New - RBR750 / RBS750 Firmware Version 4.6.5.14 Released

It's a great story and very similar to my experience.  In the end I put a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter ER4 into my setup, downgraded the Orbi and put into access point mode and this does work.  However as I've said before, its quite unreasonable to expect this as a solution for what I'm assuming the target market of the Orbi mesh is.  Since it has routing capabilities and a wireless backhaul, Orbi really suits people that can't hardwire and don't want/need complex network hardware separation, they just want to dot a few access points around and have it work.  The fact the software limits configurability, limits the ability for users to choose firmware etc puts it firmly in the consumer plug and play category.  Netgear limit this to prevent customers creating problems with their set up, yet its backfired in many ways.

To echo others sentiments, the line that "it takes time for a fix" is lost when it is coming close to 1 year since 4.6.3.7 was released and yet people are still having issues.  For what its worth I work in product development with engineering teams (albeit eCommerce with its own concerns) and any issues that prevent our customer using our products is fixed immediately, always within 1 day but normally within a few minutes.  Our teams simply rollback to the last known stable version while they work on it.  Whilst appreciating this is harder to do for physical products on consumer sites, Netgear could do it.  1 year is not an acceptable timeframe for a fix in my own opinion.

For what its worth:

1. This forum is good.  It can be a little frustrating following the standard copy and paste steps, customer service/IT support really hasn't moved on from "have you tried turning it on and off again". 

2. Lots of people may not be suffering issues, although it is my belief that many will simply not notice if they are.  If your satellite disconnects once or twice a day and you are not connected to it, or you are connected but are doing something that doesn't require a real time connection e.g. Zoom, gaming etc then your device will simply pick up the next satellite or router and continue.  Netflix, spotify, youtube etc all pre-cache meaning a small disconnect will go unnoticed.

3. Those that do have a stable connection, but disabled features or hardwired the backhaul, blocked auto updates etc are not really helping the situation unfortunately.  Yes the product can be made stable but not everyone will be able to achieve these things.  They are essentially workarounds.  Thats not to say we shouldn't do these things, but saying "its fine and stable for me" having done a bunch of workarounds is disingenuous.  The product isn't stable, it can be made stable at a cost.

4. Like others, I no longer recommend this product, however what do I recommend instead?  The sad truth is there currently isn't a simple plug and play mesh solution that is flawless and stable by default and offers the speeds we want.  Here are your options:

a) Asus XT8 - Lots of similar stories about it being awesome, when it works.  Does allow you to load your own firmware though so if you can find a stable version you don't need to jump through hoops

b) TP Link Deco - Some good stories from this but its a bit more budget and speed tests I've compared don't offer the same speed and coverage as the XT8 and Orbis

c) Linksys Mesh - Same story as the TP link

d) Amazon Eero - I've seen some good things about this.  I struggle to recommend products like this though (same with Nest Wifi)

e) Amplifi Alien - This is the one I want to recommend, but it doesn't have a dedicated backhaul and since I think most people want mesh networks for wireless extension that backhaul is significant.  Come on Ubiquiti, release a version with a dedicated backhaul and I'll send you my credit card details immediately

---

r-lerman wrote:

---

Retired_Member wrote:

Hi 

 

Without reading every page in this thread, I gather there has been some issues with latest firmware, Im planing on purchasing this mesh system soon, what exactly is the issue, and I presume it will get fixed?

 

Thanks

---

Check my story:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WiFi-6-AX-and-WiFi-6E-AXE/New-RBR750-RBS750-Firmware-Version-4-6-5-14-Released/m-p/2163699/highlight/true#M23023

---

Thanks, I have seen enough now to put me off buying. Maybe I will not have problems, but I don't want to spend £360+, spend a day setting it all up, and then find I have issues.

Its a really expensive product, so im amazed that I read all the issues people have been having for many months on this firmware. Hope you all get a positive outcome.