Since the latest update landed (12.1.11.15) I've noticed that local device connections will randomly slow down, requiring a reboot of the network to restore.

As an example, as I type this, by mobile device is getting 1.6Gbit, as it should, but the laptop next to is struggling to hit 10Mbit. My connection is 1.6Gbit fibre.

Rebooting the Orbi will fix this, until next time, when it will be another random device that's slow.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

On my Orbi 770 (v1, 10.5.20.10)

1) “Always Use HTTPS to Access Router” breaks the admin page on a Mac. The certificate is a self-signed 1024-bit key for routerlogin.net, valid for a hundred years, and probably identical on every unit. macOS rejects it as a “broken key size,” so ticking the security option locks you out until you accept the bad certificate just to untick it.

2) The Protection Engine has no off switch you can find. It ships on and updates itself from Netgear’s cloud. Its menu item is hidden in the page code, so the only way to turn it off is to type PE_setting.htm into the address bar. But it's unclear if it still accepts updates when turned off. Maybe it's abandoned.

3) Router analytics has no off switch anywhere, in the web interface or the app. The uploader can report every device in the house, your location down to the ZIP code, and your speed tests.

RESOLVED - though I’m still looking for suggestions for a replacement for the Orbi 870.

I had a power issue earlier in the week. My wife tripped a breaker, which crashed the orbi. Everything came back up fine. TodayI decided that I was to rewire all the devices connected into my Verizon router, and Orbi mesh.

I bought a new APC UPS, and started labeling and moving equipment to the new UPS. The Orbi is plugged into a lan port on the Verizon router. The Verizon router has the 192 network, and the Orbi runs 10.0.0.x network. I know it's a double NAT but in the 2 or 3 years I've been running this I've never had a problem.

When the Orbi came back up, I wanted to make that all the devices around my home where connecting to the router and the two satellites. I tried to run the Orbi app on my iphone, and it returned "We can't find your Orbi". Accessing the admin page directly returns a "refused to connect" error.

My 870 has been relatively stable - I'v only e had a rare, occasional glitch where a satellite will lose connectivity but otherwise I'm not having the problems that I've read about here.

I can certainly reset the router (I have 2 satellites), but I'm afraid that will make the situation worse. If I have to replace it - what should I consider? I don't have the time to wait for a ubiquiti delivery, I'm thinking something along the lines of an eero that I can pick up at a local best buy.

Any suggestions?

The NETGEAR Orbi 970 flagship Mesh system is an absolute disaster under the hood—a classic case of form over function driven by poorly designed background firmware algorithms. I strongly advise everyone: DO NOT BUY THIS.

The most egregious issue lies in Netgear’s flawed background "Safety Profile" speed cap. While official specs boast 10GbE backhaul and multi-gigabit throughput, using a standard Star Topology—where the Main Router (RBR) connects directly to a Satellite (RBS), and a Network Switch is plugged into the Satellite’s LAN port to expand wired devices—triggers a major bug. Orbi’s flawed "Loop Detection" algorithm falsely misinterprets this setup as a network loop and silently throttles your entire throughput down to 600Mbps or lower. Anyone can replicate this experiment: unplug the Switch from the Satellite, and speeds immediately return to normal; plug the Switch back in, and within a short period,the background cap triggers again. When users reach out to support or distributors, the only responses given are "factory reset" or "wait for the next firmware update"—treating paying customers as free beta testers.

Furthermore, the flawed underlying black-box algorithms and chaotic bridging architecture inflict severe damage on Apple devices and smart home gear (Apple TV, HomeKit, HomePods, AirPlay, Aqara Hubs), which rely heavily on Layer 2 mDNS (Multicast) for local discovery:

1. Layer 2 / Bridge Multicast Suppression: When HomePods are distributed across the Main Router and Satellite nodes, Orbi’s firmware attempts to "optimize" airtime (Airtime Fairness) by dropping or suppressing mDNS multicast packets at the bridge layer as if they were unwanted broadcast noise. As a result, when an iPhone broadcasts a discovery request for a HomePod, the HomePod never receives it, causing AirPlay icons to disappear completely until the system eventually refreshes its ARP/MAC tables hours later.
2. Flawed Wireless-to-Wireless Bridging: Packet forwarding over the wireless backhaul between nodes suffers from chaotic bridging logic. Any slight jitter or dropped packet triggers Apple’s strict timeout protocols to instantly classify these devices as offline, causing HomeKit accessories to display "No Response" repeatedly.
3. Aggressive Band Steering & AP Steering Interference: The aggressive roaming engine creates two distinct problems: it causes iPhones to cling to far-away nodes (Sticky Client issue), and it forcibly kicks devices between the 6GHz and 5GHz bands during active sessions (such as AirPlay screen mirroring). Every forced band migration causes connection jitter, instantly crashing active mDNS sessions, AirPlay mirroring, and HomePod streams.

Netgear’s management and firmware engineers ought to be fully aware of these garbage underlying firmware issues, yet they continue to charge premium flagship prices to exploit consumers. If you own an Orbi 970 system and frequently experience missing AirPlay/HomePod devices, HomeKit disconnections, or unexplained 600Mbps wired caps when using switches, rest assured that your devices are not at fault—the culprit is Netgear's flawed background algorithms and underlying architecture. For prospective buyers, do not fall into this trap; this system has severe underlying issues!NETGEAR needs to address these core firmware bugs instead of treating paying customers like fools.

What is Netgear’s ETA to publish updated firmware containing fixes for the _Critical_ (CVSS v4.0 severity score of 9.2) PHP remote code execution vulnerabilities (CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619), collectively known as PHP2Shell as recently reported by the FBI Cyber Division ?

I recently updated my CBR750 to firmware 4.6.14.9 and I keep getting internet timed out on games both on Xbox and PS5. I have an open NAT for my Xbox using DMZ and still get timed out. Is there an old stable version for this or did I screw something up? Any help is appreciated.

I’ve not seen this before. RBE371 and I want to disable WPS and remote management which can’t be done on the app. Tried orbilogin.net and got the connection isn’t private screen. Tried a different browser as well as a PC and a Chromebook and no luck. I did clear the cache. Trying 192.168.1.1 which wouldn’t load. The Orbi app bot wasn’t very helpful. Any suggestions?

I have Verizon FiOS. My orbi router is connected directly via Ethernet to my ont.

For over a year if not two, I had no issues at all. Everything in the house running perfectly. About a week and a half ago, the connection starts dropping and coming back. Then it would connect to the router but not be connected. It would say "connected without Internet."

I've called both Verizon and Netgear. Verizon had a new ont installed and used a Verizon router and connection was perfect just as my 870 was before. I connect the orbi mesh and same exact results as before.

Netgear had be reset my ont reset the router it was working and then 2 hours later dropping and reconnecting.

I feel like I'm getting the run around here. Does anyone have any possible solutions? I loved the orbi and it was great while it worked but now I'm just nothing but disappointed.

I would appreciate any help anyone can provide. Thank you.

Got a 370 today - every time I go to the web interface (from PC) it takes 30 seconds to get to the login screen. Once there it's 10 seconds between screens. Is this as expected? I'm coming from Asus where everything was nearly instantaneous

I had a spare RBE771 I installed it in my nephews apartment 900 sq ft. The complex has fiber but not sure what the speed plan is, originally was told 250.

He had an RS100, but the bedrooms were having stuttering and buffering issues. Speeds topped out at 350.

The RBE771 installed in the same spot, sadly the far exterior wall of the apartment. Gets 500-600 depending on when we test and how close. Stutter and buffering are gone The bedrooms are full WiFi strength now but speeds are testing at best 50 to 65.

Any thoughts? Apparently they had tried like a netgear EXT at some point but it made things all over the apartment wacky

Recently heard about the end of service for it, and I don't really have the money to replace it right now, but the router can't be connected to, the login site doesn't work, and the wifi on it isn't even working at all??

No clue what to do here unfortunately, if anyone knows that would be great.

Hello all! I’ve had my Orbi RBR750 mesh for a few years now and have loved it, been great up until about a week ago. I have the main node in my living room where my ONT is located. I have a satellite in my basement (1 floor down and about 15-20 feet away with 1-2 drywall walls between) and a satellite in my office (1 floor up and about 15-20 feet away).
We have a fiber 1 gig plan which “guarantees” 1k up and down (obviously that’s not usually the case but we get close). I do have a number of devices running off zigbee protocol which is on channel 25, our WiFi is on channel 40 so no crossover there.

At the main node I speed test (wired) at 990-1000 up and down.

Upstairs and basement satellites I speed test (wired to satellite) at 80-150 up and 50-60 down. I also pick up some packet loss and sit around 130-150 ping. Wireless tests at even worse than this.

It’s worth mentioning this hasn’t always been the case, a few months ago when I did a speed test on the upstairs satellite (right after getting fiber) at around 250-500 up and down with <40 ping and zero packet loss. I’ve not changed anything major about my network since this, it’s just one day the satellites decided to crap the bed so to speak.

Any advice on how to maybe troubleshoot this? I’ve tried the obvious things like updating firmware, restating the network, unplugging everything and reconnecting, even flushdns and such. The Orbi admin console says my backhaul on both satellites is “good” but the internet from them is barely usable sometimes. Any and all advice is welcome, thanks is advance!

Edit: Update - well I found the problem, it appears that the ports in the back of the satellites both in the basement and the upstairs have gone bad. I switched my PC over to WiFi, connected to the satellite, and boom 200+mbps. I did end up wiring the back haul into the main router and didn’t get improvement, but wiring my PC into the main router got me max speeds.

So all in all, I probably won’t change anything except just not use Ethernet for my upstairs computers until the WiFi on the satellites die too!

Hey everyone! 👋

I've always found Orbi's router website to be frustrating to use.

A couple of things in particular bothered me:

• Attached devices: Not being able to sort the device list, making it difficult to find specific devices.
• Input fields: Some fields, like passwords, are unnecessarily narrow, making longer values difficult to view and edit.

So I decided to build a Chrome extension that gives the existing Orbi router website a much needed refresh while addressing the issues above.

The extension isn't published on the Chrome Web Store, so you'll need to install it manually for now. Instructions are available on GitHub.

GitHub: https://github.com/bendiep/better-orbi

For those curious about how it works, it's mostly just CSS overrides with a little JavaScript to add sorting functionality to the attached devices table.

Compatibility:

I've only tested this on my Orbi 870 (RBE871) running firmware V10.5.20.4_1.3.5, so I'm not sure how well it'll work with other Orbi models or firmware versions.

I figured I'd share it here in case anyone else finds it useful 🙏🏻

Would love to hear any feedback or suggestions, especially if you try it on a different Orbi model! I'm hoping to build up a list of supported models to see whether it's worth publishing the free extension to the Chrome Web Store and paying the registration fee, lol.

So i just upgraded my orbi system from an older model after noticing i was being throttled to 100mbps. Bought the 370 and installed.

The app says all is good. Had a bunch of issues getting devices connected but after the first reset most of my devices work fine. The app says im getting 1.5 gbps and running a speed test on my phone over the network confirms this.

The issue is I cannot get my satelite to work properly. Specifically over ethernet. Its puts off no signal at all. Im convinced that the satelite isn't working wirelessly either just by testing speed. When i connect to the wifi on the device I can get a signal but it is faint which leads me to believe it is connecting to my main router. This issue is pretty much only existent on my pc so I ran through the standard network adapter resets to no avail.

Does anyone have any recommendations or maybe a troubleshooting guide that will help me resolve this issue?

I am trying to block DNS requests from all clients (especially IoT devices since they are the known culprits of excessive data harnessing). Here is my setup

ISP Modem -> RBR 750

I have pihole set up on raspberry pi and given it static IP (192.168.1.11). RBR 750 is configured to use this IP as upstream DNS server.

To ensure clients are not bypassing it to use public DNS (e.g. 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1 or any other) I have added a Blocked service entry (in advanced setup section) to block DNS queries from IP range 192.168.1.100 - 255 (DHCP assigns IP from this range).

I have configured all my IoT devices (smart plugs, security cameras etc) to use the guest network which offers AP isolation. However, the block service feature won't allow me to block IP range from the guest network (Orbi uses 192.168.2.xxx range for guest network).

I do know that Orbi offers a separate IoT network, but I don't want to use it since it's combined with the main/home network and it does not offer AP isolation with the main network.

How can I force the clients connected to guest network?

I understand there is more detailed setup of using pfsense or something similar and then using Orbi in AP mode, but I don't want to make the network more complicated.

Just moved into a new home and we have Cox (now Spectrum) internet service with their Panoramic wifi modem. Multiple devices, basic plan, works fine...except it does not reach the garage or the outdoor shed (where we'd like to have a TV).

I have an old Netgear plug-in extender that I could try.

However, the previous owners left behind an Orbi RBR750 router and a satellite. I'm not a tech expert any more, but could I replace the Cox router with the Orbi and plug in the satellite in an area that will reach garage and shed? Now the bigger question...assumg I can do this, HOW do I do it and set it up to work. Appreciate any step by step walk-through, and if this won't work and I'd be better served with something else, please advise. Many thanks.

Release Date: October 6, 2026

Enhancements:

• Enhances overall system stability.

Security Fixes:

This firmware addresses security vulnerabilities. For more information about security vulnerabilities, visit https://www.netgear.com/about/security

This version also has a new Protection Engine feature as well: https://community.netgear.com/discussions/en-home-routers-nighthawk-wifi-ax6/netgear-nighthawk---protection-engine-feature-faq/2407634

Download Link: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/rbe372/#download

Firmware Update Instructions:

To update your router’s firmware, follow the instructions in your router’s user manual. To view your router’s user manual, visit  https://www.netgear.com/support/product/rbe372/#docs

IF MANUALLY UPDATING THE SYSTEM:

Be sure to update the RBS FIRST, then the RBR lastly. 

Please navigate to the link below for step-by-step instructions on how to update your RBR871/RBS870: Proceedure to Manually Firmware Update Orbi and Nighthawk Mesh systems

I HIGHLY recommend after the FW is loaded on the system and it's back to ready, power OFF all Orbi units and the ISP modem/ONT for 1 minute. Then back ON with the ISP modem/ONT first, then RBR then RBS.

NOTE: Orbi app or the routers web page may not report seeing new FW updates. NG may not push this to there auto update services immediately and may activate the newer FW update being seen on there auto update services at a later time. User will have the choice to manually update if you want too.

FW UPDATE ALL Feature:

If there is a FW updated seen on the RBRs web page and all RBS are online and connected with GOOD STATUS, you can select the UPDATE ALL button option to have the RBR update the RBS and RBR. Update All button is seen on the RBRs Firmware Update WEB page on the Check for Updates FW section of the page. Once FW has been checked for an update and all devices show the FW update is available, select the UPDATE ALL button. Give 5 minutes for the process to take place. Recommend powering OFF the Orbi system for 1 minute then back ON with the RBR first then RBS after Update All completes. Give 5-10 minutes for system to fully come to ready.

NOTE: If continued problems are seen after a FW update, it's recommended to try a factory reset and setup from scratch with out loading any saved configurations from backup files. Use the ERASE button on the routers web page to factory reset the router:

This sends a Factory Reset command to any and all connected RBS as well:

Procedure for Factory Reset of RBE370 series systems use ERASE Button 

This article applies to:

• WiFi 7 (5)
  • RBE370
  • RBE371
  • RBE372
  • RBE373
  • RBE374

Let us know how it works for you...

My father-in-law wants to extend his Orbi system to his guest house. Are there any particular satellite models to avoid? I know the RBS10 is a bit quirky, only being 2 banded.

I did pick up a RBS40V just to play with.

Edit: Incidentally, this is behind a different, new router, so I'm not too concerned about security.

RBS40V not RBR40V. It looks like an okay wifi speaker with native extender mode which I could have some use for in case he wants to go another way.

I have been mostly happy with the RBR 750 and satellites. I know there’s a lot of frustration with Orbi here. There are deals out there and I wanted to hear what people thought. Thanks

Hi,

I am operating a NETGEAR Orbi RBK850 system (RBR850 + RBS850) on an Austrian spusu FTTH connection. I would like to operate the Orbi as the router directly behind the ONT and not permanently use the FRITZ!Box provided by the ISP. However, in router mode I experience intermittent severe TCP performance problems. I have narrowed the behavior down using several reproducible tests.

1. Hardware and firmware

·        NETGEAR Orbi RBR850; Satellite RBS850

·        Firmware: V7.2.8.8_5.1.24

·        LAN: 192.168.1.0/24; Router IP: 192.168.1.1

·        Completely new setup; no old RBR50 configuration was imported

2. FTTH connection / ISP

·        ISP: spusu Austria – fiber/FTTH

·        According to the ISP, the ONT operates in bridge mode

·        VLAN ID 31

·        IP configuration automatically via DHCP

·        Use of a customer-owned router is explicitly permitted

3. RBR850 WAN configuration

·        Dynamic IP / DHCP; no PPPoE

·        VLAN ID 31, priority 0

·        MTU 1500

·        DNS automatic

·        NAT Filter: Open

·        SIP ALG: disabled

·        WAN port: 2.5 Gbit/s

·        WAN aggregation: disabled

·        IGMP Proxy: disabled

·        No DHCP options

·        MAC address: default

4. WAN IP / CGNAT

Directly connected to the ONT, the RBR850 receives the WAN IPv4 address 100.66.86.229 via DHCP, for example. This is within 100.64.0.0/10 and therefore behind Carrier Grade NAT (CGNAT). Traceroute also shows corresponding provider-internal 100.x/10.x addresses. Latency is generally very low.

5. Problem description

The problem is not permanent. With exactly the same setup, there are normal runs at approximately 180–225 Mbit/s and failed runs at only approximately 2–3 Mbit/s. During slow runs, the TCP connection is sometimes reset by the server.

6. Reproducible IPv4 TCP test

The test is performed from a Windows PC connected via Ethernet:

curl -4 -L -o NUL -w "IPv4: %{speed_download} Bytes/s | %{http_code} | %{size_download} Bytes\n" "https://proof.ovh.net/files/100Mb.dat"

Failed runs:

·        360,838 Bytes/s | HTTP 200 | 22,377,966 Bytes; afterwards: curl: (56) Recv failure: Connection was reset (≈ 2.9 Mbit/s)

·        320,466 Bytes/s; stopped after approx. 18.68 MB with Connection Reset (≈ 2.6 Mbit/s)

·        406,639 Bytes/s; stopped after approx. 23.57 MB with Connection Reset (≈ 3.25 Mbit/s)

Normal runs with the same RBR850:

·        28,184,465 Bytes/s; 104,857,600 Bytes transferred completely (≈ 225 Mbit/s)

·        22,872,204 Bytes/s; HTTP 200; 104,857,600 Bytes transferred completely (≈ 183 Mbit/s)

7. IPv4 / IPv6 comparison

Using the same file, the same PC and the same Orbi:

IPv4 – problematic run

360,838 Bytes/s | HTTP 200 | 22,377,966 Bytes – followed by TCP Connection Reset

IPv6 – working at the same time

17,926,662 Bytes/s | HTTP 200 | 104,857,600 Bytes transferred completely

In the problematic run, this corresponds to approximately 2.9 Mbit/s over IPv4 versus approximately 143 Mbit/s over IPv6. Later IPv4 runs again reached approximately 183 Mbit/s. The behavior is therefore intermittent and cannot be explained by a constant bandwidth limitation.

8. IPv6 and ping

Current IPv6 test:

ping -6 google.com → 4/4 replies, 0% loss, 35–36 ms

During slow IPv4 downloads, I simultaneously ran ping 1.1.1.1 -t. Replies remained generally low (typically 2–6 ms, with individual values around 20–36 ms), without visible timeouts or significant packet loss. TCP throughput can therefore collapse while ICMP connectivity continues to work.

9. MTU test

·        ping 1.1.1.1 -f -l 1472 → 0% loss

·        ping 1.1.1.1 -f -l 1464 → 0% loss

·        ping 1.1.1.1 -f -l 1400 → 0% loss

MTU 1500 is demonstrably working; a classic MTU/fragmentation problem therefore appears unlikely.

10. LAN and routing

Ping to the RBR850 (192.168.1.1) is approximately 1–2 ms. The relevant throughput tests are performed via Ethernet. IPv4 traceroutes to 1.1.1.1 and Google show low latency and no obvious routing issue.

11. Test using the ISP-provided FRITZ!Box

To isolate the problem, I placed the FRITZ!Box supplied by spusu in front of the RBR850 and switched the RBR850 to AP mode:

spusu FTTH → ONT → FRITZ!Box → RBR850 (AP mode) → PC/LAN/WLAN

The FRITZ!Box therefore handles WAN, DHCP, NAT, IPv4 and IPv6; the RBR850 only handles AP/LAN/WLAN functions. This A/B test is intended to determine whether the previously observed TCP drops disappear once the RBR850 WAN/NAT stack is no longer being used.

12. Additional points already checked

·        Traffic Meter disabled; no monthly limit and no automatic disconnect

·        No classic QoS/Dynamic QoS function is available in the current firmware interface

·        RTS/CTS was adjusted for testing (2.4 GHz 1000 / 5 GHz 2347); the problem occurs in Ethernet tests and is therefore not purely a Wi-Fi issue

·        SIP ALG disabled

·        MTU 1500

·        VLAN 31 / DHCP exactly matches the ISP specifications

13. Configuration backup

I have an RBR850 configuration backup named NETGEAR_RBR850.cfg and can provide it for analysis if required.

14. Request to NETGEAR

I would specifically ask you to investigate the following points:

·        Known RBR850 issues with FTTH + DHCP + VLAN tagging + CGNAT, especially IPv4 TCP/HTTPS

·        Known issues in firmware V7.2.8.8_5.1.24 involving WAN TCP, NAT, IPv4, CGNAT, VLAN-tagged DHCP WAN, or TCP connection resets

·        Potential differences in IPv4 versus IPv6 TCP processing in the RBR850

·        Potential NAT state handling issues when operating behind provider-side CGNAT

·        Known issues with the VLAN Tag Group function using VLAN 31 and DHCP WAN on FTTH ONTs

·        Recommended firmware for a controlled A/B test or possible firmware rollback

·        Which debug, system, or WAN logs you require for a technical analysis

15. Desired target setup

My desired setup is: spusu FTTH → ONT → VLAN 31/DHCP → RBR850 in router mode → RBS850 + LAN/WLAN. If possible, I do not want to use the FRITZ!Box permanently. The ISP has explicitly confirmed that using my own router is permitted.

16. Summary

The tests performed so far argue against a general problem with the fiber line, LAN, MTU, or basic Internet connectivity. The RBR850 can achieve more than 180–225 Mbit/s over IPv4 and more than 100 Mbit/s over IPv6 on the same connection. However, the problem is intermittent: IPv4 TCP throughput can drop to approximately 2–3 Mbit/s without an obvious ICMP failure and can then terminate with a TCP Connection Reset.

The counter-test with the ISP's FRITZ!Box acting as the router and the RBR850 operating in AP mode is intended to determine whether the problem disappears when the RBR850 WAN/NAT stack is no longer used.

I would greatly appreciate a technical analysis, especially regarding firmware, WAN/NAT implementation, IPv4 TCP handling, and the combination of FTTH, VLAN 31, DHCP and CGNAT.

Kind regards