NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Please add in a feature to disable SSID broadcast on the Orbi Tri-band RBR850. The stated reason of "you don't need it" is clearly contradicted by the number of people who have been asking for it, and I can't imagine it poses any sort of software/firmware design obstacle (the response is basically "we don't want to", rather than something with justification).
As many others have stated, it's security best practice to make it as difficult as possible for a malicious actor to gain access to your system; stopping SSID broadcast is similar to creating a dummy Administrator account on Windows - it may not stop a determined actor, but it will stop bots and random people from finding their attack vector as easily.
28 Comments
- bmtchrisAspirant
please allow us to at least disable broadcast of the guest network. i have one stupid xiaomi projector that can't connect to wifi at all unless there's no passowrd or WPA etc. This is easily solved by turning on an unprotected guest network, but i live in a very built up area and i don't want my neighbours torrenting or anything else while i;'m using the guest network.
Yes yes, it's not totally secure etc, i know that, but at least it would stop casual opportunist use of my wifi while it's active.
- BBQlegendeNovice
I want hide the SSID as Well. Please Incorporate In The Next Firmware Update.
- InayatFollower
It is very strange that N ETGEAR has removed the feature of Enabling/Disabling the SSID.
Enable/Disable of SSID is necessary and important feature for security reason.
Please NETGEAR bring this back.
- Duke56Fledgling
I agree with all others that we should have the option to Enable/Disable Broadcast SSID
NETGEAR...... PLEASE ADD THIS BACK IN.......PLEASE! - david123456Fledgling
Got 753S from costco, trying to switch from tp-link. Surprised to see I just cannot hide SSID. This is a $400 mesh system vs $50 tp-link. I just don't want my SSID to show up on neighbors laptop. I also hate I see a bunch of SSID I don't want to connect to when I just want to connect to my own network.
Can't even block devices like I could on my old R8000, so now I have devices hitting my WAP just because it has the strongest signal and they can see the SSID.
- david123456Fledgling
Update: I already returned my orbi 753S to Costco, just could not beat my old tp-link c9 for my use case. Hiding SSID is one thing, where I just wanted to hide a channel for myself from my families, not about any security reason. The other thing is orbi has much less control/customization, admin ui is ugly, speed is even a little bit slower than c9. The worst thing for me is I have to worry about which node my device is connecting to, which of 2.4g/5g it is on. I prefer manually set than automatic.
My house is not that large, so I can only use 2 nodes, where adding the 3rd node would have negative impact, e.g., introducing hops between nodes, and significantly adding latency.
My house does not actually need a mesh system, once I wired ethernet cable and put my c9 at the center of my house. But for a larger house that one router is not able to cover, orbi would be a better choice.
- alnak1Novice
I would like to add my vote in support of adding the feature to disable SSID broadcasts. I recently replaced my RBR50 system (which had) with the RBR850 platforms and was surprised to find that this was no longer available.
- Finny47Novice
PUt The Disable Broadcast Back!! Basic Security That Has Been In Wifi Settings Forever. Devices Such As MyQ Garage Openers Can't Connect Properly Unless Phone Can Only See 2.4Ghz Radio During Registration. Same With Carrier Thermostats.