Wake Word on Orbi Voice Alexa

[DanInGA]

Has anyone been able to figure out a way to change the wake word on the Orbi Voice from "Alexa" to something else?  Somehow they either decided not to provide the option, or it was left out in error.

Our daughter's name is Alexis and being of a very young age, we have to use her name quite often.  This sets off Alexa constantly, even when we call our daughter by her nikname "Lexi".  Huge problem for us, and I'd rather not change our daughter's name!  

Hopefully Netgear will take this lack of insight into account and come up with an update at some point that allows a wake word change.  Otherwise, I will have to return this for a refund.

[Blanca_O]

Hi DanInGA,

Welcome to NETGEAR Community!

You can only use "Alexa" as Wake Word for your Orbi Voice Satellite.

Regards,
Blanca
Community Team

[Mstrbig]

Normally you can Say "Alexa, change the wake word", but I guess Netgear forgot to include this important feature.

[Mstrbig]

I also just noticed that The Orbi Voice with Alexa is missing quite a few commands that the real Amazon Echo does. I really thought the RBS40V with Alexa was going to have exactly the same features that alexa supports. But certain commands my Son's Echo has are missing. I hope someone from Netgear can shed some light on this before I return it. 

[bergertime]

There are a host of features missing from the Orbi Voice that other (including non-Amazon) Alexa devices possess. Changing the wake word, using the announce function, playing music for Apple music, just to name a few missing features. And Netgear continues to do nothing about it. It's very disappointing. Netgear's firmware update pace is abysmal. Asus is orders of magnitiude more active in maintaining their devices' firmware.

It's too bad. The Netgear Voice has the potential to be a nearly perfect device for many people. Instead, it's a half-baked, half-supported flop.

[csilveira]

That is what I call a serious oversight. Why would Netgear include a less than fully functional Alexa and not advertise it as to what it is? That is disingenuous and very similar to the parental controls on their Wi-Fi 6 products.

It looks like everyone needs to lower their expectations with Netgear products.

[NJP01]

Sad. Getting ready to return mine... and give it a 1-star review.

Can’t add to groups (for whole-house music)
Can’t change wake-word
Can’t announce
Can’t drop-in
Can’t even barely get it to work with my orbi system

[Tlutt21]

Along wt missing functions already mentioned, I had to unplug my Orbi Voice when setting up new smart lights...Orbi seemed to be interfering wt my echo show! Went round and round wt Amazon service to figure out the problem. Sad to see a good company put out such a low par product - so much potential but a real disappointment!