Hi community.
I have had my Orbi for 2 months and I'm quite happy with the switch from the German box. I have 56 devices attached to the mesh across two Orbis with another satellite in the planning (once I can find one that doesn't bankrupt me!). I'd like to list some quirks that I have experienced setting up devices, in the hope that either Netgear will take them on board as improvements or for me to find out if I missed a feature or did something stupid (not entirely impossible...).
Listing of Devices
I consult the list of attached devices under Advanced - Admin - Attached Devs
- What I find quite annoying is that you can't order the devices in any way (e.g. Device Name, IP, MAC, etc.). When I am looking for a device in my long list, I keep on scrolling until I find it. As the list is dynamic, device that disconnect or connect might make this even more complicated.
- Disconnected devices are not listed. I am used to browsing through the device list every now and then to check if any "rogue" devices were connected and then disconnected. I know there are alerts available when devices connect. I'd like to use the disconnected device list as well for devices that I want to rename or manage, but which only connect once in while (e.g. sensors).
It would be nice if the column heading can be clicked to sort the list.
It would also be nice if there is a list of previously connected devices that are not connected at the moment.
Address Reservation
I like to organise my devices for easier management to I like to assign fixed IPs (Advanced - Setup - Lan Setup). As per the same above, the list of assigned addresses cannot be sorted. Entries are saved in the order of creation which means that it's not possible to see IP ranges (e.g. all door sensors under 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.109, etc.). It should be something simple... Even better would be if the IP reservation could be created under "Attached Devices" like my previous experiences.
It would be nice if at least the list can be sorted.
Naming of Devices
Back to the "Attached Devices" and probably my biggest annoyance: naming of devices. There is the option to name the devices (pretty standard) but also to provide a Device Model (I use brand of the device and type). Third selection is the device type (great visuals). But...
- The behaviour of the renaming is erratic: all fields for device name can be changed without issue. Some devices can have the device model changed and some devices can have the type changed. Some devices are automatically recognised as certain devices - most of the time incorrect - and then can no longer be changed. This is confusing and annoying, especially since I'm intending to use at least the device model information. It seems that the recognition is linked to the MAC address but I have two ipads with the same first 6 digits in the MAC address that are both recognised differently (one as iPad but I can't change the device model, the other as Macbook and can change the device model but not the device type).
It would be great if this can be fixed...
In addition it would be nice to see more device types listed in the age of iOT (lights, sockets, LED strips, household devices, etc.) even if it is just a device group. What also could be an option is to provide a simple coloured circle to indentify a group of devices.
So far my confusion and frustration with a device that DOES have great performance and reliability!
I am running firmware V2.3.5.30 in January 2020 and I did read other threads out here, although they seem a bit more dates.
Thanks for any comments. Cheers, Vince
