To use Access Control, please use the Orbi App

[Clintdawg24]

That's what I've been doing as well and it seems to work just fine. The only difference is my parental controls created a profile for "Always On Devices", which I've been putting approved devices into and I just keep the home locked down. The good thing is that I'm only on the 30 day trial, so I'm waiting for that to expire and if I can't get it back to normal, then I go full nuclear on it and wipe out everything and start over. It seems to me that this method is more or less identical but Netgear found a way to charge us for it. That's the reason they're in no hurry for a solution.

[BenjaminNYC]

This doesn’t resolve the issue of removing SPC from our Netgear account and the disabled Access Control and DNS settings.

[BenjaminNYC]

The trial expiring will absolutely NOT return things to normal. You are stuck permanently with the limitations of SPC on the orbilogin interface.

[TSNosredna]

No, but it may provide you with, maybe good enough, interim functionality that's essentially equivalent to the access control.

And I don't know what you mean, about the DNS settings, as mine are still there (unless you are referring to other DNS settings that I can no longer see 😣😞

[radesix78]

Just a quick update to this thread... My case is still in L3 support with the engineering team... and I did have a good conversation with Bernard from L2 support the week before last so I'm confident they finally understand the real issue and are working on it.  The problem for me is I have no idea how long it will take them to issue a fix.  

That being said, I'm not a typical end user of computing products. I'm more of a prosumer than a regular consumer. I've been a Netgear customer for a really long time and I own mulitple Netgear products include a ReadyNAS 314 which I have always loved. But this issue (the horrible implementation of SPC/Access Control) and the length of time it has taken to 1) get Netgear to understand the problem 2) get to a legitimate fix (which hasn't happened yet) caused me to start looking for better options. 

I have felt the firmware in the Netgear routers has been lacking for quite some time. Over the holiday break I spent some time looking for "prosumer" routers and ran across Firewalla Gold. This thing seems to have a LOT of features that I have been craving in a router for a long time.  I'm probably not going to get rid of the Orbi because I do have good WiFi coverage in the house with the satellites; however, I feel at this time I'm just going to put this turd into bridge mode and only use it for WiFi while I delegate all other features of a router to Firewalla. I paid $660 for the Orbi 750 with 2 satellites and I think that is extremely expensive for just WiFi 6 and no real use of any of the normal firmware features and capabilities for a router. There are cheaper options out there that probably provide comparable coverage in my house but I don't have the inclination to start buying and experimenting with other vendors.  I just want my network to work properly.

There are so many cool features in the Firewalla for a prosumer like myself - including out of the box "new device quarantine", parental controls, better traffic monitoring, quality of service controls, and even being able to run Docker containers directly on the router - which makes it an open platform.  

I will continue to work with Netgear engineers to troubleshoot and resolve this issue until hopefully a fix is provided and others in the community don't have to experience this or take the approach I'm taking by stepping the router down into bridge mode and buying another piece of equipment but I think I'm done with Netgear router features and functions.  

For those of you wanting more advanced network monitoring, security, and control... I'd recommend checking out Firewalla.  My device is in the mail!

To Netgear.. the Orbi line is good but way too expensive for what it is.  If you would work toward including all of the capabilities that Firewalla Gold has into your Orbi line.. then maybe $700, $1000, or $1500 (the latest Orbi 960) might be justified... but not as it exists today.  The value just isn't there especially when experiencing the issues I and others have experienced with SPC/Access Control. If this were to happen in Enterprise grade equipment you would be out of business.

[TSNosredna]

So, my little work-around just failed to block devices and word on the street is that you have to factory reset to "resolve" it for a couple of days.  I've had an Orbi for the last 10 years and after all the struggle and difficulty with Netgear Support, I've finally had enough.

I've just ordered a Deco mesh to replace my Orbi and the Firewalla Gold.

[radesix78]

Factory reset doesn't work.  Even returning the Orbi to the store and getting a whole new Orbi doesn't work.  Its something tied to your Netgear account that is persistent across devices once SPC has been activated.  It's ruthless. 

So, do I read correctly that you just ordered a Firewalla Gold? 

[TSNosredna]

Yep. That and a TP-Link Deco XE5300 to go behind it.

Overall, it should all be just a little more than the Orbi RBK763S originally cost me.

Who knows if the TP-Link will be as good coverage, but it looks good on paper and is much cheaper.

I’m so fed up that I just want the Orbi gone.

[radesix78]

I hear you.  Glad to see you pick up the Firewalla.  I'm pretty excited about the unit.

[Clintdawg24]

Just an FYI. I waited for my premium parental controls 30 trial to expire. Once it did, I was able to use Access Control again via the web client. I'm not sure why it's been so much trouble for everyone else. I hope resolution is coming soon.

[radesix78]

You can see it. But it doesn’t actually work. It does not block new devices from joining and using the network. They will show up as blocked… but still be able to access the internet freely. The mere display of the access control page isnt the final resolution. It needs to actually work

[BenjaminNYC]

@radesix78 how's it going with L3 support on this issue? I noticed a new firmware 6.3.7.5, wondering if that fixes it.

[radesix78]

Still haven’t heard back from L3 😕
Yesterday I explained the situation to Best Buy and they took the Orbi back.

Unfortunately I had to move on to other equipment.

[BenjaminNYC]

Makes sense. What a shame their software and support is so bad. Hardware is so good.

[KingMarlz]

I send a message in the chat bot, it created a ticket and I request the cancelation and removal of SPC on my account and in less than 10 minutes at 12 am it was removed and I could now do access control on the web interface, Im not sure why in your case your having this issue. 

[BenjaminNYC]

Wow. Where is this chat bot?

[BenjaminNYC]

Tried the chatbot and agent confirmed they cannot see any SPC on my account nor router, despite it being active in the app and on mynetgear.com

[KingMarlz]

On my end, it does say active as well, but the feature of blocking the devices is working properly. What devices is it not blocking on your end? My devices connect but say no internet

[BenjaminNYC]

I cannot access Access Control at all in the Orbi GUI, it says instead exactly the title of this thread.

[radesix78]

Yes that was my problem too. I could see the Access control GUI and it would say that it was blocking devices but it wasn’t

[BenjaminNYC]

I started a new case via chatbot. They claimed they “cannot see SPC” on my account. I shared screenshots of app and My Netgear showing it active. They have elevated it. I have low hopes.

[KingMarlz]

What devices are they? I had to turn off private MAC address and randomized max address on cell phones for it to work

[radesix78]

Already had randomization turned off. It was multiple device types. Chromebook’s, iPads, etc

[bnieco]

What a nightmare. I never intended to sign up for SPC it was an errant click in the app. Now I can't get it removed and even after a factory reset it's blocking my use of the app. The only companies I know of that make signup a single click and cancellation via convoluted archaic methods are SCAMS. Netgear should add itself to the list of unsafe softwares

[BenjaminNYC]

This is a total mess. My latest umpteenth case I've opened for this issue remains open and no one is responding.