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Re: Orbi noob, going in with some trepidation

Roamabout
Luminary

Orbi noob, going in with some trepidation

My Orbi system will be delivered tomorrow. One base system and two sattelites. Our house is 60 feet from end to end, 3 floors including the basement. 30 feet wide plus a porch.

 

Looking at the Amazon reviews the Orbi looked pretty much like most widely used products with a typical percentage of disappointed customers reporting products that were DOA or did not work as expected. Almost 90 percent 5 and 4 star reviews. I opted to take my chances and order a system from Costco.com and get the $70 discount.

 

Then I found this forum and I guess I have 90 days to figure out if the Orbi is going to get the job done before I return it to the local Costco for a refund. I doubt that I am any smarter then the folks here so I'm hoping I will be luckier.

 

One thing that puzzles me is that while we all have slightly different homes, different ISP's, different modem/router combinations and different end point devices etc you would think a pattern would emerge for why some people have no issues over the long term despite the firmware updates and while others have chronic unresolved fundamental issues and are extremely frustrated.

 

My config will be Verizon FIOS, the Verizon Actiontec router and using the Orbi in AP mode to serve 30+ devices. End point devices are Windows 10, Android phones and tablets, a lot of Smarthome including Google home and Amazon Echo, Lutron, Ring etc. No Apple.

 

I plan to bring the system up, update the firmware, then slowly introduce new devices and keep an eye on stability. I will start off using the full Orbi wireless but if the three level 60ft long house causes issues I have the option to use the ethernet backhaul with a bit of reconfiguration of my network.

 

Fingers crossed.

Message 1 of 7

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Roamabout
Luminary

Re: Orbi noob, going in with some trepidation

The Orbi system has now been in operation for a week with no surprises. Fairly large and complex environment with a mix of Windows, Apple, Google, Amazon, Ring and a boatload of smarthome.

 

No disconnects, no reboots, no slowdowns. The Orbi is doing just what it says on the tin.

 

As with mutual funds, past behavior is not a predictor of future behavior but I remain cautiously optimistic and hope that Netgear and their ODM learn from their recent experience with software updates.

 

This forum is geared up for problems/solutions and keeps bugging me to mark this topic as solved so I will do just that while I continue to monitor the ongoing discussions and learn.

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Model: RBK50| Orbi AC3000 High-Performance Tri-Band WiFi System
Message 6 of 7

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nicholb
Luminary

Re: Orbi noob, going in with some trepidation

Got my system just over two weeks ago. For the first week I had a lot of reboots that were very obviously from Android phones/tablets. Once I got the Google Play Services update on all of them my Orbi system has been running perfectly (8 days uptime).

 

Like any users support forum you will see a slant toward people having problems. If you have an issue of course you are going to spend time posting on forums trying to get it resolved. If all is working correctly you tend not to take the time to tell people on forums.

 

All the issues you see here are real and need to be fixed, but for whatever reason they don't occure for everyone. Good luck with your setup. 

Message 2 of 7
Roamabout
Luminary

Re: Orbi noob, going in with some trepidation

The system was delievered yesterday morning and I had it all up and running in about an hour. Router and sattelites are now on the latest firmware with the router placed in the center of the house (Kitchen/Family room) and the two sattelites on the upper floor, one at either end. Sattelites had no issues synching up to the router over the native wireless.

 

The Fios router in the basement is still the main router and managing DHCP with the Orbi router in AP mode. The Fios router is plugged into a 24 port gigabit switch with a patch panel and cat 5e cable going to sockets in the living areas with the router plugged into one of those sockets. There is quite a bit of wired network going to various devices.

 

There is no sign of anything rebooting or disconnecting so far. I have cut over maybe two thirds of the devices but I have included a lot of Android, Windows and smarthome stuff.

 

I plugged a wired printer into one of the satellite ethernet ports and it works just fine. The packaging and the external look and finish of the units is very nicely done. 

 

To avoid conflicts with the existing wifi I restricted the Orbi 2.4ghz radio to just channel 2, well away from the old system. I'm going to run them in parallel for a good while in case I need to fall back but in the next day or so I expect to be mostly on the Orbi.

 

So far so good.

 

 

Model: RBK50| Orbi AC3000 High-Performance Tri-Band WiFi System
Message 3 of 7
Mikey94025
Hero

Re: Orbi noob, going in with some trepidation

For many people, the Orbi system works great.  Hope it continues to work well for you!

Message 4 of 7
tsig
Luminary

Re: Orbi noob, going in with some trepidation

I also recently converted to Orbi, for wireless only, using a Fios Actiontec router as well.  I simply plugged in my Orbi, gave it the SSID and password I was using with the Actiontec, turned the radio off on the Actiontec and let everything connect away.  The only issue I had was with my wireless HP printer.  Had to reset and reconnect it.  Otherwise everything was pretty seamless.  I have no google stuff though.

Message 5 of 7
Roamabout
Luminary

Re: Orbi noob, going in with some trepidation

The Orbi system has now been in operation for a week with no surprises. Fairly large and complex environment with a mix of Windows, Apple, Google, Amazon, Ring and a boatload of smarthome.

 

No disconnects, no reboots, no slowdowns. The Orbi is doing just what it says on the tin.

 

As with mutual funds, past behavior is not a predictor of future behavior but I remain cautiously optimistic and hope that Netgear and their ODM learn from their recent experience with software updates.

 

This forum is geared up for problems/solutions and keeps bugging me to mark this topic as solved so I will do just that while I continue to monitor the ongoing discussions and learn.

Model: RBK50| Orbi AC3000 High-Performance Tri-Band WiFi System
Message 6 of 7
Retired_Member
Not applicable

Re: Orbi noob, going in with some trepidation

If you bought your Orbi from Costco you should be fine as far as the return policy.  I too bought mine at Costco (In-strore) and was told that the 90 day electronic policy applies to things like TVs, PCs, etc. 

 

I've had my Orbi (Router + 2 Sats) for nearly 3 months.  There have been a few disconnects and re-boots early on, nothing that I haven't seen before with other routers.  From what I've read (IMHO) most of the folks that have major issues chase beta versions, run the Orbi with an older router (Access Point), and other various system tweaks.  For me, I just installed it and let it run.  At any given moment I have 25-30 devices online, some of which (weather station, Ecobees) run 24/7.  My recommendation is set it up and leave it alone.  If it fails then you can state with confidence that it was probably not something you did.  Return it and move on.  Good luck.

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