Bought an Netgear Orbi, just returned it for Eero system

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NIZMOZ

2[H]4U
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I bought the Orbi combo back in October of 2016. I am glad Best Buy accepted my return today of the unit. I am totally done with this as all it ever did was disconnect my devices and reconnect them all the time. It was NEVER stable. Coverage was great for just two devices. Speeds performed well! I have been working with Netgear Support and the Community page at Netgear, and the firmware is full of bugs. From dropping connections to devices, to loosing port settings, to losing your internet, this had all of that. Mostly Nest, Android and iOS devices dropping. Netgear is fully aware of the issues with these units and has been trying to come out with a fix, (they been saying this for 3 months), but still have not fixed it. I have given up on them, and returned the units and picked up the Eero system since the price dropped to match the Orbi now. Eero is easier to setup, and has been stable! No issues with drops. Speeds are great and you get three units (which are smaller), to help with the coverage. The units aren't as strong but since they give you three, it fixes any coverage issues you may have.

Just be warned if you all are considering this unit.
 
Can you explain why I should spend $400 on something like this as opposed to something like Unifi?
 
I've never used Unifi, but I also didn't want to do any hard wiring in my house. So I wanted to get a mesh system that doesn't require that to get wifi all around my house. Can't help you much since I never used that system.
 
NIZMOZ said:
I bought the Orbi combo back in October of 2016. I am glad Best Buy accepted my return today of the unit. I am totally done with this as all it ever did was disconnect my devices and reconnect them all the time. It was NEVER stable. Coverage was great for just two devices. Speeds performed well! I have been working with Netgear Support and the Community page at Netgear, and the firmware is full of bugs. From dropping connections to devices, to loosing port settings, to losing your internet, this had all of that. Mostly Nest, Android and iOS devices dropping. Netgear is fully aware of the issues with these units and has been trying to come out with a fix, (they been saying this for 3 months), but still have not fixed it. I have given up on them, and returned the units and picked up the Eero system since the price dropped to match the Orbi now. Eero is easier to setup, and has been stable! No issues with drops. Speeds are great and you get three units (which are smaller), to help with the coverage. The units aren't as strong but since they give you three, it fixes any coverage issues you may have.

Just be warned if you all are considering this unit.
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I've had zero problems from the get go with an average of 15 devices connected at any given time so I would just say that not everyone's experience is like yours. It's also still the most highly rated BHR on small net builder

Cmustang87 said:
Can you explain why I should spend $400 on something like this as opposed to something like Unifi?
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Orbi is for people who don't have dedicated ethernet running around the house or don't want to invest the money. The dedicated third band that strictly handles backhaul between the Satellite and Router is really really effective.
 
ppilot said:
I've had zero problems from the get go with an average of 15 devices connected at any given time so I would just say that not everyone's experience is like yours. It's also still the most highly rated BHR on small net builder

Orbi is for people who don't have dedicated ethernet running around the house or don't want to invest the money. The dedicated third band that strictly handles backhaul between the Satellite and Router is really really effective.
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Actually, everyone's experience is having this issue. Just some people notice it and some don't. Netgear is completely aware of the issue and working with DEV to fix it. If you read the community forums, Netgear has said many times to many people they are working on it, and many many people have the issues. https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WiFi-System/ct-p/home-orbi

Also, BHR doesn't keep them long enough to see the issues. They test, and send it on. When I had it, it did do great speeds, but the reliability of the wifi sucked.
 
Orbi has been great for me and I have Nest, Android and iOS devices attached. They never drop. I don't doubt people are having these issues, but I haven't had them myself.
 
NIZMOZ said:
Actually, everyone's experience is having this issue. Just some people notice it and some don't. Netgear is completely aware of the issue and working with DEV to fix it. If you read the community forums, Netgear has said many times to many people they are working on it, and many many people have the issues. https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WiFi-System/ct-p/home-orbi

Also, BHR doesn't keep them long enough to see the issues. They test, and send it on. When I had it, it did do great speeds, but the reliability of the wifi sucked.
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I checked out the 105 post thread on the forum and it was basically three posters complaining the entire time. I have no doubts there are user having problems, but I think overall people seem pretty satisfied.
 
ppilot said:
I checked out the 105 post thread on the forum and it was basically three posters complaining the entire time. I have no doubts there are user having problems, but I think overall people seem pretty satisfied.
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3 people? Laugh. Sorry, much much more than that.
 
DooKey said:
Orbi has been great for me and I have Nest, Android and iOS devices attached. They never drop. I don't doubt people are having these issues, but I haven't had them myself.
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Like I said, only if you notice it. You are dropping because everyone has the same firmware with the issues.
 
NIZMOZ said:
Like I said, only if you notice it. You are dropping because everyone has the same firmware with the issues.
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It's obviously not a problem for me at this point is all I can say.
 
NIZMOZ said:
3 people? Laugh. Sorry, much much more than that.
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That's cool man. Whatever fits the narrative you have in your head

DooKey said:
It's obviously not a problem for me at this point is all I can say.
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It's not a problem for the vast majority of people based on the feedback I've seen around the web. Again, there are absolutely people having problems but to try and portray them as the norm as opposed to the exception seems to be a little bit of a stretch.
 
Sorry, I only go with facts. And the fact is everyone has the issue. I didn't notice it at first either. People left and right in the community are taking them back on that site. Read all the posts. Also netgear support has acknowledged that the orbi has issues with this and it's with the firmware which means all of them have it.

Glad you don't see it. Maybe you don't have devices that support the newer technology the orbi uses.

Also most people who post reviews post it shortly after they install it. I'm sure if you asked them after months of owning it they would not say the same thing.


ppilot said:
That's cool man. Whatever fits the narrative you have in your head



It's not a problem for the vast majority of people based on the feedback I've seen around the web. Again, there are absolutely people having problems but to try and portray them as the norm as opposed to the exception seems to be a little bit of a stretch.
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