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Not enough device types on ORBI's router admin page and mobile app to reflect today's reality
"Entertainment (Generic)" is too broad. There should be things like Amplifier, Disc Player, Tape Player, Cable Box, since things like TV, Media Streamer, Smart Speaker have already been added. "N...
I presume at some point in time, NG may update so that both features are in sync and seen across the board. NG seems to bring in new features and such over a period of time and ya, would be nice to have this at the first release however it's been my experience that NG doesn't do this and may have there reasons. It took NG over a year to get smart parental controls included in the Orbi AX series. However some of that was impacted by Covid events as well so were still getting out of that situation as well.
I recommend you post this here so NG get some visibility on this:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Idea-Exchange-For-Home/idb-p/idea-exchange-for-home
Good Luck.
Thanks, FURRY.
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While I also am irritated that the list of device types is inadequate, my sense is that this feature is of no practical value. Perhaps, like with the Bluetooth chip engineers included in the original hardware design, there was a sense that, "Someday someone will find a way to do something with this feature." But, no one ever has. As with the Device Name and Device Model text fields, the Device Type (a numeric code that is displayed as a text field and as a graphic icon), is not required the WiFi system to operate and cannot be used for anything useful.
- Can the user sort the Attached Devices by Device Type so that all similar devices appear together? No.
- Can the user assign priorities or QoS by Device Type? No.
- Can the user restrict the ability to access other devices on the LAN by Device Type? No.
- Can the user set up the DHCP pool to assign IP addresses to devices by Type? No.
If I were a manager assigning tasks to the Orbi software engineers, this feature would not make my "Top Ten" list of things to work on.
For example, I'd be a lot more interested in figuring out why the f**k some Orbi systems spontaneously reboot or stop broadcasting SSID's for several minutes during the day. If some engineer volunteered, "Hey. I'll spend some of my own time expanding the list of Device Types to every possible thing anyone can imagine." Then, sure. Have at it.
I would also put out there that with all the multitudes of devices, IoT, Non IoT, phones, pads and all the rest of the devices in the world, would be hard to actually bring all this into a router system and make it work. Probably would make the FW file even larger. Not to mention bring more troubleshooting issues and such. Also the fact that no all device mfrs keep same standards on there products. It's ready hard enough to make what we have not work and troubleshoot problems that you users and us find. I would think that keeping things more simplified in some of these areas would be best.
I actually agree with this, as well. In my decades of being software developer & manager of developers, one of the rules I followed was to pick an implementation goal and stick to it. If it needed to be changed at some point, then fully commit to that change, as well.
It actually would be just as well, and I'd probably prefer, if the TYPE was just a few generic things, something like [Computer, Network, Personal, Work, Security, Entertainment, IoT, Health, Other], and then the user could simply enter a few more details under the existing Model/Name (like, "Apple"/"Bedroom AppleTV" or "Microsoft Windows PC"/"MYDENPC28") and be done with it. Essentially the implementation goal would be a Generic Category to inform what pretty icon to show in the pretty UI, along with user-defined Brand/Name that actually can include whatever info the user finds useful about what the device is, its name, its location, etc. with no UI implications other than storing & showing that text properly without buffer overruns and crashes. Then, over the years, the implementation will need to only watch out for any new categories that enter the market (say, "Car") to add a few over many years, instead of keeping up with every little thing frequently.
The current implementation is is a mix of both, like it couldn't decide what to be...
Tuna
