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Forum Discussion
Intermittent DNS Errors and WiFi Issues
I have had the Orbi AX6000 for a few months now. While there are many things I love about it (great wifi coverage, great speed, looks nice, software, ease of setup, etc.), there are two very frustra...
Sounds like no matter what I choose it will never be nearly as good as just running the Orbi alone.
No - Orbi alone is the s*ckiest solution. If you're going to keep the Orbi, only use it as an AP. For routing, I don't thinks I've used anything worse. As an AP to a more capable router, it works great, as it's better than most for wifi capability.
I personally recommend an Asus router, because it has a great combo of routing ability, controls, features, coupled with a great UI.
When I move on (probably in a couple years), I'm going back to Asus. Either whatever their mesh system is at that point, or AiMesh, which is actually VERY good as well, but I got suckered in to trying Orbi.
I'm personally never going with Netgear in the future.
RockGuitarist1 wrote:Sounds like no matter what I choose it will never be nearly as good as just running the Orbi alone.
I'm not sure what to do at this point. Using it as an AP just makes it a very expensive AP. I'd much rather just have a working mesh network instead of having a more advanced configuration.
Yeah, that is exactly what the Orbi AX is. A very expensive AP. I personally would also stay away from Netgear if there would be a better solution. I feel it is very bad of Netgear to ignore its customers and this problem, which is pretty much affecting everyone. I just think the majority isn't aware. Meanwhile the support department is busy keeping customers busy by resetting their routers / or pointing the problem to something else - blaming the ISP router/modem is also a populair thing / and swapping (RMA) the device until the 90 day support window runs out. Meanwhile the main issue is with the Netgear firmware. For this reason alone I would skip Netgear and all of its products - and just blacklist this entire company.
So you can try out some other brand. Just know that as an AP the Orbi AX works pretty good.
If you're taking cost into consideration, go wifi 5 because there actually isn't much use for a wifi 6 system - yet, unless you have a lot of clients to connect.
https://dongknows.com/best-wi-fi-5-mesh-systems/
If you want wifi 6
https://dongknows.com/best-wi-fi-6-mesh-systems/
Ignore the Orbis on the list now you know the problems.
Another reason to possibly skip wifi 6 for now is that 6E is coming soon. But, again, there's actually not many client products that truly take advantage of ax yet.
I am currently considering either the ASUS ZenWiFi AX6600 or the Eero Pro 6. Definitely going to go ahead and return this Orbi.
energieuses an XT8 as router and Orbi as AP - see his comments a few posts back about how the wifi part works compared to Orbi. DongKnows also has a writeup about it, and it's on his list as one of the best wifi 6 mesh systems.
Orbi's wifi performance appears to be a little better, but the Asus may work perfectly fine in your situation.
I saw they were pretty unhappy with the XT8. I just need something in my house with comparable speeds and range. Im paying for 200 down so I don't need blazing speeds or anything like that. Just want to get what I pay for via wifi, which is what the Orbi is doing now.
No, I am now using my old Asus N66U as router with Orbi AX as AP. The XT8 I stopped using because the AI Mesh wasn't performing good in terms of connectivity. Before this whole ordeal I used to have 2 Asus AC68 routers in AI Mesh (started of with one and expanded), but the AI Mesh experience wasn't good. So in terms of the whole mesh networking I would avoid Asus. However as a single router I can recommend Asus. Long time ago I used to have a Netgear router - complete junk - never again I said to want to use Netgear. The Orbi AX and the good reviews changed my mind to give it another go. And here I am - never again.
That's rough. Netgear lost me as a customer. I loved my nighthawk and after 7 years its finally going bad. I got until the 27th to drop this thing off at Kohls to get a refund so I am sure ill find a replacement for it sooner rather than later.
If you're happy with the Orbi, keep it. Not EVERYBODY is having the DNS issue, and some are completely happy with it, just as some are completely unhappy with other brands as well. It's a crapshoot on everything tech.
Just be aware of POTENTIAL problems that can occur.
It's like buying a car. ALL car brands/models have deeply satisfied and deeply dissatisfied customers. Some have frequent/major problems with a specific car, and some have absolutely no problem with the same vehicle for its entire life.
I actually did NOT have the DNS problem before I switched it to AP - I switched it to AP because of the the lack of controls plus QOS problems I was having with my wife's zoom calls that the Orbi could not control because of bufferbloat (completely cured by using the Asus for routing).