NETGEAROrbi All-in-One Cable Modem + Whole Home Mesh-Ready WiFi Router - for Internet connectivity and speeds up to 2.2 Gbps Over 2,000 sq. feet, AC2200 (CBR40)

So I've been using an ORBI router and satellites for at least 6 years. I switched ISP's to xfinity which meant my ORBI router without a coax jack could not be used (without also using a FIOS cable modem). this was on the approved list from xfinty. I liked how well my orbis' spread coverage without losing speed so I bought this and figured i could just swap this out for my existing orbi router, use the same wifi name and password and be good to go. It did NOT work out that way.The first issue is that apple started providing a free service for all iphone users called 'cloud private relay which is really just a vpn. well trying to setup a new orbi installation with that enabled is super frustrating. you get all the way to the end up the setup in the app and the app refuses to connect to the router. i went through like 10 hardware resets and start-over installations before it occurred to me that the apple thing may be a problem. turned it off and boom, the app started connecting to the router. the reason im blaming orbi for this is that sometimes the app would suggest disabling any vpns. but most iphone users dont know what a vpn is. and dont know that this icloud private relay could be the issue. the orbi ios app should spell it out if it can't outright detect that its turned on. There are thousands and thousands of 'orbi app can't see router' posts and none of them that i ever saw mentioned this as a possibility.The second issue is that despite ORBI saying that this modem/router should be compatible with their RBS50 satellite, I spent days trying to get that satellite to connect to this router. the backchannel was stuck in 'config sync' for at least 2 days. I hardware reset the RBS50 satellite 10 times. I tried installing older firmware. tried 4 different firmwares. after 2 days of this and almost sending it all back and ditching orbi, the satellite miraculously was no longer in config sync mode.However, my two original satellites, that also show as compatible with this modem/router, are permanently stuck in backchannel 'config sync' mode where i can tell they are sometimes functional by hitting their ip addresses and seeing what is connected, but they dont show up in 'network' in the orbi app. I've tried the hardware reset 'add satellite' workflow 10 times with no luck. their firmware is fully upgraded (if you spend days and days pouring over hundreds of posts, you see official supports constantly saying make sure your firmware is up to date, mixed with users confirming that in some cases they had to downgrade their firmware due to firmware bugs)And in writing this review, I couldn't remember my satellite model numbers so i opened up the orbi app and clicked on network to see the satellite model numbers, and it shows 'Internet' with a red broken wifi signal, and this router has a red broken wifi signal. BUT, the wifi is up and it seems to be working just fine. I've been working all day, kids streaming. and ofcourse my other 2 satellites are stuck in back-channel hell so they dont show in the appSo that is to say, as much as I've enjoyed orbi over the years, when i switched to my new isp, i probably would have just tried the free cable/model from xfinity first. and if i had range issues, picked up one of the super routers like nighthawk.you've been warned!

I went into this project with a few criteria:-I wanted either a modem/router combo device or indiv units so I could turn in Comcast's device and save myself $14/mo on rental charges. Grr!-I needed a strong WiFi signal to blanket my house (~2k sq ft)-Parental Controls: not necessarily for blocking content as my kids are much older, but creating profiles, bed times, down periods, without me needing to log-in and manually touch anything-Ability to easily create a separate guest networkI had some other "bonus" items on my list that weren't deal breakers if the device(s) didn't have it. Now the review... The Orbi at first glance seemed to check the majority of my necessity items, so I bought it. Since my house is under 2k sq ft I didn't need a satellite. Setup started off super easy, download the app, scan the QR code and most of the work was done. As soon as I got to the WiFi setup portion, the app hung up and wouldn't proceed. My PC is hardwired to the unit so I tried using the router's web portal. No go. Fortunately, the Orbi has a reset button that's easy to get to. I did the reset and was able to complete the entire setup successfully. The Orbi app is very easy to navigate around so that's a plus. Now for the cons and why this device got it's ranking...The app itself was obviously designed for users who aren't very tech savvy, so most of the advanced options were only available when using the web portal. The Orbi app didn't always show all the devices connected to the WiFi. My phone for example, using WiFi and running the Orbi app wouldn't appear on the list, even if I refreshed the list several times. I created a ticket and spoke to the help desk. The technician couldn't figure it out and he verified that I was running the latest firmware. (I checked the firmware immediately after setting up my router). The tech then tells me that he's not part of the Orbi team and that he'd need to transfer me to that group. This is confusing b/c I requested help thru the Orbi app, so I thought that would have sent me to the Orbi tech group. Guess I was wrong. So I was transferred to another group in the app, but after waiting several minutes the app disconnected me, so I decided the Orbi is not worth all of this effort. I'll just return it. The web portal did show all the devices that had successfully connected to the router - I just don't recall if it showed all the devices that were connected at that very moment. This is definitely a deal breaker.A big reason I purchased this device was for the parental controls. The website states the router allows for profile setup, scheduling of bed times and off times as well as plethora of other features. Sweet! Unfortunately, no where on that site does it say you have to pay a monthly or annual subscription fee to have those features. Grr! The basic package is free but the features on it are laughably pointless. So I tried the free trial of the premium package. It was easy to setup, no hiccups like Orbi had and it too showed all the devices that ever connected to the router (both wired and wireless) and was super easy to connect to profiles. Unfortunately, the parental control filters were too strong. It blocked some of my kids games and programs like Steam or Discord. Even setting the filter to adult wasn't enough. I had to remove the filter altogether to get everything to play nice. The app did have a nice interface for selecting what programs you wanted to run, so I could say yes to FaceBook and no to Snapchat. But there was no way to add custom programs like Discord or Steam to allow them to work (or block them if I didn't want them to run). Turning the filter off kills the point of having parental controls. Which means keeping a subscription service just for profiles and bedtimes is just silly.Unfortunately for me, while this device has excellent coverage I found both the Orbi app and the Circle parental controls lacking and just not worth paying any extra money for features I can't use. For parents who have younger kids and want to lock down external program access, this paid service could be worth it. It just wasn't for me. So back it goes.