New R7000 Firmware Version 1.0.11.100

iFrog  With any luck then, your R7000 is at least a 2018 build, which may or may not have a bearing on the overall success of the update. I only learned the exact build date of mine because I made use of Netgear support whilst I have complimentary use of their support. They very kindly told me within 24 hours of asking. As I say, good luck!

I have put the R7000 into use, I set up the router brand new as in from a factory default setup and all has gone well.   So far no problems  I renamed the respective SSIDs to what the devices were connected to from the Airport Extreme, and everything reconnected, in fact, the Alexa routine that exictues at 4PM turned on the light as expected.

There was only one minor issue, and I don't think it's really an issue.  The 1.0.1.100 firmware was not detected by the automatic firmware updater built into the router.  However, since the computer is hard wired to the router via a gigabit switch i updated that way, and all seems to be working.

As I mentioned, performance wise, I haven't had a lot of problems, it's always been consumer vs enterprise for me when it comes to routers, wanting something in between so i have control over just about anything..  If this doesn't work out long term, i'll go back to the Airport Extreme and look at something different down the road.  Also, one thing I do like about the Nighthawk is, I do have the option, to voice control it with Alexa, not sure if it works with google home or not.

P.S.  I am typing this post with the R7000 powering the network.

iFrog  Pleased to read things went well. The issue about the update not being found on the router has been mentioned before in other threads and it was the same for me. I downloaded the update directly from the Netgear site to my desktop and uploaded the file from there directly to the router.

I'd recommend disabling the auto update feature if you haven't already done so.

You cannot uncheck the 'Enable Routers PIN' in Wireless settings. Well you can uncheck the box, but when you hit the apply button, it just checks itself again, so a bug there.

If the NTP server loses sync, you'll get a warning in red at the top of the admin page, it's got typos in it and looks sloppy. Needs sorting.

I split my networks up and I run Guest Networks on both 2.4 and 5g. Keeps things in order for me.

I find the Nighthawk App useful, but I won't be carrying out any firmware updates using it.

Hope things go well with the new firmware.

I've run into wireless speed issues with my phone, (iPhone 7 Plus) but i'm not sure if it's a router problem as it's the only device that does it.  And , the mobile speeds were always worse even with the airport than wired, or even larger devices such as a laptop.

i have about 400 Mbps down and 23 up  on wired Devices download goes to about 480 down as long as on gigabit.  the iphone is connected to the 5Ghz channel as well as the ipad and macbook pro, while the iMac is hard wired.  According to the speedtest app the iphone only gets about 40 down but the normal 20 to 23 up, the ipad is about 370 to 390 down and the same upload.  So with all things considdered only the phone seems to have a really big issue with wireless.

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iFrog wrote:

 

There was only one minor issue, and I don't think it's really an issue.  The 1.0.1.100 firmware was not detected by the automatic firmware updater built into the router.  However, since the computer is hard wired to the router via a gigabit switch i updated that way, and all seems to be working.

 

As Portwey84 says, this is a well known issue. It actually has a purpose. Netgear, and other outfits that deliver on-line updates, think Microsoft, like to stagger delivery.

Netgear regularly puts updates on the support pages before they hit the update FTP server that feeds the "check for updates" feature.

This has a couple of benefits, first it doesn't men that everyone tries to update at the same time. It also means that the people who keep their eye on the support pages get them first. Then if the sky falls in and it proves to be broken firmware Netgear can keep the release off the FTP server.

Even if you do find an update with the automated system, experienced users prefer the approach that you took. Download the firmware and update manually.

I wanted to let everyone know that I fixed the phone's wifi issue  I toggled wifi off and back on, when the phone reconnected the speed was back, so it may have had something get stuck after changing the routers.

Also, I usually flash the way already discussed here, the automatic check is just a convenience .  Usually works well, but hard wired is just that extra insurance of success.  So, I want to end the post for now saying I've had a successful change over.  I haven't rebooted my network in a while, but overall it feels a bit snappier with the nighthawk vs airport, though neither one are a slouch.

I wanted to let you know, I've gone back to my 2013 Airport Extreme for the time being.  I encountered some very strange issues with the R7000 which I never had with either the earlier stock firmware, or DD-WRT, so i'm leaning between failing hardware since it's just sat collecting dust not use, or bad wireless drivers in the latest firmware, or a conflict between the wireless chipset in my iPhone and the router.

Either way, what happened was this:

the iPhone 7 plus would only get about 40 Mbps down on the speedtest app, and my connection is 400 Mbps down.  The funny thing is, initally when i first had the issue, i was able to simply toggle wifi off in the settings for the phon, then the speed came back normal when toggling back on, and reconnecting.  The other thing I noticed was the speedtest app was sluggish on LTE as well, so there could be an issue with the phone, since all other wireless  devices were working.  The problem(s) I observed were:

Turning on the guest network seem to have introduced the second problem, at least it looks that way.

The second problem was after using the phone, my other devices such as Google Home, and Alexa were no longer able to access the internet.

So, either the guest networking feature has a bug, or there is something wrong with the iphone wifi chipset that's crashing the router.  Since it's the only wireless device I observed problems with.  Other than that, the router seems to work normally.  I went back to the Airport and the iphone no longer has Wifi issues.  I wonder if it's an apple thing.  I've heard more so years ago from now, but apple devices don't always play with third party routers in the nicest way at times.

The other people here reporting 5Ghz issues diesn't seem to suggest they  had only certain devices fail, but rather the whole network was gone, while I experienced  problems with specfrici devices, or in this case, the phone seems to have triggered the problems here.

FYI, i haven't used my iphone with the R7000 since it's been on ios 13, the last time i had the R7000 in use was when ios 12 was still the current public release, so that should tell you how long I haven't used the R7000, and have been relying on the Airport Extreme.

iFrog  Sorry to read you've had so many issues. I wish I had your download speeds lol! My max download speed on fibre, is just 37mbps and an upload of just 9mbps and I have no issues with it, more than fast enough for Netflix etc.

As for compatibility issues with Apple, my Wife and I both have iPhone XR's both on the latest iOs update and they both work absolutely fine on 5g wireless. Currently, I have 10 devices utilising 5g band, 4 Amazon Echo/Dots, 2 iPhones, 1 Android phone and 3 media streamers, one of which is a now rather ancient Apple TV I recently brought out of retirement. Those 10 devices are split so some are utilizing the 5g Guest network, i.e the media streamers.

Anyway, here I am, 8 days in on the new firmware and no problems, i.e no wireless drop outs of any description. Maybe I'm just lucky?

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Portwey84 wrote:

iFrog  Sorry to read you've had so many issues. I wish I had your download speeds lol! My max download speed on fibre, is just 37mbps and an upload of just 9mbps and I have no issues with it, more than fast enough for Netflix etc.

 

As for compatibility issues with Apple, my Wife and I both have iPhone XR's both on the latest iOs update and they both work absolutely fine on 5g wireless. Currently, I have 10 devices utilising 5g band, 4 Amazon Echo/Dots, 2 iPhones, 1 Android phone and 3 media streamers, one of which is a now rather ancient Apple TV I recently brought out of retirement. Those 10 devices are split so some are utilizing the 5g Guest network, i.e the media streamers.

 

Anyway, here I am, 8 days in on the new firmware and no problems, i.e no wireless drop outs of any description. Maybe I'm just lucky?

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I know, it's really strange, From day one, the Router has usually been stable as far as performance.  As I've mentioned before, it was more a matter of software for me, when it comes to options, and features (hence why I switched from Netgear's stock firmware to DD-WRT) last year for a bit.  To give you an idea of how long the R7000 sat unused was probably since May, or June of 2019, and I only fired it up again a couple days ago to try the new firmware.  In years past before deciding to stick with AirPort products, most of the third party consumer routers I would get, would either have really bad firmware, or if they worked, they would eventually overheat and die.  My first airport extreme lasted about 7 years without any problems.  Then I got the 2013 Airport Extreme, that I have now, and it's been rock solid, I got the R7000 mainly because I wasn't sure if Apple was going to still provide frimware updates, and thought Netgear would have better support than actually turned out to be the case.  Now I'm considering a Synology Router, it looks to be more of the prosumer product I'm looking for, and people have said good trhings about both their routers and NAS units.  Has anyone here had experience?

Anyway, maybe this is just a bad firmware, or at worst case the hardware has finally failed.  The good news is, when I plugged the Airport back in, and power cycled the modem and airport, everything is stable again.