Orbi MR 2.1 issues update 3/9/18

[Starbucky]

I was thinking of doing the same and asking for the 2.2 beta. I have until March 23rd to return the RBK50 system. I had posted that after 12 days I didn't have any issues but on Saturday evening some of my wifi cloud cams stopped working as well as my Honeywell wifi thermostat. I rebooted the RBR50 and everyhting came back online. Then Sunday morning the system rebooted by itself.

I'm kickin myslef for not buying the Veliop system when it was on sale last week. We get ripped off here in Canada for electronics and I hate paying regulatr pricing on most things... If I buy the Velop I'll need to buy the Circle box on top of that as we really like the Circle for the kids.

I'm also looking at the Eero system. It seems to be alot more mature than the rest but it seems to be limited to mobile app only, no web interface, sort of deal breaker for me.

Anyway I'm not holding my breath for a 2.2 release before my thirty days return option are up. I guess I'll be swapping the Orbi out on the weekend. It's too bad, I really liked it.

Cheers,      

[bmcguirk]

AmitR, is there anyway for you to post a download URL for the Beta so those of us willing to take the risk and try it out can, while we wait for the final version to be published?

If not, do you have a general idea of timing - (A couple of days? A few weeks?)

Thank you for continuing to work on this! I suffer from 6-8 drops in an 9 hour work day, so it's been frustrating and I'm looking forward to see if this fixes my issues. 

[bbunge]

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@bmcguirkwrote:

AmitR, is there anyway for you to post a download URL for the Beta so those of us willing to take the risk and try it out can, while we wait for the final version to be published?

If not, do you have a general idea of timing - (A couple of days? A few weeks?)

Thank you for continuing to work on this! I suffer from 6-8 drops in an 9 hour work day, so it's been frustrating and I'm looking forward to see if this fixes my issues. 

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While it would be great for Netgear to publish a link to this Beta software I doubt it will happen. Yes, there are an increasing number of folks that are packing up their Orbi to return it or just get rid of it. I got mine because the prior owner had had enough of failures. I've decided to bang away at it and get it to work so I can, in time, give it to someone who needs it.

In the meantime I have loaded firmware starting with the initial 2.0 release, upgraded that to the "current" version, then to the 2.1 latest and finally to the 2.2 Beta. I have done this several times including factory reset between versions. I have not experienced any of the reboots or disconnects on any version. I have experienced network lockups going from WIFI backhaul to Wired backhaul in both the 2.1 and 2.2 versions that corrected itself after a few minutes. Am not too pleased that the WIFI backhaul does not shut down when the wired backhaul is connected. Have experienced a slight drop in throughput with ORBI both wired and WIFI (2.4 and 5 GHZ). Don't feel Disney Circle is great because if you do not have an iOS or Android portable you can't use it (Yes Virginia, there are homes that do not have smart phones!!!). There are other things I don't like about Orbi that I could live without. Netgear is a good company. Sure hope they get this product running great, SOON!

[DerAusgewandert]

apparently they got burned, so now they are doing private betas first. Maybe call this a late alpha...

[wizzy9999]

Can't wait any longer; 2.0.x has deteriorated for us over the past several days as well to the point where my wife is asking for something else.  Just ordered a different system, once installed this weekend the Orbi is going back to Costco.

[mpf541]

Its so nice since Sunday my network has been rock solid. No problems at all. I put the orbi on a shelf and stared using a velop. With luck netgard will lean how to fix this issue and i can return the velop. But not counting on it.

[GTPprix]

Any more updates?

I've got what I believe is the top of the line system (the RBK53) and I even bought another RBW30 for my garage and I have to be completely honest; This system sucks. Tons of throughput issues/lag/disconnects/ethernet backhaul crashes if you hook up to the WAN port in AP mode, tries to assign the satellties an IP on a completely different subnet (and a dupe no less!) but I had to plug into the WAN port to turn off the damn magenta light lol Heck even wiht eth backhaul off and the WAN port hooked up response time is notably slower for some reason. So long story short if I dont see something with an actual commitment here IE We will have this firmware out by X date I'm taking all $600 worth of this stuff back. 

[wg4ever]

I finally gave up, two weeks ago. Unhooked the Orbi and hooked up Google Home WiFi, and have been stress-free, ever since. Been enjoying full speed, with no issues, the whole two weeks. I'm out, over $400, which I spent for the Orbi, but at least, now, I'm not constantly running up and down the stairs, residing and restarting the Orbi.

[wserbia]

Well, while the Orbi cross functional team has been locked in a room with food and coffee, I went out and bought a VELOP system that is a superior product in every aspect. Hopefully they can figure out how to send me a refund for the $350 beta product I bought a year ago.

[mpf541]

Yes I have to Agree on my new Velop. Been going since Sunday and no disconnects. And to make it even better they stand behind the product with 3 years of support. Not 90 days like someone we know. 

[GTPprix]

I'm torn between the Velop, going full crazy and getting a UNIFI setup or getting the Amplifi HD and two more routers used as AP's with eth backhaul :\

[mpf541]

I am using it with 2 nodes on ethernet backhaul. The velop is working fine for this. 

[GTPprix]

Only thing I dont like about the Velop (and this is trivial I know) is that they dont have those smaller AP's that plug directly into an oulet like the orbi I think its the 40 series I bought. We've got a pretty large area we need coverage for and its nice having the 40 out in the garage kind of why I'm leaning towards going full kill on the Amplifi HD if this beta firmware doensnt clear up the issues. Also I'm being told there is no beta 2.2 available :\

[wserbia]

I’ve had my VELOP system for about two months and have been loving it. It has a better phone app, an ethernet backhaul that actually works, speed and coverage comparable to Orbi and most importantly, no disconnects. My wife and kids are happy again and it has restored my confidence on keeping a connection for my smart home setup.

[mpf541]

I agree the plugin was nice as i had one. But I always had issues with it losing a connection and I needed a wired connection. And while the velop does not have a plugin module. If you look aroumd the regular velop can be found for the same price as the plugin. 

[Chairman007]

I just took down my RBR50 router, RBS50 satellite and 2 RBW30 wall plugs down due to instability and reboots and replaced with a $139 Tenda Nova 3 cube mesh system ... 0 drops period. Happy family!

[JMU1998]

@GTPprix why was Beta 2.2 pulled?  Was it useless?  Anyone know if another Beta Firmware coming? 

[he01]

I bought NetGear Orbi because of the good reviews and I had bad experience with Linksys (granted that was more than a decade ago).

One of the key feature is ethernet backhaul, without which I would not have pick up Orbi. However with ethernet backhaul, sometimes my devices cannot even get IP address. I need to remove the ethernet cable before things normalized.

What's most disgusting is that NetGear is still marketing Orbi in Singapore as having ethernet backhaul as one key feature .......

[snaptopixel]

Soooo, I just bought an Orbi system specifically for the Circle integration that is advertised all over the place, and it doesn’t work? Do the Nighthawk routers work with Circle? Or have the same issues?

[yycbb]

Hi Netgear, What I would like to see is the ability to return these systems to you directly for a refund or credit to buy a different system until these issues are resolved. Those of us that have no way of returning it back to the store front in which we bought it from are out $400. if you are going to sell me a system that has only $200 worth of features that actually work i think it's only fair. Im supprised there is not more people taking these issues to social media but I intend to tonight.

[Chairman007]

Absolutely fantastic feeling of 0 drops and no buffering across the house. TiVo boxes, Plex ... all working with 0 reboots or pauses. $139 for the 3 mesh Tenda Nova MW6 ... well worth it for no more hassles.

[NickC4555]

I have been running beta V2.0.1.2 on my system (router and two daisy chained satellites) for 5 months without any problems. I have tried the two versions that have been released since and had all the same issues that everyone else has had, so I've rolled it back to the beta that works perfectly. This version doesn't have wired backhaul, but apart from that it's great. How Netgear's software engineers can go from something so solid to a production release that is anything but is beyond me. It seems that Netgear thinks its customers are their test department.

[GTPprix]

I guess it was a miscommunication between departments and 2.2 Beta is still available. I gave that a shot and despite mulitple requests for the files for my RBW30 to get them all on the same firmware to see if it helped netgears customer service went dark and disappeared. I agreed to a VERY loose NDA but as such in the spirit of what an NDA should be I'm not going to discuss anything beta related. 

That said I went out and picked up a Ubiquiti Amplifi HD last night and threw it in knowing that I'll need to get at least one more router to get it closer to spec with the Orbi. Its been up for abou 15 hours with ZERO issues (unheard of on my Orbi) and all of the functions actually work IE traffic meter etc. Admittedly the speed is about 30% less in some areas than the Orbi but I have a feeling that will be resolved when I add another Cube and move one of the Mesh Points however the difference is it actually works LOL

RBK53 goes back to Costco this weekand and the RBW30 goes back to Amazon.

[Chairman007]

It’s a great feeling not to have to worry about stability issues, isnt’t it? Life is good.

[GTPprix]

Yup! I'll gladly give up a litlt bit of speed.... afterall the speed is kind of useless if it doesnt work LOL