Orbi Firmware Update 2.5.0.40

When either the Web UI or the Smartphone App pops-up an alert when you login to the router that a firmware update is available, it should only be for updates that fix bugs and/or add features.  Consumers should not be beta-testers for firmware updates unless they elect to do so,  The firmware releases are V2.X, not B2.X to indicate that it is a BETA release.

I bought my Orbi RBK53 from Costco in March.  The initial firmware on it was very broken, sorry I do not remember the shipped version number, but I was immediately prompted to upgrade to V2.2.1.212 and then V2.3.0.32 to get the router stable.  My first support tickets with NG was in May for the major DNS resolver issues seen with the V2.3.1.X releases (the local network unable to resolve hostnames for my local systems, including PCs, NAS, etc.), which was finally corrected in the V2.3.5.30 firmware release two months later.  The device naming was broken with the V2.3.5.30 release until I did a factory reset and reprogrammed the router, so apparently some database references in the firmware were causing issues with device naming until the system was factory reset.  Factory resets between minor revisions of firmware should not be required.  If a factory reset is required for a firmware update, then it should be a major version number change (i.e. V3.X).

Now in late October, login to my Orbi shows that another firmware update to V2.5.0.38 was recommended.  I performed the upgrade and found that my device names, types and descriptions were completely messed up. So I opened another ticket with NG support.  They suggested another factory reset, which I tried and it did not fix the issue.  They suggested rollback to V2.3.5.30, which I did, but the system automatically upgraded itself again to V2.5.0.38.  So this was apparently before NG removed V2.5.0.X from their autoupdate process.  I also tried the V2.5.0.40 hotfix and device names are still broken.  My ticket is still open with NG.  Yes I could do another factory reset and roll back to V2.3.5.30 to fix the device naming issue, but this will take hours to complete.  NG should instead be releasing yet another firmware update to fix the device naming issue, as it does not appear that their regression testing (if they did any regression testing of V2.5.X) did not catch the issue with the device naming.

I joined this forum community and found that I am not the only one experiencing issues with the firmware.  This community seems to be more helpful than NG support does since they are more responsive to share their experience and suggestions/tips on how to resolve issues.  Not all users will see every issue, as they may only need the router for internet access.  The DNS resolver issues I experienced was for the intranet, not internet.  Users that do not have a complex intranet would not have seen these issues if they did not have any processes or applications reliant on local hostnames resolving on their local network.

I also saw where a user reported performance issues with the V2.5.0.38 release for his MacOS systems.  I do not have any Apple products, so I cannot duplicate his benchmarks.  Are there similar benchmark tools for Windows, Linux or Android systems that can likewise test WiFi performance that users here can recommend?