Netonix Forums

Okay, so I just bought my first WISPSwitch....

I get a one page insert with it that tells me the firmware loaded is buggy and I should head over here to download the most current firmware.

No problem......

But... I HAVE to register.

WTF?

You shipped me a known buggy product... That's not the part I have a problem with.. The problem I have is that to fix it, I have to give up my information. We exchanged money... That's all that is REQUIRED.

Now, I get you have problems with spammers. But why not just make the firmware downloads read-only for guests/visitors?

Why aren't all the boards read-only for guests? It is a rare thing today to find companies still doing what you are doing.. Forums should be read-only for CUSTOMERS who haven't registered.. And yeah, I'm a CUSTOMER.

I'm not even going to get into the whole "if you knew the firmware was buggy, why wasn't current loaded before it shipped to me". That's another can of worms.. But seriously...making me register with the forum to fix YOUR issue, not cool.....

I've heard TONS of good stuff about these switches, and if this first unit performs as well as I've been hearing, I'll be buying plenty, but not the best way to make a first impression. And yeah, to some people.. well, at least to me... making me give up information, when I shouldn't have to, is a big deal... I did it because the little flyer said the firmware on board has problems, so I'm kinda obligated at that point.....


Justin

The value in having a forum account is that Chris will do a broadcast PM if any critical issues are found.
To me, at least, that's a hell of a lot better than having to troll websites looking for updates - like every other vendor.

Don't shy away from the "RC" levels either - every new level has valuable additions and fixes, and is based on customer feedback.
Other companies take months (years?) to add feature requests, functionality, and bug fixes. Netonix is interested in keeping us online.

Only one vendor I deal will in the multi-million dollar enterprise arena mostly has the latest firmware at shipment time - because their frames are primarily custom made to order.

Also have a look at the Netonix Manager viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1549&hilit=netonix+manager.
Great tool to help keep firmware up to date and manage your network.


My take anyway.

jpaine619 wrote:But... I HAVE to register.

Membership has benefits as jakematic mentioned. Welcome aboard.

jpaine619 wrote:You shipped me a known buggy product...

Product is not shipped as "Known buggy" per se, except that all firmware has some bugs and the note is just meant to encourage you to update. It is shipped with what was the latest stable at the time. There can be a time lapse between when it leaves the production line and when it gets into your hands so prudent to always grab the latest firmware prior to deploying it.

As jakematic said, don't shy away from using the latest RC. Netonix privately tests RCs on real production networks before release.

Yes, most switches are still shipping with v1.4.2 which is many months old and many bugs fixes and enhancements have been done to the firmware. - READ THE RELEASE NOTES IN THE THREAD WHERE YOU DOWNLOADED THE FIRMWARE.

Why is it many months old, because we have to submit firmware to the assembly house "months" in advance to have it pre-flashed on the chip from the chip maker. This is often months ahead of a scheduled production run so yes even though the firmware was our best code when we provided it to the chip maker to pre-flash that chip will not be attached to a board for many months so YES we want you to upgrade the firmware before you use it. In fact most equipment I purchase for my WISP and IT businesses have similar warnings/suggestions in their quick start quide.


As far as registering on the forums to download has a multi part incentive for you. As mentioned it allows us to notify users of bug alerts and or security alerts but it is also needed to have a forum account to be able to post questions and get support so why not get that out of the way ahead of time BEFORE you have an emergency and find you can not for some reason get your account registered when you are in panic mode.

I get the whole benefit to registering. That's not what I'm complaining about. I'm bitching that it's effectively FORCED for downloads.

Registering is great. But I should have the OPTION to register if I desire or to not register if I don't want to. Access to the most current firmware at the moment I purchase the product is your obligation.

Downloads (in my opinion) should be available without having to trade my personal information. Downloads for both ubnt stable and mikrotik are non-registered.

Thanks for the tip on the RC builds. I'll check them out.

Registering to download firmware isn't an uncommon practice in this industry. Some manufacturers even require a paid SLA for that sort of thing (I'm looking at you, Meraki, not naming names, Cisco) - not even going to get into the 'must be linked to your cloud management account and fully licensed in order to function' side of Meraki's practices beyond that previous sentence.

Welcome aboard, there's a lot of experience on tap here to use as a resource. I look forward to helping you with any hardware/technical questions you may have.

We are new users, and I don't quite know how this works or I would have started a new post. We have been using the netonix switches for a while ws-8-150-dc, and they work great. I just got a login and can see the forums etc now. I can't seem to find a support link or where to download firmware updates as is suggested in the leaflet that comes with the switches. Please advise, and thanks for the great product. Jude

nevermind I found it, sorry to trouble you, Jude

judec wrote:We are new users, and I don't quite know how this works or I would have started a new post. We have been using the netonix switches for a while ws-8-150-dc, and they work great. I just got a login and can see the forums etc now. I can't seem to find a support link or where to download firmware updates as is suggested in the leaflet that comes with the switches. Please advise, and thanks for the great product. Jude

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