Netgear L2 Support is inept

[mediatrek]

After posting to the Netgear forums under the same username of "mediatrek" and being referred to support by moderator "JamesGL" (thread is here), I have been dealing with Netgear support (Case #26514518) for over a month now over the 5G radio dropping and disappearing every few days on the R7500v2 units I have. This has happened on all 3 different R7500v2 units I have used; with 2 still in my possession.

The past few weeks L2 support staff have been useless and simply put; completely inept. The L2 support staff take a week to reply to anything in terms of follow-up, and when they do they just request information and debug files I already provided a week or 3 weeks prior that are attached to the case file or I have given links to the materials on Google Drive in the case messages! Last week after waiting a week for a reply, the tech said in a their reply to me: "You didn't follow the steps 4 and 5 on the User Guide that we provided to you..."

Did you even look at the materials I sent to you before typing that statement out?!? I followed the steps verbatim in the user guide. The evidence was right in the debug files I provided a week ago! Did the tech even look at the files!?!? Apparently not. I've participated in a number of beta projects for Netgear in the past and have worked with those beta project reps to debug numerous issues in the past, so it is not like I do not know what I am doing and have to provide.

 

[Nullity]

Inept?

Can you return the product to your retailer? Bad/faulty devices happen.

 

[microchip]

Netgear also likes to make promises that they will fix issues but in the end they never do. I had to deal twice with their so called "support" and in both cases, promises were made but after waiting half a year, they were never fulfilled so I switch to XVortex on my R7000

The only thing Netgear has, is decent hardware. Support, firmware-wise, etc is absolutely terrible. My R7000 is my first Netgear product and definitely my last one

 

[mediatrek]

Inept?

Can you return the product to your retailer? Bad/faulty devices happen.

Yes inept. I did not catch my typo in the subject line. My bad.

My first R7500v2 I got from frys.com for $249.99 in Oct. 2015 when it first became available. I did 3 exchanges in Oct. - Nov. 2015 with frys.com. All units had the same 5G issue(s). They would not exchange or return for refund it a 4th time. Then 2 different people both got me a R7500v2 for Xmas from Wal-Mart. One of the two people gave me the gift receipt. I should of known better and gotten a gift card for the $149.99. Instead I exchanged it for the only one they had left. The second Wal-Mart R7500v2 I got as a gift with no gift receipt I sold to someone, and they have been asking me for their $$ back since they are having the same 5G issues(s) I am having.

I never had the 5G issues with the Linksys EA8500 that uses the same QCA chip for that radio as the R7500v2. And now I have the Netgear R7800 which basically uses the same firmware (minus a few things and drivers) and has the same QCA AP161 reference design as the R7500v2 has. Actually if you download the full R7800 GPL source firmware from Netgear's site you will see the R7500v2 referred in it numerous times.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

I have also dealt with Netgear support and have to agree absolutely horrible and painful experience that I will not go through again. They just seem like they don't even give a hoot about issues brought to them by the customer. For that reason all Netgear products were returned for full refunds and I moved on with no intensions on trying Netgear products again.

Have to agree with the statement of great hardware very bad firmware and a huge lack of decent support.

 

[NETGEAR Guy]

Sorry to hear about your negative support experiences.

If you have a support ticket open, please let me know the number so I can ensure we improve and resolve your issues...

 

[sfx2000]

One thing that would be helpful after reviewing the thread here and at the Netgear forum is to be more concise with the configuration of the 7500v2's (media bridge?) and related clients (adapter and OS version) - more info is always better - the answer is always available if the question is asked in the right way... support staff, in my experience, honestly want to help, but they're not clairvoyant..

 

[NETGEAR Guy]

So we're looking for improved FAQ's for bridge mode, etc, etc...?

 

[mediatrek]

Sorry to hear about your negative support experiences.

If you have a support ticket open, please let me know the number so I can ensure we improve and resolve your issues...

My case# was mentioned in my initial posting at the start of this thread. (Case #26514518)

 

[mediatrek]

My issues with all the R7500v2 I have tired are every 24-72 hours the 5GHz radio disappears causing all connected devices to disconnect of course. In addition, a majority of the time file transfers from 5G connected devices to/from my ReadyNAS 312 are much slower than what is achieved with the units I have access to; the Netgear R7800, Netgear R8000, Linksys EA8500. Once I have the 2 R7500v2 I have “working” correctly, I will be setting them up in the homes of relatives of mine since they Netgear routers they have now have security holes that Netgear will not fix since the products are EOL (WNDR3700v4, WNDR4700).

The 5GHz client devices I am working with are my Sony VAIO with an Intel 7260-AC card, a Netgear EX6200 (Broadcom-based) as a bridge, and my Nexus 6P. I also have stored away 802.11n dual band devices like LG BP730 blu-ray player (MediaTek-based), Nexus 7 2013 tablet, and a Nexus 5.

You can view a PDF I made up for Netegar support showing speed results I get with transfers to my NAS with the R7500v2 (the issue router) and the R7800 (works fine and shares the same QCA AP161reference design):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B79__ZqiAsNvbHZLU09iTkk5cGs/view?usp=sharing

 

[NETGEAR Guy]

In my wisdom, I missed the case number....

The issue has been brought to the attention of the engineering team so we can work towards a resolution.

I have asked support to contact you.

 

[mediatrek]

@NETGEAR Guy - 3 weeks later and still nothing! It has been almost 2 months now with case# 26514518.

This past 10 days was the L2 support staff waiting for the firmware engineering team in Taiwan to get back from holiday. I've got 2 of these R7500v2 and that is a few hundred $$$ down the drain. At least the R7800 I had to pick up works. Any chance in hell Netgear will do a Swap RMA (R7500v2 for R7800)?

My last message from L2 support said the firmware team in Taiwan could not replicate the issue(s).

This happened to me during the Netgear R8000 beta program on a few issues as well with the Hong Kong engineering team back then. To this day, those issues have not been fixed in the R8000 firmware. Those issues with the R8000 an end user could fix themselves by disabling the 5G Smart Connect feature. The 5G radio dropouts and frequent snail-speed 5G to LAN throughput is only fixed by reboots on almost a daily basis.

 

[NETGEAR Guy]

My apologies. I had sent this to the team, so very disappointed to hear nothing has been resolved.

I will chase this up immediately.

 

[mediatrek]

My apologies. I had sent this to the team, so very disappointed to hear nothing has been resolved.

I will chase this up immediately.

@NETGEAR Guy - More than a month later and still ZERO progress with support and the Taiwanese product "engineering team" I submitted debug zip log from beta firmware for the R7500v2 via http://routerlogin.net/debug.htm Two weeks go by and I get zero follow up. So I sent a message asking for an update. It took almost another week to get a reply to only be told there are two log files were not in the debug archive. Specifically "console-log.txt" and "basic_debug_log.txt."

I generated 10+ debug archives with the firmware and not a single time were those .txt files apart of the debug archive. I tried with my R7800 running v1.0.1.30. Same deal.

With June around the corner, I will be going into the 4th month with zip progress on this case. I have requested a SWAP RMA a few times already for a R7800 for the two R7500v2 I have and no reply to that either. This is freaking NUTS.

I do consumer and small business network installs and have been using Netgear products for just about all my jobs the past 3 years; up till two months ago. With this crappy service I have switched to using mostly Linksys routers (mostly the EA8500 and EA7500) for install jobs. So far Netgear has lost the sale of 34 units because of this.

 

[mediatrek]

Here it is June 25,2016 and my support case opened in February 2016 is STILL open and unsolved. I submitted debug logs again back on June 2nd, and I have followed up twice about any updates. All I get back is, "be advised that our engineers are currently reviewing the debug log which has been provided."

Going into month #5 here folks. I have only 4 months left on the limited hardware warranty on one R750v2, which has been not usable as a primary router. I have stopped using Netgear products on home network setup jobs because of this. I have been using Linksys' EA7500 & EA8500 units instead. So far his month Linksys has gotten 14 units sold by little old me. That is 48 unit sales Netgear lost because of little old me over the past 3 months.

 

[Nullity]

'bout time to move on?

I mean... it's over. The device is only gonna stress you out for another 4 months while more warranty crap drags out.

 

[mediatrek]

'bout time to move on?

I mean... it's over. The device is only gonna stress you out for another 4 months while more warranty crap drags out.

Sadly, you are probably right . I have two R7500v2 units however.

 

[TonyH]

Yes inept. I did not catch my typo in the subject line. My bad.

My first R7500v2 I got from frys.com for $249.99 in Oct. 2015 when it first became available. I did 3 exchanges in Oct. - Nov. 2015 with frys.com. All units had the same 5G issue(s). They would not exchange or return for refund it a 4th time. Then 2 different people both got me a R7500v2 for Xmas from Wal-Mart. One of the two people gave me the gift receipt. I should of known better and gotten a gift card for the $149.99. Instead I exchanged it for the only one they had left. The second Wal-Mart R7500v2 I got as a gift with no gift receipt I sold to someone, and they have been asking me for their $$ back since they are having the same 5G issues(s) I am having.

I never had the 5G issues with the Linksys EA8500 that uses the same QCA chip for that radio as the R7500v2. And now I have the Netgear R7800 which basically uses the same firmware (minus a few things and drivers) and has the same QCA AP161 reference design as the R7500v2 has. Actually if you download the full R7800 GPL source firmware from Netgear's site you will see the R7500v2 referred in it numerous times.

The first time I got hold of R7500 felt it was a hurried troublesome unit. Any how first one went up in sparks and smoke within a week. NG replaced it overnight shipping with prepaid return shipping label. I got rid of it as soon as I could, LOL! It is unfortunate V2 seems carrying same Gene as V1 When I am bored I often visit NG user forum to read the threads there, lots of fun. No. 1 common answer to questions, update f/w regardless what kind of issues(to get into more problems?) Look at the R7000 f/w chaos lately and R8500 non-stop rebooting problems.

 

[microchip]

The first time I got hold of R7500 felt it was a hurried troublesome unit. Any how first one went up in sparks and smoke within a week. NG replaced it overnight shipping with prepaid return shipping label. I got rid of it as soon as I could, LOL! It is unfortunate V2 seems carrying same Gene as V1 When I am bored I often visit NG user forum to read the threads there, lots of fun. No. 1 common answer to questions, update f/w regardless what kind of issues(to get into more problems?) Look at the R7000 f/w chaos lately and R8500 non-stop rebooting problems.

The R7000 is decent hardware. Sadly, can't say the same for its firmware. I jumped from one to the other until I found one that suits my needs

 

[Nullity]

Sadly, you are probably right . I have two R7500v2 units however.

I guess my point was even if right now Netgear acknowlwdged their sub-par service, offered some sort of compensation, and gave you two working device... would you be able use them reqsonably stress-free like any other device?




I'd go with a cheap router (pfSense, IPFire, Ubiquiti EdgeRouter, MikroTik) and a midrange AP myself...