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Forum Discussion
New - RBR750 / RBS750 Firmware Version 4.6.8.2 Released
New Features: 04/27/2022
Supports Smart Parental Control (SPC)
Removes the remote management feature from the router web interface (if disabled at time of update) to improve router security.
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Today, Orbi auto-updated me back to V4.6.8.2 after I previously rolled back to the older firmware. This is rather frustrating. There is no way you can easily roll back to use the older version of the firmware (Telnet trick is not available now).
Anyway, a factory reset after the auto-update to V4.6.8.2 does not work. Skype and Zoom quality remains poor.
Basically, the Auto-Update process is buggy. Each time you see an Auto-Update, you really need to "Manually" re-install the same firmware and do a factory reset after that. Ignore the warning by NG's administration webpage that you should not manually re-install to avoid problems (Yeah, count on their Auto-update). The truth is that customers should be warned about their unreliable Auto-Update. Don't believe what they tell you.
Each manual update, factory resetting, and restoring the backup.cfg took me close to one hour of work. I figure that is the price you have to pay to use NG products -- be their tester for free. I suppose in the future, whenever there is an Auto-Update, I have to redo this clunky Manual operation again. Is Orbi supposed to be a "consumer product"?
I would strongly recommend people not to avoid the hassle. It is not worthwhile and not intellectual at all to have to learn all these tricks to circumvent NG's debacles.
I consider my Orbi router/satellites an appliance. A fancy toaster. It is not in the same class as my high-end TV with all the bells and whistles. I expect it to just work silently and robustly in the background.
Which leads me to one of my favorite sayings, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it.". That seems even more apropos for an appliance. But wait, Netgear has taken that option away from me. Snap.
My router was "automatically" upgraded over the weekend with no notice of any kind to me. The only reason I knew something was amiss was because I could not login to the admin panel (orbilogin.com). Well it had been months since the router was power cycled so I thought it was time. Power cycle - still can't login. Network is OK but cannot login to router.
Time to go to the Netgear Community forums. Yep - others seeing the same problem. I reluctantly factory reset/uploaded saved config and all is back. Everything is good except my opinion of Netgear. I purchased my Orbi mesh in Nov 2021. It has worked flawlessly since then (appliance, remember?). I was even preparing to post a "super happy Netgear customer" message to these forums to counter what I perceive as a lot of negativity towards Netgear. I now cannot recommend Netgear to anyone. I had the wherewithal to have saved my configuration and come to these forums to figure out what was happening. Remember, this bad behavior persisted over power cycles. I will keep my Netgear but will begin the process of researching a better solution in case the next time I cannot recover. I shudder to think how many less tech savvy customers are or will be fuming and throwing their routers into the dumpster.
Netgear - what possible reason is there to not allow me to disable automatic firmware updates? I suppose you are paranoid that a security issue will arise and leave users exposed without an update. I get that. How about you make the automatic upgrade choice default to "on" and offer dire warnings to the user if they select "off". If you are going to persist in making this a non-option then for the love of God QA your upgrades. It is not like this was some subtle little corner-case. I could not log in. Really. Really?