters. 32 is closer to acceptable, but still ridiculously low (especially if people want to use unicode characters). And the selection of devices you can classify against is utterly bizarre. Multiple particular iPhone models, but not a single IoT device? Bridge, Switch, Router, and Repeater? And don't get me started on the bizarre editing UI. The whole things feels like a project put together by a not especially talented 14year-old programmer 20 years ago. No concern for UI. No concern for real-world issues (like name lengths or unicode). No concern for what devices people actually see on their networks and want to name/classify. BTW the point of the comment is not to solicit details on what namelengths are allowed where. It is to get Netgear to fix the damn apps and the web interface. I have to post here since Netgear don't seem interested in providing a bug/suggestion web page.

name99 wrote: BTW the point of the comment is not to solicit details on what namelengths are allowed where. It is to get Netgear to fix the damn apps and the web interface. I have to post here since Netgear don't seem interested in providing a bug/suggestion web page. In that case you are in the wrong place. You should know that this community is essentially a user-to-user venue with some input from a small band of Netgear techies. Most of the answers come from fellow users who have no connection with Netgear. They just have a lot of collective experience and are familiar with the sort of problems that turn up.They certainly have no control over what Netgear gets up to, although some seem to like to feel that they are important enough to try to pull strings from on high. What you want is best posted in the appropriate section. Try: Idea Exchange For Home - NETGEAR Communities I think that qualifies as the mysterious missing "suggestion web page". Hope that helps.

name99 wrote: Since we're discussing newbie issues: is there some known issue (with an easy fix) that's causing my Nighthawk to cut off WiFi every few hours? I wouldn't try that one here. For a start it isn't an app issue, and second the Netgear team has probably exhausted its interest, if there was any, in this topic. Try it in the section for your devices.

Not impressed about the Netgear UI and the limited name lengths, and some attempts to "niceify" things, too. In a light attempt for defense of Netgear - and different from eg. Fing - Netgear does support and use the Web UI and Apps (Genie, Nighthawk, Orbi) on many different products. Needless to say, they failed to change the 1990ties specs on the migration from the Genie to the Nighthawk/Orbi environment - not only where it comes to the allowed length of the device names/description text fields.

name99 wrote: Can Netgear PLEASE allow us to use names for attached devices that are long than 15 characters? Where are you looking? I have longer device names visible in the Netgear Windows app and in the browser graphical user interface (GUI). That is with a different router. But there is clearly no theoretical limit. I also see no forced capitals.

length of name of attached devices

18 Replies

schumaku
Guru - Experienced User
Oct 23, 2019
Not impressed about the Netgear UI and the limited name lengths, and some attempts to "niceify" things, too. In a light attempt for defense of Netgear - and different from eg. Fing - Netgear does support and use the Web UI and Apps (Genie, Nighthawk, Orbi) on many different products. Needless to say, they failed to change the 1990ties specs on the migration from the Genie to the Nighthawk/Orbi environment - not only where it comes to the allowed length of the device names/description text fields.
michaelkenward
Guru - Experienced User
Oct 23, 2019
name99 wrote:

Can Netgear PLEASE allow us to use names for attached devices that are long than 15 characters?

Where are you looking?

I have longer device names visible in the Netgear Windows app and in the browser graphical user interface (GUI).

That is with a different router. But there is clearly no theoretical limit.

I also see no forced capitals.
- schumaku
  Guru - Experienced User
  Oct 23, 2019
  Nighthawk App and e.g. the R9000 device names are limied to 32 chars, and no change in the first characger from lower to uppercase (as on the gaming routers.
  - schumaku
    Guru - Experienced User
    Oct 23, 2019
    Nighthawk App and e.g. the R9000 device names are limited to 32 chars, and no change in the first character of the string from lower to uppercase (as on the RAXnnn).
    
    ChristineT we still can't edit posts in this community section ...
JoseAndres041
Luminary
Oct 24, 2019
Why do you need a long device name? Sorry, i just don't know why I'd like to have a long device name. I want things simple but if you can give me a nice reason then maybe I'd try that.
- name99
  Guide
  Oct 24, 2019
  I gave you an example in the first post. And I am not making these up, I just wanted to copy the names from my Fingbox.
  So for example, NetAtmo sensor (Upstairs Bedroom)
  33 characters, and every one of them makes sense.
  
  If you're living in an IoT world (which apparently Netgear is not) you will have LOTS of names like this. At least one longish part to identify the device type, another longish part to identify the location.

Forum Discussion

length of name of attached devices