How is it possible? I was so excited to use this solution. Went to Costco with a smile on my face. Felt good about buying it and carrying it out of the store. Told a bunch of friends and family about it once I had it set up. Had solid coverage over 6200 sq ft with ethernet backhaul. Showed people who came over to the house. It's over. The latest firmware update caused yet another issue and left me and my wife without Internet access in an inopportune time. We both work from home. Our needs are simple - reliable wifi coverage throughout the house with about ten devices (phones, tablets, TV's, video games) at our peak. I had a better experience with a $40 Linksys router. Luckily I purchased this at Costco and their very liberal return policy will allow me to forget about this. Picked up Velop yesterday. Working fine.

Strange responses! This forum is FULL of people having issues each and every time a firmware update is released. I spent more time researching issues over the past three months using Orbi than I have ever spent on any issues with any product I've ever owned. By far! And all I had connected to this stupid thing is some phones, tablets, a couple TV's and an Xbox One. I think it's great that many users aren't experiencing any issues. Some people buy unreliable vehicles and don't have issues either - that doesn't make the product great. I refuse to spend a few hours every month on my Wifi connectivity. As I stated in my original post, I had less issues with a $40 Linksys router located in the basement of my 6200 square foot home than I did with Orbi. That's an issue for me, and it's obviously an issue for hundreds if not thousands of other people. Time to own that fact, Netgear.

No, no luck involved, as far as I can tell. I have installed three different Orbi setups, one RBK53 and two RBK40 and none of them shows any of the issues, which are widely discussed on this forum. All of them are in very different environments, one with wired backhaul and two with wireless backhaul. Admittedly, all of the Orbis are running in AP mode, since all networks are DSL-based and connect via their resp DSL routers - all of them being FritzBoxes, to the internet. My RBR40 has only rebootet, when I had it installing a new fw.

Case850 Do you think that the majority of Orbi users are on this forum? Me neither.

Having an NG 8500 doesn't mean your a network expert either. If your not going to help contribute than why not move along. Im sure people are here to get help and others are here to help out. Stop being a troll, either help or move out!!!. Your posts show your age and immaturity.

How do I appear to have "the numbers"? Unless there's a to count the number of people dissatisfied with the product and you compare that to the number of products sold (which Netgear would have to provide), "the numbers" would be difficult to guess. What I can plainly see is the dozens of complaint threads on Netgear's own forum site, including a thread that includes hundreds of posts asking for a refund. There are hundreds of posts on here discussing users spending hours and hours and hours on the phone with Netgear support with no solution. There are hundreds of posts each and every time a firmware update releases from users who are left without Internet. There are hundreds of posts discussing having to power cycle the system entirely too often just to maintain the network. There are hundreds of posts from users who seem much more network-savvy than I am, talking about giving up on the product and moving to a competitor. Why are there so many users on here defending the product? "Works fine for me", "No issues here", and "Must be your setup" are not solutions to a product that is inherently unreliable. And it's funny how so many users have to use their satellites in AP mode. I don't need a $550 router with two access points.

How is this product so bad? | NETGEAR Communities

27 Replies

aaz
Virtuoso
May 06, 2018
I don't get it as I bought from costco and have run it for almost a year now without any major issues. I've been on just about all the code updates just because I like to experiment. This is on the latest code now - System Up Time 08:22:21:28

No issues. I keep saying to people find out what is it in your environment that could be causing drops, I don't have any here, wish I could help but I don't think I could unless someone is willing to fly me over to look at it. I do agree this product is backed up by some of the worst support that I have seen in the tech business in my life - and I've seen some bad ones.
- Jeremyinsf
  Apprentice
  May 06, 2018
  aaz wrote:
  
  I don't get it as I bought from costco and have run it for almost a year now without any major issues. I've been on just about all the code updates just because I like to experiment. This is on the latest code now - System Up Time 08:22:21:28
  
  No issues. I keep saying to people find out what is it in your environment that could be causing drops, I don't have any here, wish I could help but I don't think I could unless someone is willing to fly me over to look at it. I do agree this product is backed up by some of the worst support that I have seen in the tech business in my life - and I've seen some bad ones.
  
  Just curious - can you post your list of devices?
MicahD
Star
May 04, 2018
Same experience. Orbi was great... for about two months. Now it's a constant headache.

'Can't find printer' errors abound

Wifes cell phone constantly "Can't connect to internet"

Webpage constantly "Resolving host" errors for minutes on end

Netflix regularly loses connection on most devices.

I agree, if you have had "no problems at all" count yourself lucky. I wasted $350 on this system and am regretting it deeply.
BoilerPlate
Apprentice
May 02, 2018
Having an NG 8500 doesn't mean your a network expert either. If your not going to help contribute than why not move along. Im sure people are here to get help and others are here to help out. Stop being a troll, either help or move out!!!. Your posts show your age and immaturity.
- Slun80
  Star
  May 02, 2018
  Strange responses!
  
  This forum is FULL of people having issues each and every time a firmware update is released. I spent more time researching issues over the past three months using Orbi than I have ever spent on any issues with any product I've ever owned. By far! And all I had connected to this stupid thing is some phones, tablets, a couple TV's and an Xbox One.
  
  I think it's great that many users aren't experiencing any issues. Some people buy unreliable vehicles and don't have issues either - that doesn't make the product great.
  
  I refuse to spend a few hours every month on my Wifi connectivity. As I stated in my original post, I had less issues with a $40 Linksys router located in the basement of my 6200 square foot home than I did with Orbi. That's an issue for me, and it's obviously an issue for hundreds if not thousands of other people. Time to own that fact, Netgear.
  - Farscape
    Guide
    May 03, 2018
    I've spent too much time with troubleshooting, performing factory resets, unchecking "features", with both the Orbi and Orbi Pro (2 satellites each).
    
    The Orbi Pro was working fine for a little over a month in AP mode before satellite wireless issues started happening as was happening with the regular Orbi when it was installed.
    
    My issue with both is that the wireless from the satellites would basically stop working once a day or once every 2 days. Turning the satellites off and then on again to restart would restore the wireless connection. Funny thing is that anything plugged in to the satellite jacks were still working while wireless would not. The main Orbi and Orbi Pro units did not have an issue.
    
    The family couldn't it anymore so I reinstalled a Google Wifi 3-puck system that while not matching the "speed" of the Orbi/Orbi Pro by the satellites, doesn't have any wireless issues, plus the app management is so much more useful than the Orbi app.
    
    Peace in the household again, though now I'm thinking about installing a Ubiquiti Unifi setup since I'm having Cat6 run through parts of the house.
FURRYe38
Guru
May 01, 2018
3 months in and no problems with my Orbi system. Lots of gaming and video streaming. Zero issues.
tsig
Luminary
Apr 30, 2018
that's the thing. For some of us (and probably most users) it works just fine. I have had no issues thru two firmware updates.
- larryindublin
  Luminary
  May 01, 2018
  Must be frustrating but I'm also now 6 days running on latest firmware and other than power outages, would have been up 30+ days on previous. 30 devices, mix of apple Android TV's home automation... Curb to backyard coverage. Solid as a rock. Never been happier with Orbi. RBK53 Costco kit. Default settings except for opendns and agressive roaming. Have never done a full reset since day 1.
- Slun80
  Star
  Apr 30, 2018
  Lucky!
  - budy
    Luminary
    Apr 30, 2018
    No, no luck involved, as far as I can tell. I have installed three different Orbi setups, one RBK53 and two RBK40 and none of them shows any of the issues, which are widely discussed on this forum. All of them are in very different environments, one with wired backhaul and two with wireless backhaul. Admittedly, all of the Orbis are running in AP mode, since all networks are DSL-based and connect via their resp DSL routers - all of them being FritzBoxes, to the internet. My RBR40 has only rebootet, when I had it installing a new fw.

Forum Discussion

How is this product so bad?