R7000 dropping 5Ghz randomly

ArtD3 

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ArtD3 wrote:
Mine was purchased April 14th and it needs the 42 version to work with 5g.

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So, if your router was purchased just a couple of weeks ago, I'm assuming new, from a store? then it should at least come with either v.64 or v.88 out of the box. This of course will depend on the manufacture date of your router. As you have only just purchased the router, have you registered it with Netgear for the complimentary 90 day support? If you have and you are saying that your router cannot operate 5ghz WiFi satisfactorily either on whatever the factory firmware was or the very latest firmware, have you complained to Netgear? It makes zero sense whatsoever, to rollback to a 2 year old firmware for a router that might be just a few months old out of the factory, though of course if that is the only firmware that is working properly for all of those complaining, there seems little choice but to rollback for those users.

If you do intend to or have already registered your router with Netgear, you might find it interesting just to raise a support ticket with your router serial number and ask the question about its manufacture date. I did and they told me without any problem.

Also, what country are you based? There seems to be quite an issue with this in the US. I'm in the UK and I'm having no problems whatsoever. No one seems able to offer an explanation for that.

I'm in the US.  Yes, out of the box (ordered directly from Netgear) with v.88, failed on 5g within 30 minutes of install.  Opened a case with Netgear, tried a number of things including reboot, reset, channel change, etc.  Tried updating to newest version 1.11 think and that failed as well.  Went back to .42 and 5g was stable.  Had a few other issues with things like Readyshare, QOS stuff, etc.  Talked to Netgear support and they have nothing.  I've been a network engineer for 25 years and have never seen anything this badly produced.  I've had other Netgear routers for years that have been stable but this is just unacceptable.

I'm now sending it back and getting a refund and am about to setup my new Google Wi-Fi.

ArtD3  I can't fault you. I too would have done exactly the same had I had the same issues.

The more folks who do what you have done, then Netgear might perk up and take notice and do something......you'd think.

For myself, I have to be honest, my own R7000 router is proving to be a good purchase for me. The latest firmware update went without a hitch. I've had it almost 3 months now and it does exactly what I need it to with the plus of course I'm not having any WiFi dropout issues.

Good luck with your new Google setup!

ArtD3 I wish I could've tested it extensively when I first got it, but I didn't have crazy disconnects back then out of the box. Good thing you caught it early and was still able to reach out to support. I almost gave up until I went to the forums and was skeptical about reverting to an older version, and it saved me from scrapping this almost $200 router.  If I was in your position, would've done the same thing and returned it and just go with a different and more reliable one.

rpzky8  It goes without saying though, if anyone is going to follow the seemingly standard 'advice' of rolling back to a 2+year old firmware with all of the security issues v.42 might be exposed to, ensure you are at least utilising decent daily updated anti-virus/malware software, an up to date privacy focussed browser and perhaps a good VPN provider. I personally utilise all three, two of which I pay for, i.e. the anti-virus and VPN. I also pay for a secure Swiss based email account. I guess some will think that's all a bit over the top, but it makes me feel more comfortable.

Aha, glad that I saw this. Ignore my previous post where I planned to upgrade based on you not having problems.  The UK routers ARE different from the USA versions.

I will blow this sucker up by installing DDWRT and leaving the Netgear lunacy behind me.

Guilden-NL 

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Guilden-NL wrote:

Aha, glad that I saw this. Ignore my previous post where I planned to upgrade based on you not having problems.  The UK routers ARE different from the USA versions.

 

There may well be something in this, though of course the only people that can confirm this are Netgear themselves. Most of the issues seem to be reported by US router owners, but then this is very US centric forum. As a UK owner, I can honestly say (and I've said it over and over !) I've never had a single issue with my R7000 AC1900 dropping out or causing any issues. My Wife relies on an excellent stable internet connection for her employment and if our R7000 was the route of any issues, I'd have dumped it and probably gone back to my ISP router. As things stand, it's rock solid.

 

Just noticed though that Netgear have released yet another firmware, v106. I'm struggling to keep up with all of these 'fixes'. As usual, I've just 'stumbled' upon the latest release v.106. I will update from v.104 later, but I wonder exactly what it is that Netgear are supposed to be fixing? because they just don't list what these 'security fixes' are. If Netgear were as transparent as Mozilla who every time they release a new version of their Firefox browser and list the changes they've made, then at least we'd have some idea of exactly what it is Netgear are doing.

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lkuhn spcrick 

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lkuhn wrote:
v104 has been very stable for me. I would appreciate feedback from anyone who ventures ahead to v106 on your experience after a few weeks of running it. I'm hesitant to wake a sleeping dog right now.

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I've just upgraded the firmware from v.104 to v.106.

Carried out the firmware update in my usual manner:

Connected my laptop via ethernet cable directly to R7000

Disabled WiFi on both 2.4 and 5ghz in the browser GUI

Unplugged hard wired devices from the router (4 devices connected via a Netgear Switch)

Disabled all running apps including anti-virus and VPN

Rebooted router

Uploaded firmware from desktop, router auto updated to v.106 and rebooted itself

Firmware update successful

Reconnected hard wired devices

Enabled WiFi, anti-virus and VPN

If v.106 is as good in terms of reliability as v.104 has been, I'll be happy.

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spcrick wrote:
Im not sure if you noticed but .104 was a beta. Looks like v106 is an official release and if you went to check updates through the router, you can upgrade it through the router this time. In the past, when you try checking updates through the router, the highest one was .88.

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That didn't work for me on v.104. I tried that but it just came back as no new update available, so I manually downloaded it from the Netgear R7000 page. As per my previous post, update to v.106 successful following manual download.

Guilden-NL wrote:
106 didn't make it to three minutes before dropping 5Ghz. Absolute garbage!
Went back to 42. Will flash Fresh Tomato this weekend to get rid of Netgear.

Am looking at Asus WiFi6 router now for long term.

Weird that.

Ok, it's only been exactly two hours at the time of writing this, but for me, v.106 is stable, steady as a rock, zero dropouts on either 2.4 or 5ghz and I've 20 devices connected wirelessly. But as I said before, I've never had an issue with any of the releases in the last 3 months, all perfectly stable.

I really would love to find out what the issue is insofar as why some of us have no problems with Netgear firmware and others like you, have thrown in the towel.

Hope whatever you end up with solves your problems.

I upgraded to V1.0.11.106_10.2.100 on 8/18/2020 and through today, 8/24/2020 no drop outs or other issues to report.  It feels good to be up to date on a latest release with all the security patches.