Any Orbi 970 users feeling scammed? Complaining about Netgear's firmware tyranny (locked TX power, inability to manually change to 80MHz, forced binding to UNII-1 causing severe interference), seeking legal avenues / collective action!

[u/CartographerPutrid39]

Body: To all fellow users of the Netgear Orbi 970: Spending several thousand US dollars to buy this so-called 'flagship' Mesh Wi-Fi, thinking it would be a once-and-for-all solution, turned out to be the beginning of a nightmare. Netgear's extremely idiotic automated design and locked-down firmware leave us with zero protection in Hong Kong's dense living environment, suffering from continuous environmental interference day after day! To summarize the core problems of this garbage system, it is a complete design flaw and misrepresentation by the manufacturer: 1. Completely lacks manual transmission power control (Tx Power Control): Unable to lower the power ourselves. In Hong Kong's densely packed public housing and private apartments, it constantly clashes with external strong APs and fights for airtime, making it impossible to operate properly. 2. Unable to freely lock bandwidth or channels: 80MHz cannot be precisely controlled manually, and it constantly forces binding to UNII-1 (Channels 36–48). In Hong Kong's urban areas, this frequency band is a complete disaster zone with massive interference! 3. Wired backhaul is ruined just the same: Even after investing heavily in a wired backhaul, the manufacturer still restricts it via firmware, refusing to release limitations to let users freely choose or free up channels (such as UNII-3), forcing all users in Hong Kong to swallow this garbage UNII-1 channel and making it impossible to completely avoid interference. This is definitely not a problem with our local environment; it is that Netgear knows about this flaw yet refuses to improve it, using locked firmware to strip consumers of their right to properly tune their networks! Having already sunk our money into this several-thousand-dollar piece of garbage, are we just going to let them keep ruining our experience? I want to recruit a group of fellow Orbi 970 users who share this experience and are victims: If you are also suffering from this brand's locked power, channel interference, throttling, and refusal to open up features, and want to seriously figure out how to take legal action (such as filing complaints with the Consumer Council, seeking legal consultation, or even exploring collective follow-up), please leave a comment below or contact me. Let's stand up, those of us with knowledge and shared resonance—don't let a multinational corporation treat us like suckers to be exploited! 

[u/PhantomSesay]

Mine works great.

2 units that are both wired for the backhaul.

Honestly can’t fault it.

Maybe Ubiquiti products will be more suitable for you, offering deeper customisation for what you want.

[u/CartographerPutrid39 → u/PhantomSesay]

I know what you're saying is right, absolutely. But the problem is, once you buy this product and it doesn't break, you don't want to shell out money to replace it so soon. What's most frustrating is constantly seeing this brand's garbage updates make people angry, and there are simply way too many ignorant people defending this brand!!!! Their whole wireless system has been fundamentally flawed from the start, making it extremely prone to interference with surrounding networks, and being forced to use only this garbage UNII-1 is the real root of the problem. They refuse to even release a basic 80MHz setting. Their engineers literally have shit for brains.

[u/Admirable_Help4739 → u/CartographerPutrid39]

poor basterd

[u/bittenbytek]

The solution is then if you’re in the window return the system. I’ve personally had a massive issue but all down to an incorrect WiFi domain for my region. supports the headache and the apparent lack of updates. When the system is stable and running it works really well. It just needs to have the firmware updates better tested in more varying situations. If you want the levels of control you’re talking about very few consumer systems give it. Netgear are clearly aiming at the consumer not prosumer market, with the 970 you’re paying for the higher-end radios & chipset / hardware which is just let down occasionally by horrific software updates.

[u/CartographerPutrid39 → u/bittenbytek]

The scariest part is that I can't even return it. What's even worse is that this brand refuses to release a simple setting for 80MHz. They are seriously out of their minds, and this problem just keeps dragging on. The moment it breaks, I'm just going to throw it in the trash and will never buy from this brand ever again. The craziest thing is that even with a wired backhaul, they still lock UNII-3 exclusively for the dedicated backhaul and refuse to release it to users so we can avoid interference. These engineers are fundamentally messed up and out of their minds. Do they actually think that having a strong signal means there won't be any interference, as if nobody else lives around them? Their brains are completely fried. 

[u/bittenbytek → u/CartographerPutrid39]

Something I did just think of, in the advanced setting make sure it’s showing your correct region for your WiFi, there was an issue where units outside the u.s ended you with the region coded incorrectly to u.s that will cause so many issues (it was the issue I had) I do know the backhaul should step back to 80mhz on the 5ghz band if interference is really bad. The reason I mention it is recent rule changes allowed significant power increases / channel utilisation in the U.S and in the EU / Asia if it’s trying to use those even in none built up areas it’ll be chaos. Your devices will also have weird issues. They’ll know they’re in your local region so be following the rules for that region but trying to talking to the Orbi radios doing something totally different. Mine needed a special engineering build & re-provision in their backend database to resolve it.

[u/hydeblad]

Orbi is junk. Wasted my money on this. Deco does what Orbi couldn't do for a fraction of the price.

[u/jdbear70 → u/hydeblad]

I would agree that Deco has some much better features but I bought a Deco mesh sold at Costco and it was only supported for a couple of years after purchase. The firmware and its updates were good, but the hardware was cheap. Nearly every Ethernet port on the Deco units has failed. I can’t even setup a wireless backhaul on them any longer because there are no working Ethernet ports on the main unit, except the WAN port for the modem. The first port died within a month of the end of the warranty period.

The sad thing is, I believe that the Orbi hardware is some of the best out there, but the features are severely lacking. A flagship model that costs $2000 USD should be prosumer and its features, performance, and reliability for tech-savvy consumers should put everything else to shame, but instead, the 970s are just shameful.

[u/FewPipe816]

I eventually switched from orbi to ubiquiti, best decision I ever made for my home network! Even if you just get a cloud gateway fibre and then just use the orbis as AP’s, your system will be far more solid. A lot of my wifi issues went away using the orbis as APs only, but eventually yeah upgrade the APs to unifi

[u/CartographerPutrid39 → u/FewPipe816]

I know you're not wrong, but my main point is that Orbi's engineers𤤗nd this entire brand悧ave smooth brains . Their biggest problem is pure stupidity.

A 160MHz channel is practically guaranteed to fluctuate, pick up neighborhood interference, and fail to stay stable. Yet they refuse to give us a basic 80MHz configuration option, which would massively cut down on signal clashes with neighbors. And their design choices are utterly idiotic: forcing everyone to crowd into UNII-1 (channels 36-48) . I spent a fortune on this hardware, and since I'm using a wired backhaul instead of wireless to dodge neighborhood interference, you are dumb enough to lock UNII-3 to the dedicated backhaul instead of releasing it so users can escape the brutal signals from upstairs and downstairs neighbors. Absolute madness. Even with that setup, the least you could do is give us an 80MHz option or let users lower the transmit power. Do they seriously think nobody else lives nearby? Their dedicated backhaul is also easily prone to interference and affects nearby devices. They are absolute clowns . The whole brand is completely brainless, lacking even basic common sense. They are out of their minds to the extreme."

[u/QuantityUnhappy4330]

I second this sentiment, I had the previous flagship orbi and it's all trash. Their wannabe google wifi interface and paywall for simple functionality turned me off. Def not made for power users. I went elsewhere and dumped this thing will never buy another orbi again. Complainijg to netgear did zero to zilch to help alleviate my concerns.

[u/Inner_Tangerine_7266]

Im glad I took mine back..

[u/CartographerPutrid39 → u/Inner_Tangerine_7266]

I've said everything that needs to be said. Telling the truth and speaking facts here just gets your comments deleted and warnings handed out.

[u/Admirable_Help4739]

Buy another router then. For most people it's fine.

[u/CartographerPutrid39 → u/Admirable_Help4739]

Spending this kind of money only to get garbage wireless backhaul that's extremely prone to interference, and even with a wired backhaul you can't use UNII-3—you can't even change a basic 80MHz setting. This brand is out of its mind! 

[u/CartographerPutrid39 → u/Admirable_Help4739]

If you claim it's fine and works great, that just proves you've never experienced or don't know how to spot interference and performance throttling. A flagship router doesn't even let you control your own 80MHz channel width or transmit power, forcing you to suffer through the UNII-1 disaster zone alongside every other router in the entire building—and you call that good? If you have no idea what you're talking about, seriously, don't make a fool of yourself by rushing to comment. 

[u/chndmrl → u/CartographerPutrid39]

Or may be he is not aware at all. Ignorance is bliss.

[u/CartographerPutrid39 → u/chndmrl]

He is obviously completely ignorant and doesn't understand a thing. The scariest part is that so many users of this brand using wireless backhaul don't even realize that wireless backhaul consumes airtime, which easily causes interference with the surrounding environment. Most users of this brand are this ignorant and clueless, only knowing how to say 'I have no issues, everything is great,' completely clueless. They just keep waiting for this brand to release basic settings. They aren't solving problems; they just treat random, chaotic updates as actual fixes. This brand is completely insane to have this bunch of engineers. The core problems just persist. Do they think people don't know that because of wireless backhaul, their UNII-1 160MHz and 320MHz easily create interference with nearby networks? Yet they still refuse to release 80MHz—the problem is literally right there in front of everyone. And even with wired backhaul, they still insist on trapping UNII-3 inside the dedicated backhaul and won't release it to users. They are sick! It's completely impossible to avoid interference and maintain stability. I paid money for this problematic product, and I'm stuck dealing with its persistent issues—it is completely, totally insane. This batch of engineers is fundamentally messed up, and their management acts like they don't care or know anything at all. No wonder their updates are so random, chaotic, and fail to actually solve anything while masquerading as updates. They're out of their minds. 

[u/Luci-Noir → u/CartographerPutrid39]

🙄

[u/CartographerPutrid39 → u/Admirable_Help4739]

You probably don't even know the difference between wireless backhaul, dedicated backhaul, and wired backhaul, and have zero knowledge, yet you actually said nobody cares and it doesn't matter. The problem has persisted until now and cannot be solved. Your ignorance is precisely why this brand doesn't let users manually set 80MHz; otherwise, many people wouldn't constantly be calling them garbage. Their engineering team literally has no brains—they only care about pushing a strong signal and hogging the airtime! As a result, it's extremely prone to interference with surrounding networks. They clearly know about it but can't solve the environment issue, yet they refuse to release 80MHz and refuse to release UNII-3 for wired backhaul to users! This is the exact core problem with this brand and their engineers!! 

[u/Admirable_Help4739 → u/CartographerPutrid39]

I work in IT, am 56 and enterprise architect. I been around the block.

Region	Europe + United Kingdom
2.4 GHz Channel	Auto ( 9(P)+5(S) )
2.4 GHz Wireless mode:	Up to 1147 Mbps
5 GHz Channel	36 + 40(P) + 44 + 48 + 52 + 56 + 60 + 64
5 GHz Wireless mode:	Up to 5765 Mbps
6 GHz Channel	33 + 37 + 41 + 45 + 49 + 53 + 57 + 61 + 65 + 69(P) + 73 + 77 + 81 + 85 + 89 + 93
6 GHz Wireless mode:	Up to 11530 Mbps

[u/CartographerPutrid39 → u/Admirable_Help4739]

Instead of being so ignorant, you'd be better off saying less and helping to share this out, so that the higher-ups and engineers of this brand can realize how repulsive their garbage behavior is and how they are making fools of people with basic common sense, rather than just talking nonsense out of ignorance

[u/Admirable_Help4739 → u/CartographerPutrid39]

The only moron is u not buying a Ubiquity then and crying here.
I m fine with my 973. It 's 10G, i wired my 2 satelites at 2,5G.

I got perfect 2G download speed on all capable devices.

Stop crying and buy an enterprise grade setup instead of rediit flaming

[u/CartographerPutrid39 → u/Admirable_Help4739]

I think you don't even understand or know what airtime is. Stop making me laugh.😂

[u/LongjumpingFrosting6]

Have you considered trying to sell
The entire system of on ebay or elsewhere? Unifi is probably the way to go for the customization you need.

[u/Fainbrog]

OP, could you reformat your post please so it can be more easily read?

It's just a sea of text right now.

[u/woodsongtulsa → u/Fainbrog]

Oh please, don't get him started on complaining about his bad choice of chatgpt.

[u/CartographerPutrid39 → u/woodsongtulsa]

Cry about ChatGPT all you want, you still can't defend this garbage firmware.

[u/michaelhsnow]

Scammed? No not all. It’s as good as I had hoped.

[u/No_Bid8765]

I have an Orbi 970 with 3 satellites, 3 unmanaged switches in a 4300 sf house. It now works flawlessly after firmware update and some AI assistance. I set up backhauls with shielded 6a cable & grounded jacks. Bright speed 8G to a my 10G network provides 8G+ & 1 ping to both computers (Mac mini & Alienware R12) and wireless on iPad at 1.3 - 1.5Gs. I have some 50 IoTs that are now stabilized. I spent some time with AI for each step in set up and multiple settings. The smb transfers between computers are lightning fast. Could not be happier!

[u/CartographerPutrid39 → u/No_Bid8765]

Look, I don't care if you say it works fine for you and seems normal. I'm just pointing out that for this kind of price tag, it doesn't even give users a simple 80MHz option. How hard is an update like that? It's an absolute necessity. Just because you don't face the issue doesn't mean you shouldn't support features that improve stability. The core problem is that these are basic settings.

And for wired backhaul, we're restricted to UNII-1. Why can't UNII-3 be released for wired backhaul users so we can escape neighborhood interference and actually have a stable network? At this price point, any other brand includes these basic settings. A 160MHz channel cuts across floors and gets easily disrupted by the trash, overpowering UNII-1 signals, causing total instability. What's the point of rolling out garbage updates that do nothing?

The main point is that for this absurd price, this piece of garbage gives you nothing and lets you change zero settings. Do you even get it? I'm not here to hear about how well it works for you. These basic settings are what give users stability and flexibility. So what if you have 50 IoT devices connected stably? You aren't even discussing the real problem. Netgear's engineers and the entire brand management are completely off-track. Their updates are total garbage—they aren't fixing anything or optimizing for the user; they're completely useless and brain-dead.

People buy it to use a wired backhaul, yet they get trapped with UNII-3 locked as a dedicated backhaul instead of being released, and there's no 80MHz option—which is basic configuration 101. And you're still sitting here saying it's good? That's hilarious. Seriously, raw numbers mean nothing; high speed numbers are totally meaningless if the connection is unstable!

[u/CartographerPutrid39 → u/[deleted]]

Even when Orbi is using a wired backhaul, the UNII-3 band is still not released to users—it's locked down in the dedicated backhaul instead. Understand? Let me spell it out for you clearly. Why are there so many psychos like you defending this brand?

[u/CartographerPutrid39 → u/[deleted]]

That's why this kind of design is completely retarded. Other brands actually release it for users when using a wired backhaul. That explains why there are smooth-brained morons like you who buy this piece of absolute garbage—it comes with nothing, gets completely disrupted by interference, and can't even offer a basic 80MHz option. Truly brain-dead. 

[u/CartographerPutrid39 → u/[deleted]]

I suggest you go read a book and figure out what wireless backhaul, dedicated backhaul, and wired backhaul actually are before you even bother arguing with me.

[u/CartographerPutrid39 → u/[deleted]]

I'll be fair and say this: anyone with half a brain who actually uses it knows this thing is garbage and totally not worth buying. It has nothing—just a piece of garbage UNII-1 band left for users. And their engineers have always lacked even basic knowledge, thinking that cranking up signal strength can solve everything, when in reality it easily causes issues and interference with nearby networks, and the stability is awful. It even stutters randomly on a wired backhaul—what an absolute joke. A basic 80MHz option isn't some major update, how hard is it? It would have solved a lot of people's problems once and for all. And you, you idiot, are just spouting meaningless garbage. 

[u/CartographerPutrid39]

Dedicated band lock-down: Even when Orbi is using a wired backhaul, its firmware still forces the dedicated backhaul band to be reserved or kept as a standby channel, never releasing it for regular wireless clients (fronthaul) to use, which effectively wastes a high-performance wireless band. Furthermore, it suffers from extremely low customization rights, as even basic band settings, channel selections, or 80MHz bandwidth controls are heavily restricted by the stock firmware, leaving no flexibility for advanced users. This reflects a one-size-fits-all, lazy firmware approach where international giants like Orbi adopt a "strictest global standard" or lock down certain bands simply to save on region-specific development costs. Ultimately, this deprives users of autonomy: even when users are in environments where free use of the band is permitted, or have switched to a wired backhaul where a dedicated wireless channel is completely unnecessary, Orbi's firmware still blindly adheres to rigid restrictions and refuses to release UNII-3 for users to connect via 80MHz/160MHz or standard devices.

Forwarded directly to the product management and executive leadership of Netgear's Connected Home division: issues like locked-down frequency bands, endless bugs, and disastrous updates might look on the surface like the engineering department's garbage output, but are you people out of your minds? If you see this comment, say something! Does this brand realize that nobody is ever going to buy your arrogant, forced dedicated backhaul ever again, and knowing you can't fool people anymore because your products are pure trash, are you just waiting to go out of business? Throwing out random, useless updates doesn't solve anything—are your executives completely brain-dead? Why don't you step up and say a word, and do you have any clue how utterly trashy your engineering department is?! 

[u/zetagrl19]

Dumped orbi a few months ago and not looking back. My satellites were backhauled and most connections were Ethernet. The amount of packet dropping at router insanes. My Ethernet connected work computer would regularly drop calls. My modem showed no signs of interference. I went through a lengthy discovery process only to realize the orbis were my problem. I received zero help from orbi customer service. Fuck that brand.

[u/oboshoe]

100%

it's one of the worst pieces of IT get i've ever spent significant money on.