8 Hour Support Nightmare

[MLUCK]

I just got off an eight-hour (that's right, 8 HOUR) phone call with the premium support line.  I called because my router is chronically slow on wifi (<1 Mbps) even though my wired speeds are great (800-900 MBps up and down).  Typically, the wifi speeds are alright (maybe 25% of wired), but then it will degrade to <1 over several hours, at which point I reboot the router and the process starts all over.  

This afternoon I decided to call Netgear for support.  First I learned I have to pay to get service on a product I already paid for.  Huh?  Then the "expert" who worked with me took control over my desktop, which was great, except he reset my router deleting all the configurations including about 25 IP address reservations without being able to restore them afterwards.  

After 8 hours of ineffective troubleshooting, they are supposedly sending me a new router (gee thanks?).  Oh, and they said I have to pay for the privilege of them sending it to me (huh?).  Meanwhile, I now need to spend many hours reconfiguring all my devices.  Bottom line, tonight (actually all day and night), I was trained to despise NetGear.  The couple people I spoke to have no concept of customer service.  They actually said several times, "well, our engineers would prefer it if we...".  Ludicrous.

[Retired_Member]

what firmware on you on?

[FURRYe38]

Try posting in the forums first next time you have a problem first to see if forum user help can resolve your problems...

What Firmware is currently loaded?
What is the Mfr and model# of the ISP modem the NG router is connected too?

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. https://kb.netgear.com/000036466/How-far-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite-from-my-Orbi-router

What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or maynot be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

Try disabling the following and see:
Armor, Circle, Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).

@Blanca_O 

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@MLUCK wrote:

I just got off an eight-hour (that's right, 8 HOUR) phone call with the premium support line.  I called because my router is chronically slow on wifi (<1 Mbps) even though my wired speeds are great (800-900 MBps up and down).  Typically, the wifi speeds are alright (maybe 25% of wired), but then it will degrade to <1 over several hours, at which point I reboot the router and the process starts all over.  

This afternoon I decided to call Netgear for support.  First I learned I have to pay to get service on a product I already paid for.  Huh?  Then the "expert" who worked with me took control over my desktop, which was great, except he reset my router deleting all the configurations including about 25 IP address reservations without being able to restore them afterwards.  

After 8 hours of ineffective troubleshooting, they are supposedly sending me a new router (gee thanks?).  Oh, and they said I have to pay for the privilege of them sending it to me (huh?).  Meanwhile, I now need to spend many hours reconfiguring all my devices.  Bottom line, tonight (actually all day and night), I was trained to despise NetGear.  The couple people I spoke to have no concept of customer service.  They actually said several times, "well, our engineers would prefer it if we...".  Ludicrous.

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[CrimpOn]

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@MLUCK wrote:

 Typically, the wifi speeds are alright (maybe 25% of wired), but then it will degrade to <1 over several hours, at which point I reboot the router and the process starts all over.  

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Do you recall which WiFi band it was that fell to under 1mb? (2.4G, 5G, or both)

And, wired performance remains the same while WiFi is deteriorating?

As additional information, the "debug" page  (http://<ip of orbi>/debug.htm) shows several useful statistics on router operation (CPU load, memory use, number of open connections).   I refresh the page every few seconds and watch for trends.  Since this phenomenon happens over time, it could be that some critical resource is being gradually consumed to the point that new work has to wait until things "time out."

[michaelkenward]

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@MLUCK wrote:

I just got off an eight-hour (that's right, 8 HOUR) phone call with the premium support line. 

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Who did you call? Netgear doesn't have a phone number that you can call, certainly not a premium line.

You do it via the support portal:

Contact Us | Support | NETGEAR

Start here:

MyNETGEAR | Product Registration

Start a case and, with luck, they will contact you.

If you called one of those sites found with a web search, then there is a very high probability that it has nothing to do with Netgear.

Many of those listing are from third-party sites that pay to appear in the search engines. They then create sites that "borrow" the Netgear logo.

Those sites will also appear if you search for other makes of hardware. Using them can be dangerous.