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Forum Discussion
Feedback on Netgear's Exceptional Firmware Update Process
Dear Netgear Support Team,
First, let me commend the remarkable complexity of your firmware upgrade procedure. It truly stands as a masterpiece of confusion.
Your Firmware Update feature proudly displays "No New Firmware Available," while Netgear's promotional emails eagerly recommend a new firmware to upload. This contradiction is a fascinating design choice—artistic, almost.
Theoretically, the Orbi Auto Firmware Update function is supposed to handle updates autonomously. Unfortunately, "theoretically" appears to be the key word here. It doesn’t work.
This leaves us with the manual installation process, which, in a delightful twist, is accompanied by stark warnings on the manual installation page advising users not to proceed—lest synchronization issues or other unspecified calamities occur.
Quoting the Bard of Avon: "To update, or not to update, that is the question." One can only assume that Netgear's experts, despite their apparent genius, might not be well-versed in basic quality control or service delivery as described in your documentation. Perhaps there's heavy traffic on the road to achieving operational clarity?
It does beg the question: if such straightforward processes as update delivery and testing are this elusive, how can users place their faith in the thorough testing of any new firmware? After all, confidence in the product's reliability is critical—especially when it comes at the modest price of $1,000.
By contrast, one might expect this sort of creative chaos from TP-Link, but surprisingly, their manuals, procedures, and product delivery are precise and coherent. They even manage to deliver what is promised!
At this price point, I’m sure you’d agree that customers are justified in expecting a quality product, not something that might more suitably serve as fertilizer.
regards user
3 Replies
The problem with it is that some updates are staggered to the update server. That way if there are any major issues, they're found before it impacts everyone. So on the update server, it might not "be" there yet but its available for manual update.
The emails are a bit bunk. I've gotten them before when I'm already updated on devices.
I use this PDF guide process to update any Orbi system I have:
What I used to update to newest my 854 system a few months ago and ran great for 30 days before putting something else online.
NYFB wrote:
Dear Netgear Support Team,
First, let me commend the remarkable complexity of your firmware upgrade procedure. It truly stands as a masterpiece of confusion.
Your Firmware Update feature proudly displays "No New Firmware Available," while Netgear's promotional emails eagerly recommend a new firmware to upload. This contradiction is a fascinating design choice—artistic, almost.
Theoretically, the Orbi Auto Firmware Update function is supposed to handle updates autonomously. Unfortunately, "theoretically" appears to be the key word here. It doesn’t work.
This leaves us with the manual installation process, which, in a delightful twist, is accompanied by stark warnings on the manual installation page advising users not to proceed—lest synchronization issues or other unspecified calamities occur.
Quoting the Bard of Avon: "To update, or not to update, that is the question." One can only assume that Netgear's experts, despite their apparent genius, might not be well-versed in basic quality control or service delivery as described in your documentation. Perhaps there's heavy traffic on the road to achieving operational clarity?
It does beg the question: if such straightforward processes as update delivery and testing are this elusive, how can users place their faith in the thorough testing of any new firmware? After all, confidence in the product's reliability is critical—especially when it comes at the modest price of $1,000.
By contrast, one might expect this sort of creative chaos from TP-Link, but surprisingly, their manuals, procedures, and product delivery are precise and coherent. They even manage to deliver what is promised!
At this price point, I’m sure you’d agree that customers are justified in expecting a quality product, not something that might more suitably serve as fertilizer.
regards user
Manual updating is not that difficult and is the preferred method if you don't want to wait for the update to hit your local service area. I've been updating manually for as long as I've had Netgear WiFi systems. The last update took me about 10 minutes for the satellites and router. Went smoothly.
