Feedback for R7000 New firmware 1.0.9.18

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wrote:
It is easy for me to solve the problems I have with the R7000 router, problems that the netgear is unable to solve or does not want to solve. I recommend everyone not to buy netgear products at least for a while, maybe they will realize that we, their customers, are important. I definitely will not buy any other product in the next few years due to bad support/firmware issues.

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I see many people state this. Do you really think it is going to bother them? This isn't a Mom and Pop shop you can stand in front and picket. You already 'gave them the money', and unless you are a sole purchaser for a humongous corporation that declares no more purchases from Netgear and tells a Netgear Rep. when they ask why that is.

You can tell all your friends too, but how many sales do you thing that will be?

How many people do you think are having problems? Do you know the percentages? Do you know if NG sales have been impacted?

I suspect a very low percentage are having problems.

Also, are you sure other home network vendors are also not having problems? Everyone I've had h/w from over the years have had some sort of problem from poor performance to firmware update problems, to premature failures.

I'd also venture to say a very large percentage of the NG h/w is installed and never touched again. It just worked when installed and continues to work. I would think unless the AUTO UPDATE function is active, which could cause some problems.

Router's age as well. For some, the first sign of 'failure' is enough for people to upgrade to the latest as well.

Still, threatening to never buy again and tell the world is most likely falling on deaf ears here.

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wrote:

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wrote:
It is easy for me to solve the problems I have with the R7000 router, problems that the netgear is unable to solve or does not want to solve. I recommend everyone not to buy netgear products at least for a while, maybe they will realize that we, their customers, are important. I definitely will not buy any other product in the next few years due to bad support/firmware issues.

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I see many people state this. Do you really think it is going to bother them? This isn't a Mom and Pop shop you can stand in front and picket. You already 'gave them the money', and unless you are a sole purchaser for a humongous corporation that declares no more purchases from Netgear and tells a Netgear Rep. when they ask why that is.

 

You can tell all your friends too, but how many sales do you thing that will be?

 

How many people do you think are having problems? Do you know the percentages? Do you know if NG sales have been impacted?

 

I suspect a very low percentage are having problems.

 

Also, are you sure other home network vendors are also not having problems? Everyone I've had h/w from over the years have had some sort of problem from poor performance to firmware update problems, to premature failures.

 

I'd also venture to say a very large percentage of the NG h/w is installed and never touched again. It just worked when installed and continues to work. I would think unless the AUTO UPDATE function is active, which could cause some problems.

 

Router's age as well. For some, the first sign of 'failure' is enough for people to upgrade to the latest as well.

 

Still, threatening to never buy again and tell the world is most likely falling on deaf ears here.

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Thanks for the private messages. Here's my missing post....

@IrvSp :

Yes, we should boycott with our wallets and from atop pedestals so others can hear. There are already discussions on review sites mentioning these issues, and they will get more and more attention.

Why do some companies fail due to lack of sales? Even large ones do - it's because consumers speak with their wallets and let others know.

I bought Eero over a month ago. It's working great, the company is responsive with support and updates, and I recommend them. When people here (including me) contacted Netgear, we were told we need to pay extra for support after 90 days. When someone with an out-of-warranty defect posted a friendly question to Reddit asking for advice on repair options, the CEO of Eero replied and offered him a free replacement device!

So no, others don't necessarily have problems like Netgear. The difference is why some companies succeed while others fail.

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wrote:

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@IrvSp :

 

Yes, we should boycott with our wallets and from atop pedestals so others can hear. There are already discussions on review sites mentioning these issues, and they will get more and more attention.

 

Why do some companies fail due to lack of sales? Even large ones do - it's because consumers speak with their wallets and let others know.

 

I bought Eero over a month ago. It's working great, the company is responsive with support and updates, and I recommend them. When people here (including me) contacted Netgear, we were told we need to pay extra for support after 90 days. When someone with an out-of-warranty defect posted a friendly question to Reddit asking for advice on repair options, the CEO of Eero replied and offered him a free replacement device!

 

So no, others don't necessarily have problems like Netgear. The difference is why some companies succeed while others fail.

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First, when you bought the router you should have been aware of the warranty length. For the R7000:

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This product is backed by a NETGEAR limited 1-year Hardware Warranty.

24/7 basic technical support provided for 90 days from purchase date, when purchased from a NETGEAR authorized reseller

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So Eero has someone 'with the power' to do something on Reddit... good to know, but that in and by itself doesn't make Netgear any worse. It is just that they don't do it.

So you think other companies are better? How about LinkSys? Maybe this LINK is something you should read? Many 'support' and charge complaints. ASUS, see this LINK, yes a lot more, but they have a larger variety of products... search for ROUTER and you'll find some that look familiar. TP-LINK, see this LINK, seem familiar?

As for the Reddit comment, I do see this, https://www.reddit.com/r/eero/comments/7rf6in/eero_failed_out_of_warranty_anyone_else/ and someone with the name Wsweaves as a co-founder/CEO replying but nothing detailing what was done? Also looking at that page are two 'complaints' about not getting through to phone support and WiFi not working (no, I did not open the links and read them). On this LINK is a complaint about WiFI being 40% slower.... sound familiar to what one would see here?

All I'm saying is others have a variety of problems too. Individual results are different.

IrvSp

I'm not trying to make the case that Linksys is better, or Asus, or TP-Link. I simply don't know and don't care.

I do know that Netlink has handled this issue with very little care or interest by any reasonable standard of "good customer service".

I also know that by and large Eero customers are happy. Of course there will be problems, but you're not seeing threads anywhere with tons of posts and lack of reply or interest. I'm not sure why you went out of your way to look for flaws. Honestly though, your criticisms aren't very impressive....

So Eero has someone 'with the power' to do something on Reddit... good to know, but that in and by itself doesn't make Netgear any worse. It is just that they don't do it.

Yes, this does make Netgear worse. No one from the company, and certainly no one from the leadership team, has offered to go beyond written policy and warranty to remedy an extraordinary failure. So yes, this does make Netgear clearly worse.

someone with the name Wsweaves as a co-founder/CEO replying but nothing detailing what was done

Are you really going to minimize Eero's extraordinary support here, on the presumption nothing was done because there was no follow up post from the original poster?

 two 'complaints' about not getting through to phone support

Two complaints. If only most companies could have such a low call drop wait while waiting for phone support! I've never gotten through to phone support after 90 days at Netgear by the way, so that's the standard of comparison here.

 WiFi not working

Yup, at least one  or two people posted that on Eero they couldn't get Wifi to work. That compares to what is happening here on this thread?

complaint about WiFI being 40% slower.... sound familiar to what one would see here?

No, not at all. The primary complaint here is that between 5 minutes and 5 days (usually), Wifi doesn't work at all. Not slow, not a question of power or placement of devices, but complete failure. So no, Eero is a shining beacon of "Hey, Wifi just works!!" in comparison to what we're seeing in this thread here.

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wrote:

There are several alternative firmwares like DD-WRT, DD-WRT-Kong, Advanced Tomato and XWRT-Vortex. I'm using XWRT-Vortex on my R7000 (380.69_2) and I'm very enthousiastic about it. I'll never go back to stock firmware.

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Did you mean: enthusiastic

To bad this does not have spell check.

How hard was it to install the XWRT-Vortex??

Though I am not having any trouble with Firmware V1.0.9.26. My printers, laptops, iPhone & iPod are connecting just fine.

mzguy, all my statements were valid. I was pointing out that every mfgr. has problems. Don't want to buy NG, fine, but you might find others have the same sort of problems.

This thread has dragged on and a lot are just repeats of the same problems. Yes, NG people were/are in here. They started to gather info and get some more data and testers for fixes. This isn't a situation of a h/w fail a few months past the year that CAN be fixed with a replacement. This is a problem with Firmware and SOME router configuration and devices. I for one has no had any problems and I'm running on the subject firmware.

It also appears from another post that V1.0.9.26 has been released officially now? I've not gotten it and I don't know if it is the same code as the Beta (assuming the post was correct that this IS an official release) or not?

Fixing complex s/w is not a 1 day job. I assume you understand that.

Could NG have been more visible and forth coming, sure, but would that have sped up the delivery of the firmware or just made you feel better?

As for number of Eero complaints, well, that is basically a SINGLE product, here, in one forum are many different ones, all with different firmware and different capabilities, with some similar. You can't compare quantity, but you can compare the similarities of complaints.

Like anything else, you have no clue to the actual percentage of users to number of complaints, either similar or different, to those without problems or complaints. You don't even know the volume of users vs. other company users. All I was doing is pointing out that quite possibly NG isn't any worse that other companies.

You picked on this one:

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someone with the name Wsweaves as a co-founder/CEO replying but nothing detailing what was done

Are you really going to minimize Eero's extraordinary support here, on the presumption nothing was done because there was no follow up post from the original poster?

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What you posted that made me look for that was :

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When someone with an out-of-warranty defect posted a friendly question to Reddit asking for advice on repair options, the CEO of Eero replied and offered him a free replacement device!

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Hence my comment, I did not see anything but a request for a ticket number, no other comments by him nor the OP that it was resolved and the unit replaced free of charge.

If I missed that or I was looking at the wrong thread, sorry. If that was the correct thread then how do you know it was handled to the OP satifaction???

Flashing XWRT-Vortex is simple. Flash it just as you would flash NG firmware. In the download package you will find 2 firmware files as well as some info text files. If you are on NG firmware you must use the .chk firmware file, if you are on XWRT firmware (future upgrading) you must use the .trx firmware file. That said, you cannot easily revert to NG stock firmware as NG doesn't use .trx files. There is however an old NG firmware package available ported to a .trx file. But don't worry, once you are on XWRT you won't go back. On the other hand, why flashing 3th party firmware if you don't have issues with stock firmware.

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rogier64wrote:

Flashing XWRT-Vortex is simple. Flash it just as you would flash NG firmware. In the download package you will find 2 firmware files as well as some info text files. If you are on NG firmware you must use the .chk firmware file, if you are on XWRT firmware (future upgrading) you must use the .trx firmware file. That said, you cannot easily revert to NG stock firmware as NG doesn't use .trx files. There is however an old NG firmware package available ported to a .trx file. But don't worry, once you are on XWRT you won't go back. On the other hand, why flashing 3th party firmware if you don't have issues with stock firmware.

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As rogier said I'll never go back to Netgear firmware either (at least not in the near future). Since flashing XWRT Vortex I've had 0, that's zero problems with 2 google home minis,  wemo,  Nest thermostat, hue lights, etc. for  more than 2 weeks.  If you're still having difficulties I'd suggest alternate firmware as well.

Do XWRT-Vortex support AP Mode

Yes, XWRT-Vortex has an accesspoint mode.

Thank you guys for the recommendation for XWRT-Vortex firmware! I've been struggling for at least a month with my R7000 and slow internet. It's used in a medical practice and our medical records software would sometimes time out, and it was getting really frustrating. Ever since I installed Vortex, i've had zero issues. It's literally like a brand new router. 

It really sounds like Netgear needs to hire a new software team. I had the Orbi a year ago and had nothing but issues with buggy firmware. I don't get what's so hard about quality testing your software before release

I started using the Circle with Disney about 6 days ago. Now I am having connetion problems on my iPhone. I lost my 5GHz. I had 2 laptops using that channel. Since I started using the Circle with Disney, the 5GHz is on channel 153. The laptops cannot find the 5GHz anymore.

Now I might just flash with XWRT-Vortex.

When is NetGear going to fix this problem???

Updated from 1.0.7_1.1.99 > 1.0.9.26_10.2.31

Current bandwidth 300 / 12 (comcast)

Verdict: Immediately lost 50% of my downstream bandwidth

I went through every single page and menu. I went into QoS and enabled it, downloaded the newest definitions file (dated 7/23/17) -For Christ sakes Netgear- saved and rebooted. Still at 50% of previous downstream bandwidth. Disabled QoS / WMM all together and rebooted, no change.

I then tried manually defining bandwidth, saving, rebooting and testing after each change. Rebooted the cable modem as well, multiple times with the same results. Best I could get was 165 down. The speed test in the router said 214 down, but I never saw that.

Then I reset the router to defaults... just tested wired bandwidth. SAME results, only 50% of previous downstream bandwidth.

ok... Let's be extra thorough.. reflash 1.0.9.26... which blows away the downloaded QoS configuration whether you have it enabled or disabled.... now its back to being blank - SAME results (50% of downstream).

***Connect directly to cable modem - get 300 / 12

Have about 43 minutes invested into this "upgrade" now. Have restarted at least 20 times.

Next step. flash back to 1.0.7... reapply config file. Retest downstream / upstream bandwidth.

Your result may vary.  I never bothered checking wireless device performance as wired performance is paramount for my work.  Sticking with 1.0.7.. for the foreseeable future. Don't have the time to mess with this.

Observations:

I have seen QoS wreak havoc on previous versions of FW, but have always been able to overcome them by disabling it and WMM.  Not this time.

This is the page you are greeted with after upgrade.  No I don't want automatic upgrade from a stable FW release and no, gather your own telemetry data Netgear.

Next, parental controls.  Big no to these as well.

And finally the QoS update.  Tested with and without.  No difference.

It appears that i have problems with streaming movies via my network with this router..

I have 500/500 MB/s Internet and i connected my Sony Smart TV 4K via network cable and i get constant stutters or buffering lag while streaming 4K movies. anyone knows what can cause this or what the bottleneck is in this case?

Thnx in advanced.

Intentionally deleted.

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Case850wrote:

AlpineKid66

 

If you have a Android phone can you install the following Android and post screenshot of 2.4G & 5G channels.

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer&hl=en

 

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Case850

Have iPhone 6s

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mixolydwrote:

Thank you guys for the recommendation for XWRT-Vortex firmware! I've been struggling for at least a month with my R7000 and slow internet. It's used in a medical practice and our medical records software would sometimes time out, and it was getting really frustrating. Ever since I installed Vortex, i've had zero issues. It's literally like a brand new router. 

 

It really sounds like Netgear needs to hire a new software team. I had the Orbi a year ago and had nothing but issues with buggy firmware. I don't get what's so hard about quality testing your software before release

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mixolyd

I lost my 5GHz when I installed/tried to us Circle with Disney. Do you have the 5GHz?

Thanks

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rogier64wrote:

Flashing XWRT-Vortex is simple. Flash it just as you would flash NG firmware. In the download package you will find 2 firmware files as well as some info text files. If you are on NG firmware you must use the .chk firmware file, if you are on XWRT firmware (future upgrading) you must use the .trx firmware file. That said, you cannot easily revert to NG stock firmware as NG doesn't use .trx files. There is however an old NG firmware package available ported to a .trx file. But don't worry, once you are on XWRT you won't go back. On the other hand, why flashing 3th party firmware if you don't have issues with stock firmware.

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rogier64

I have 4 grandkids that we are guardians of & wife & I wanted some control (parental control) on the network(phones & computers). So I installed Circle with Disney on NetGear. What a bad idea that was. Was working good until I tried to use internet on the Samsung Smart TV. No 5GHz. Then I checked 2 laptops that was using 5GHz. No 5GHz either. Uninstalled Circle with Disney hoping to get 5GHz back. No luck there. Rebooted a number of times & that has not worked. Now I am going to do a hard reset & find out if I get 5GHz back.

Now I am pondering if I should just go to XWRT-Vortex.

AlpineKid66 XWRT-Vortex is based on Asus WRT and they have AiProtection as parental control. But I'm not sure it will work as it is not an Asus Router. You can however do some parental control by using certain DNS servers like OpenDNS for filtering web content. Not sure if that's what you're looking for.

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rogier64wrote:

AlpineKid66XWRT-Vortex is based on Asus WRT and they have AiProtection as parental control. But I'm not sure it will work as it is not an Asus Router. You can however do some parental control by using certain DNS servers like OpenDNS for filtering web content. Not sure if that's what you're looking for.

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If I install XWRT-Vortex, the parental controls I will have to figure out.

My question now is, if I install XWRT-Vortex, will I get my 5GHz back after uninstalling Circle with Disney?

AlpineKid66wrote:

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rogier64wrote:

AlpineKid66XWRT-Vortex is based on Asus WRT and they have AiProtection as parental control. But I'm not sure it will work as it is not an Asus Router. You can however do some parental control by using certain DNS servers like OpenDNS for filtering web content. Not sure if that's what you're looking for.

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If I install XWRT-Vortex, the parental controls I will have to figure out.

My question now is, if I install XWRT-Vortex, will I get my 5GHz back after uninstalling Circle with Disney?

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There shouldn't be any reason why you wouldn't get your 5GHz back. XWRT-Vortex just works. There is no Disney Circle with it so nothing for  you need to uninstall. With regards to parental control, you could  set up a network with access to internet on a scheduled basis, and you can manually turn off access from the admin either on your computer or install the Asus app on your smartphone/tablet (it will find the Netgear router during setup and identify it as an Asus RT-68U or something like that) and you can also control it there on demand.

@ AlpineKid66 as @ Rikardo007 has explained that you do not have to delete anything in the NG firmware. The entire user interface will be changed by flashing XWRT-Vortex. You must reconfigure your router. And yes, you get your 5 GHz back. Keep in mind that your Wi-Fi bands will be unlocked for all regions by default. There are no restrictions on Wi-Fi channels and output power. You can adjust both, but keep in mind that you can choose Wi-Fi channels that are not available in your country by default.

For what it's worth, read this.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/announcement-running-asuswrt-merlin-and-forks-on-non-asus-devices-is-illegal.44636/

Thank you for info.

Currently have 14 routers out in field, i assit with.

Only 3 are working properly because Xwrt-vortex in installed on them.

Was getting calls from user, can't connect, slow, Choppy video.

Reset routers problems return, Also remote addmin very slow.

Netgear is draging ther feet on this issue & issues.

Will eventualy change all routers to Xwrt.

Can't rely on Netgear to fix a flash light.

Very disappointed with speed of resolving these issues

Even with reseting to factory default and applying all fixes, still doesnot  work properly.

Also Wireless finally function and at full speed.

Noticed have Netgear wireless power was set to high to use longer distance , needed a second R7000 router set to AP mode.

Since Xwrt-Vortex wireless power set to 50% there is no need for second R7000 in AP mod.

Would like to return to Netgear firmware some time, if they can get there act together.

Anyways 

just some thoughts