R7000 Support, Info & Firmware #EPIC Article

This router is complete garbage. I "upgraded" from an N600 which quit working to the R7000. Issues right out of the box with 5ghz wifi. Tried reseting, downloading different firmwares from netgear, and even went to third party firmware. I just recycled your POS product that lacked reliability after dealing with its BS for over a year at the same bestbuy I bought it from and walked out with an Asus. For anyone looking to jump on the discounts for this model do yourself a favor and pass. Spend a little more or less with someone else.

I have been having issues with using my older router WNDR3700v3 with Nighthawk R7000. is there some compatability list for the nighthawk app and connections between other Netgear products, For the Nighthawk router? I am running Win 10 have google nest camera and a/c honeywell the camera is connected to the wndr3700 and constantly losses connection and i need to reboot both nighthawk and older router to complete connection again.all firmware on both devices has been updated.

Chiming in to bring awareness to the .88 firware update and the .100 firmware breaking 5Ghz. Thought my R6900 finally gave up and then bought a R7000 only to find out the issue is your firmware. Unacceptable guys. Been a solid router but, the response and slow timing of fixing things has me wanting to move on to a different product. Could have saved my self $150 dollars. For context, I bought the R7000 from Walmart just a couple of months ago.

Yes, I have gone through all the steps of factory resetting and all that jazz. Just reverted back to .42 and it I'm good on drops and speed again. Sad that I am potentially exposed security wise.

I "upgraded" from my old to this router and got a bit of problems I was not expecting.

The internet connection started dropping now and then and a restart would fix that, so scanned thru the articles here and otherplaces. Didnt find anything that fixed it, very generic answers and I don't have any special configurations. No internet login, nothing configured except the wifi password and external dns.

However I upgraded to firmware V1.0.11.100_10.2.100 (since that was the most recent firmware), and that seem to have fixed the internet dropping problem. Success I though!

Now recently I did have some problems with VOIP calls via mobile and app, they won't connect when using wifi, so according to helpful articles I decided to turn on QoS, that was disabled. Seems logical. And it works right now, it is an app so I have not done any long term testing, neither do I know where the problem persisited, this all could be irrelevant. 

However now the internet started dropping again. 

My old R6300 had none of these problems during the last what 5 years or so. Don't really know why I "upgraded". 

So, I am curious NetGear; I see what appears to be a few responses in this thread that look like Netgear responses. Problem is, each of those responses are written as if by a defensive child. Why not actually respond to the problem? Either admit or deny it and provide a foundation for your answer. I think it is pretty obvious there is a problem based on searching the internet about the issues presented so commonly and here in your own community forum. It is YOUR logo I see at the top of this page, yes? Maybe it is just hundreds (or thousands) of us misconfiguring our routers in the same newbie way. Buit, even if that was true, then you should be able to offer an eductional/support document specificially addressing how to best mitigate what so many are reporting. I keep reading about firmware but that sounds like a rollacoaster ride at best. I tried several "updates" before giving up and using my cable providers default (garbage, but stable) product at $15/month - thanks for that by the way. Is this a programming issue or it it hardware that is root cause? Lets start there...

NETGEAR - PLEASE ACT LIKE A REPUTABLE COMPANY AND NOT A BUNCH OF FOOLS SELLING ELIXER OFF THE BACK OF THIER WAGON. THERE IS CLEARLY A PROBLEM HERE. IF YOU REALLY WERE INTERESTED IN CUSTOMER SUPPORT (AND RELATIONSHIP BUILDING) YOU WOULD PUT THE PROPER RESOURCES INTO RESOLVING THIS VS. JUST PUMPING PRODUCT DOWN THE CHANNEL WITH A "DON'T GIVE A **bleep** ATTITUDE". THAT IS WHAT I SEE AND READ ABOUT YOUR COMPANY ALL THE TIME. HOW ABOUT SOMETHING NEW AND YOU ACTUALLY TRY AND FIX IT VS. HIDING IN THE SHADOWS!!!

Like many others I have come to hate my Netgear equipment. I have been using Netgear equipment coming on 20 yrs now, and the issue with the routers droping connection, failing to transfer internet traffic and various other issues I have been forced to tell friends to buy TP-Link routers and when they ask why I recomment the TP-Link over Netgear especially when I have used Netgear equipment I just tell them they do not want to deal with the problems I have been encountering. I know Netgear is definitely loose customer. I would not recommed ASUS, since some of their routers are phoning home and sharing your data with third parties especially the ones that have the VPN feature.

Whatever the problem Netgear is having it is not isolated to the Nighthawk/R7000 models. I first started experiencing all the issues people been saying about the Nighthawk on my WNR3500. It was solid router, used it for many years, had over 30 devices on my network both hardwired and wireless. At some point after one of those suggested securtiy updates my WNR3500 started experience issue where no traffic to or from the internet. Only solution was a reboot, I tried factory resets, turning things off like QoS. Nothing seem to fix the problem. The problem was intermitten and some time it would be weeks until it happen again and other times it would be days or hours. I started to think it could be a specific website i was accessing causing the lock up, or too much traffic at one time. At one point I thought the router was being hacked, I notice that the router was being ping and someone was attempting a FTP connection.

Even though no device whether wireless or hardwired could reach the a website, my IP phones in the house, I had two difference services, personal and work those both kept working. I thought this was strange, no HTTP traffic but VoIP work fine. Then I also notice if I had streaming service going like Music or Netflix on Apple TV, those too would continue working. Even though I could not even connect and log into the router using its IP address from my computer. Since the WNR3500 was old there was very little help and Netgear was not help unless you want to pay them. I thought about going to an open source but I like using the Netgear Genie to manage the router.

Well the problem got so bad earlier this year I decide it must be a hardware issue and replaced the WNR3500 with a Nighthawk R7000. 

Well everything was good for a month or so and the same problems showed up, devices dropped internect connects or could not connect to the WiFi. But I also notice the same thing was happening with the R7000 as was happening on WNR3500, certain connections kept working while HTTP type connections were locked up.

I know some people think it is a hardware issue, however, since I had two different models using two different chips, with similar if not the same issues, I beleive this is purely a firmware issue. Also reading the fact that one version of the R7000 firmware seems to work and it was release after this that started most of the issues and looking at the dates of those releases, they seem to be around the same time the firmware update on the WNR3500 starting having the issues. This leads me to believe whatever updates they were doing to fix security issue, broke the software. The only updates on the WNR3500 were for sercuity holes they were not adding any features at that time. I believe whatever they are doing to fix the security issue in the firmware release in the last couple of years is causing these issues.

Just my two cents, and my personal observation.

My R7000 router is just 15 months in use and currently fails to recognize the 5Ghz network that it is suppose to support.  After spending a considerable time with Netgear support, I was told that it is not a hardware failure, but a software failure, and the way to deal with this is senior tech support.  As I am beyond the puny 90-day support, the only choice is a ONE YEAR support for $139 or TWO YEARS at over $200, and then a claim that their support would be better than AppleCare for my Macs. HA!  You have a lot to learn from Apple, Netgear.  After I balked, I was told that the agent could send a link directing me to the firmware update.  (I have yet to receive it.)  Why this wasn't offered in the first place is clear to me:  support is a revenue generator.  I really did not appreciate 1) not receiving an alert about an available update, even though I am a registered user, and 2) the deceptiveness of the support offer for something that I could likely do myself, was caused by the company's update, and their subsequent failure to notify me.

If I can find an answer here, it will be a temporary fix.  I will avoid this brand, no longer recommend it, and replace my router and modem.  I do not like feeling like I am being conned.

I purchased Netgear's Nighthawl R7000 just in May 2020. This device started dropping internet few Months after purchase, right after the 90 days support is over. The phone app is telling me the firmware is up to date but online their website is showing a different firmware. I called the tech support who is asking me to buy technical support without telling me what’s wrong with the devise. This is fairly new device. Not 5 years old or no longer supported. In fact, they are still selling the same device people and others are having the same issue after their 90 days. If it was a defect on this particular device then why others are having the same issue? And, why one have to pay to fix it if it’s a defect? It’s obvious it was set up this way.   

Other customers said ‘’the technical support from Netgear is pathetic, unprofessional and fraud. Their team has only one motive: to sell extended warranty (beyond 90 days) and dupe customers. They purposefully create issues and when customers call for help, they force them to buy 3m/6m/1year support at extra cost and fix the issue. This is their game plan and any amount of escalations makes no difference. Sincere advice: avoid buying their products and tech support.’’ This is true and honest statement. I myself regret buying from Netgear and would not recommend anyone falling in the same trap. Call them and check reviews to confirm it yourself.