Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
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Anywhere Access and what to do about it

ddustin
Guide

Anywhere Access and what to do about it

So, I like many others, have been struggling with Anywhere Access NOT working on our Orbi routers and apps.

The generous pros here try to assist, but in the end (based on ALL the threads I have read), there is no solution.

I am not a tech newbie and have many years of product management experience.

My work is almost entirely away from my home office and I NEED AA to work.

1. The reason AA (Anywhere Access) is not working is because it is not a high enough priority to NetGear

2. Customer complaints only become a high priority when it begins to impact sales negatively

3. To get the attention of NetGear, post your complaints with the vendors you purchased them from. In my case it is 
     Amazon. I posted a warning to potential buyers that AA is not working, has not been for a long time and that if 
     Its a needed feature, look elsewhere

4. Here is the link to the management team at NetGear. NetGear Management 
    you can take a guess at their email addresses firstname.lastname@netgear.com and see what you get

5. At the least, move this control back to the Web UI. Yes I understand most companies believe apps are the future...        (and they are), but they need to work as expected

6. Just on the off chance there is actually someone from the Orbi team reading this.. add this bug to your JIRA/Confluence/DevOps list PLEASE

 

  1. My own troubleshooting has been with iOS (Version 2.21.1.353) on both iPhone and iPad as well as with an android phone (it was the latest version available at the time). 
  2. The router and satellite were both updated to the newest firmware version (V4.6.14.3) 
  3. Previously, I had done the factory reset, but that was just stupid as the "Armor Security" was a pain to re-enable
  4. I have uninstalled and re-installed the apps numerous times 

 

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CrimpOn
Guru

Re: Anywhere Access and what to do about it

I was also annoyed when Netgear removed the "Remote Management" option from the web interface.  It was encrypted (https) and the user can set as complicated a password as needed (mine is over 24 characters).  The default was "off", so only a person who wanted to expose it to the Internet would turn it on.

 

The Orbi app Android version 2.21.1.2602 is working on my RBR50 system with Anywhere Access.  Is Anywhere Access still not working using Android on your system?

 

There are two method for accessing the Orbi router web interface remotely:

  1. Set up OpenVPN on the router.  This is not a trivial exercise, what with having to set up a DDNS account, load OpenVPN software on user devices, install the configuration files, etc.  Once done, however, OpenVPN creates a way to reach every device on the home network, which includes the Orbi router.  I have used it with Windows 10, Linux, and Android. (No Apple products.)
  2. Set up Remote Access on a home computer.  There are numerous products (at least for Windows) that will create a link to a Cloud and wait for the remote client to log in.  Once connected to the local computer, it can be used to access the Orbi web interface.

Personally, I find the Orbi 'app' disappointing in terms of features.  It is the only way to manage features that I do not use (Armor, Parental Controls), but cannot manage features that I do use.

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