That sucks. You'd think with a higher end router, that kind of crap wouldn't happen.
I got my replacement yesterday, I'll update if my issues go away, but I doubt it. I think it's just a crappy router or the firmware isn't allowing the router to what it should.
Now that I think about it, their solution to send a replacement tells me "we make low quality products." How often should anyone need to immediately replace a new piece of equipment?
I had a tech recommend the QOS on/off manuver before. If it actually fixed anything it was inconclusive. A few hours later the Cat-6 (copper) interface was back to below less than 500 Mbs again and the Wi-Fi was down in the Kbs range bud gradually got back to 20Mbs. It should be running damn near 500 here.
A higher-level tech called me late yeaterday. She changed my MTU back from the default setting that the previous tech said was causing problems and set it back to the default which had been previously changed by the tech before that.
As a (retired) developer, hardware designer-builder, and IT specilist, my opinion on released to distrubution is that it can (and likely, always will) have a few small idiosyncrasies that could be ironed out by a few firmware upgrades. Unfortunately, this is just not the case with the RAX80. There are a lot of optional settings which will very adversely affect the functioning of the system when they should not. There a lot of problems that re-occur after the router has been up and running for more than a day or two, and several other 'artifacts' that defy explanation.
On reading the various community comments about the RAX80, I am not certain whether I have been blessed with an especially psychotic unit or there are a few problems with the design that every owner has to 'enjoy.' In any case, attempting to repair something by hitting it in the right place with a hammer is not my concept of good engineering. (Especially true if this isn't a 1950's british car.) And this is even more true if the technicians who must support the thing can't fix the problem asnd must rely on luck. With the RAX80, I fear that the only way to keep it from failing in one way or another is to disconnect it from the AC, packing it back in the box and asking for a refund.
Unfortunately, things like this happens sometimes. 1st wave devices are usually notorious for having issues. Ideally, it's best to hold off until the 2nd wave is released. Wifi6 as it is still is sorta in its draft period, and now with the announcement of 6E, these devices will be rendered obsolete fairly quickly once 6E devices start coming out near the end of the year/near CES 2021.
Lower latency and what not is a nice draw, but with very few wifi 6 enabled devices out there, along with who knows how long it'll be for proper firmware fixes, I'll probably be taking my RAX75 back to Costco today and just holding off on my XR500 and Orbi until the next wave of devices comes out.
Somehow, I don't think that Wifi 6 or QOS really has anything to do with the problems we're seeing. I think that the tech efforts are mostly workarounds to avoid various design flaws in the router's hardware or microcode. Furthermore, I am having a really hard time imagining any product with this many problems getting out of development and into distribution.
If they offer to replace my RAX80, I'm going to stipulate that they will guarantee it to work correctly (and continue to do so) or refund my purchase price and cost of the additional support plan.
Again, really just going back to the 1st wave of AC devices, there were similar issues back then. All the kinks and issues we see are typically worked out by the time the 2nd wave of devices comes out. Unfortunately, while we like to live on the bleeding edge, sometimes we have to pay the price (both monetary and hardware/software issues). Don't get me wrong though. When the router works, it works very well. I just can't overlook the software issues, and I had the similar issues with the very first AC devices as well. The software simply isn't working with the hardware very well at the current time. Will they eventually iron out all the kinks with future firmware releases? Most likely.
No matter how carefully the manufacturer is, there will always be a defective unit, With devices that involve micro circuits, the defects may not show up until months after the device is put into operation. Normally the first 30 days will shake out the good ones from the bad ones.
Lots of bad equipment is a sign of bad design, cheap materials, poor construction or negligent quality control.
From what I gather, the problem with RAX80 is either bad hardware or bad firmware, or firmware that can't work around the hardware's shortcomings.
Considering the widespread commonality of problems, the RAX80 should never have been released to production until these things were fixed. They aren't minor bugs or unforseen circumstances; they are blatant flaws.
Move on. If you're in the return period for a while still, you can wait and see what happens. I ended up just returning mine, I'll just hold off until the next wave of 6/6E releases by Netgear.
Like I said, every 1st gen product has issues. Go look up Netgear's R6300, plenty of issues right off the bat. Should it have been released? Of course not, but it obviously was. Problem is, everyones setup is different. This router may work fine for a lot of people, you just need to remember that the people with issues are always the vocal minority.
I FINALLY got someone at Netgear to give me an RMA on the RAX80-Lemon I recieved in December. THey assured me that it will not have any of the problems my ordiginal one does. (This one must really have some flaky chips in it. - Last night, the 5 Ghz channel kept going off and on again.)
Forgive me in advance if what I am about to say sounds unreasonable or uncivilised, but it is necessary to stand up for one's rights these days, even in the area of very electric and dangerous things like computer equipment.
When I make a computer hardware purchase, I know that there will inevitably be some little glitch in it somewhere. In the case of this RAX80, I didn't need to look very hard to find it; it found me. However, if it becomes necessary to turn off some major advertised functionality, (like QOS) in order to get it to operate correctly, I will insist it be fixed or they will never hear the end of it. - I will also not accept a succession of band-aid fixes from the front-line tech support people. - The number of time I was asked to change the MTU value to something else and then back to default and then something else by various Netgear techs was amazing; especially since it didn't actually work. - The most successful solution that any of the first-line techs came up with was to power the system down and back up again. (And the system will never malfunction if it is turned off.)
According to their policies, refunds or upgrades for equipment purchases are not refundable, as is the cost of the extended tech support. (The last item appears to be a policy they just instituted.)
I expect (hope) the new unit will work better than this one did. Speding $375.00 for a doorstop is not my idea of a good buy.
They are replacing mine with a one. And just in time, too.
Last night the 2 Ghz Wi-Fi throughput slowed down to 2 Mbs. I powered it down and restarted it. This time it didn't boot. I waited for about a minute and.. nothing. I powered it off for a minute and reconnected the power and it did boot up. But the 5 Ghz signal is now non-existant. This must be a chip failure, but now I'm thinking the chips are getting hammered by a bad power power supply. A bad PSU can be a very expensive problem, especially if it appears to be working correctly and is overlooked as a problem. (Unfortunately, I've been there more than once. It is a frustrating, bummer of a problem.)
Good/bad software programming or issues stemming from hardware design are certainly important, but there is no way to make judgement on any of this if the power supply is causing everything else to sputter and misfire. - In a way, I'm glad the bad power supply showed itself.
During the relatively short periods that this RAX80 was running well, I was very impressed with it. The problem was that it wouldn't stay that way for very long. Now I know why. (At least, I hope/think I do...)
And so I am hoping to blissfully place the replacement on the shelf in my wiring closet and plug it in. If it sits there and quietly does its job, I will be a happy camper. - I am keeping my fingers crossed.
The (non-Netgear) replacement for my RAX80 should arrive on Tuesday. However, since it is the middle of the night and no one else is using out Wi-Fi, I thought I'd attempt yet another reconfiguration of the RAX80 as a sanity check. - Note: these results still occur whether the unit is configured for this house or the factory default settings... I also turned much touted AX functionality off to see if that made a difference; it did not.
The same problems I've been commenting on in several places on the various RAX80 Community threads still occur, namely 5 GHz band not running at the advertised max speed, (4800 Mbps,) as per the on-line specifications. When set to that speed, the 5 GHz signal appears and disappears periodically on a signal scanner, but won't connect to any device in the house, including a newly purchased Intel-based AX adapter card for my Intel desktop system. I also turned much touted AX functionality off and on. but it made no difference. - Since the system was rebooted only moments ago, I haven't seen whether it goes into comatose mode, but I expect to see that bug manifest itself again after the unit has been running a while.
My sanity check also included a visit to the Netgear Store's RAX80 product web page. In there, it specifies the 4800 Mbps 5 GHz speed several times, as well as a few other niceties that don't appear to work as they should. I also scrolled down to the user reviews at the bottom and discovered that all of the reviews included there were rave reviews; which was a big factor for my decision to buy the RAX80 in the first place.
Bottom line: After using my original RAX80 and the two replacement units they sent, these problems still exist. - It should be noted that during the first 30 days after the original purchase, I created a case requesting a fix for the problems, or give me a refund. The defect saga continues. Honestly, I cannot remember when I purchased a device that was as unsatisfactory as the RAX80 has been. The reseller has agreed to take it back and refund my purchase price; I will be glad to finally be rid of it.
Been in a similar boat since late last year. I was able to get it stable for about two months in the middle, but after a power outage and the router rebooting I'm right back to somewhere between 10 minutes and 24 hours before I drop from 700Mbps throughput to ~5Mbps throughput. It only affects AX chips in my house, of which I have three. They're not all affected at the same time though, and each adapter can be disabled/enabled and function again for a time independent of any impact on the others.
For my part I can't figure out if the issue is the AX200 chip from Intel (the only AX chip I'm aware of still) or the RAX80. My understanding is that adapters based on the AX200 chip do work fine with other AX routers, just not Netgear's. I had hoped turning off/on the QOS would have made a difference, but out of several dozen attempts to fix the issue including the QOS fix, nothing has permanently fixed the issue.
In any case, if anyone does ever see this problem addressed, please update here. And if you're reading this Netgear support staff, please help your management understand that this is not a user issue, and that it is widespread. I've seen this particular issue generate negative reviews for the RAX series, and my guess is more will keep coming in until this is properly addressed.
This has been a problem since the beginning of the RAX80. I bought one initially and had to return it for the same lack of speed issues. Got another router that works great and is not Netgear. Might want to do the same. I see that they have now introduced another model that's supposed to be even faster. Something is worng with this Netgear picture. Get a new canvas.
Forget about being fixed - I think they would have found one by now. Replace? You really want to replace this with another RAX considering? Refunded - depends where your bought it from. Best buy refunded my entire purchase. Good luck.
If you bought it at BB then you might want to try to return it by telling them the whole story and see if they would refund it. Worth a try. Depending on how long ago you got it might also want to check with our CC company to try.
If you bought it at BB then you might want to try to return it by telling them the whole story and see if they would refund it. Worth a try. Depending on how long ago you got it might also want to check with our CC company to try.
I don't think best buy should not be losing money, and take back the device, there is something WRONG with the product. the manufacture needs to own up.. and find a solutions.
