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Forum Discussion
RS700 - new firmware version 1.0.7.96 released
Almost 9 months since the prior 1.0.7.86 firmware was released, Netgear issued 1.0.7.96 yesterday. However, all the release notes says is "enhanced stability" so no mention if it adds MLO, fixes the...
I'm trying to remain positive, but feel duped after over a year (and out-of-warranty / return policy) by believing that this $700 Flagship Nighthawk Router would have features/capabilities delivered through firmware updates as promised by Netgear Support team (and led to believe via responses on these forums). It definitely seems like this router has been neglected compared to the Orbi series which has received more updates and full feature implementation.
MLO is a WiFi -7 Standard capability, which was in the spec and feature list that game with my router (paper manual documentation and on the box). However, once I received my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra phone, the first device I had that supports it, I find out Netgear essentially lied / false advertised and the capability did not exist as-delivered, and have continuously been told that it is "coming in a future firmware update, engineers are still working on it."
Of course when I found that out I could not longer return my product for another, competitors have it implemented already, why not this top-line RS700?
Additionally, the configuration interface leaves MUCH to be desired. The "logging" is laughable, of all of the logging option checkboxes, nothing of value is logged aside from the DHCP requests to assign IPs, it doesn't do any logging of when channels are re-assigned (i.e. DFS channel events) to help users to find which are affected, an important understanding when all other 5Ghz channels in my area are very congested due to living next to a hospital and apartment complex. This router runs into issues after a few days and requires 1-2 reboots every week. It does not handle congestion well, even after modifying the CTS/RTS settings and turning off SmartConnect. There should be more flexibility to channel settings vs "Auto" (all) and single channel selection, such as a "Do not include DFS", or a simple Custom Auto selection where problematic channels can be excluded and the router can pick from more than one that the user selects to pick from.
Having to wait 20sec-2min between every single configuration change is frustratingly inefficient and time consuming. The reliability is not what I expected from this router, I wish I had returned it in the return period instead of having faith in Netgear support.
If some attention to this can be made, it may turn my opinion, but at this point I don't want to invest in another Netgear Router when I decide to buy a new one.
As a software developer, User Engagement should be important - both for interacting with users via these forums to actually consider user input for Discrepancy Reports / Enhancement Requests, and to communicate a release timeline for what to expect in an upcoming release!
Instead, I have not received any further communication from my Support Request 2 months ago for an early engineering build availability as I'm willing to test any new enhancements and particularly the Multi-Link Operation feature which I'm still looking forward to! The responses that "Netgear does not provide insight into upcoming release dates / content" is just not acceptable IMO and could easily be changed to provide some assurance to your power users, as well as to foster a 2-way relationship for improving your products and increasing customers re-purchasing your new products rather than looking to a competitor. Please put more details in your release notes! We want to know what these enhancements to stability even mean. Where is the technical explanation?
I want to love this router, when it works it works great, but the reliability just isn't there in a congested wifi environment, and features that would help that (MLO, DFS events logging) feel like they're never going to come after waiting for a considerable amount of time.
MLO is a WiFi -7 Standard capability, which was in the spec and feature list that game with my router (paper manual documentation and on the box). However, once I received my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra phone, the first device I had that supports it, I find out Netgear essentially lied / false advertised and the capability did not exist as-delivered, and have continuously been told that it is "coming in a future firmware update, engineers are still working on it."
Of course when I found that out I could not longer return my product for another, competitors have it implemented already, why not this top-line RS700?
Additionally, the configuration interface leaves MUCH to be desired. The "logging" is laughable, of all of the logging option checkboxes, nothing of value is logged aside from the DHCP requests to assign IPs, it doesn't do any logging of when channels are re-assigned (i.e. DFS channel events) to help users to find which are affected, an important understanding when all other 5Ghz channels in my area are very congested due to living next to a hospital and apartment complex. This router runs into issues after a few days and requires 1-2 reboots every week. It does not handle congestion well, even after modifying the CTS/RTS settings and turning off SmartConnect. There should be more flexibility to channel settings vs "Auto" (all) and single channel selection, such as a "Do not include DFS", or a simple Custom Auto selection where problematic channels can be excluded and the router can pick from more than one that the user selects to pick from.
Having to wait 20sec-2min between every single configuration change is frustratingly inefficient and time consuming. The reliability is not what I expected from this router, I wish I had returned it in the return period instead of having faith in Netgear support.
If some attention to this can be made, it may turn my opinion, but at this point I don't want to invest in another Netgear Router when I decide to buy a new one.
As a software developer, User Engagement should be important - both for interacting with users via these forums to actually consider user input for Discrepancy Reports / Enhancement Requests, and to communicate a release timeline for what to expect in an upcoming release!
Instead, I have not received any further communication from my Support Request 2 months ago for an early engineering build availability as I'm willing to test any new enhancements and particularly the Multi-Link Operation feature which I'm still looking forward to! The responses that "Netgear does not provide insight into upcoming release dates / content" is just not acceptable IMO and could easily be changed to provide some assurance to your power users, as well as to foster a 2-way relationship for improving your products and increasing customers re-purchasing your new products rather than looking to a competitor. Please put more details in your release notes! We want to know what these enhancements to stability even mean. Where is the technical explanation?
I want to love this router, when it works it works great, but the reliability just isn't there in a congested wifi environment, and features that would help that (MLO, DFS events logging) feel like they're never going to come after waiting for a considerable amount of time.