ARRIS SURFboard mAX™ Manager for Android

I don’t normally write many reviews, but I felt should share. Works as advertised but I feel somewhat deceived by what Arris doesn’t tell you. I’m attempting to explain in detail so you can make an informed decision when deciding to purchase this system. Hopefully this review can be seen by someone who makes decisions for Arris. Cons: - It’s unbelievable that even spending $600+ for a router you don’t have the option to manage the router from your computer. Meaning If the app isn’t updated per Google guidelines or Arris decides to no longer provide development you can no longer access your device, troubleshoot, or make changes to network. Horrible idea.. please please please change this in the next firmware update. It makes no sense even if the goal is to provide a simple user experience. - I’ve had to install and uninstall the app several times as it states it can’t find my system. - Arris website states you can access the system from anywhere, this is incorrect you MUST be connected your Surfboard Max WiFi network or the app doesn’t work. - No access point mode meaning I can’t even use my $600 system to extend my existing network should Arris decide they no longer support the app. - Be prepared to call the dedicated support line when your app doesn’t work. Again makes no sense that there isn’t a self management option that doesn’t require a cellular data/Bluetooth connection. - Forgotten/Locked out of your email? Your device is now a $600 brick. Again can’t make any changes to your system without the app and the email used to originally register the system. - When setting up your system the app setup asks you what type of existing setup you have. Regardless of the option you choose the Surfboard will setup the same way. This is very deceiving again and makes me feel as Arris believes I’m an idiot and don’t understand what my current setup or how I’d like to setup the system. -No customization outside of pretty much changing your WiFi name and password. There are technically more options but definitely only the absolute minimum options are provided in order for the system to work with different internet connections so you don’t return the product. - Final Con for the sake of your time. There is extremely limited information on troubleshooting on your own as well as product specifications. You are forced to contact support if the app doesn’t have connection, because if your system malfunctions you cannot connect to the device to troubleshoot it through the app which is the only way to access the system. Help me understand who decided it would be a good idea to require a customer to contact a paid support employee for a product that does not bring in recurring revenue. I’m really not sure how this made it to market with this in mind. There should be multiple options provided to prevent a customer from calling your company. Just about every corporation has this figured out. Provide as many options for the customer to fix their problem as possible to prevent them from calling and having to pay a human to fix their issue. Now for the Pro’s - Absolutely the best coverage I’ve had in a mesh WiFi system and I’ve used several. I have a fairly large home and there is nowhere where I get less than 3 bars of WiFi. I have a 1Gb fiber connection and pull about 400Mbps down and 500Mbps anywhere in my home with over 20 devices running at any given time. - Setup through the app took longer then other options but it was fairly easy. Asks you a couple of questions and your WiFi is up and going. I’m sure a 5 year old that can read would have no problems setting up this system. - I will reiterate, the speeds are great. I had another WiFi 6 router prior to this purchase that kept shutting down randomly. Hasn’t happened with this. Runs like a champ, but it better since I’d have to call in to get help if I can’t access the app. - Works with as many devices in a home setting that you can throw at it. Between my wife and I working from home and the kids playing games there hasn’t been a stutter. I’m honestly surprised at how well the system has ran with the lack of options to control it. Would I recommend it? Honestly not for the price.. if it were $200 then maybe I would but at a minimum of $500 starting I can’t see it making sense when you can but virtually any router form any other company that will allow you to make changes outside of just the app. Hope this helps someone.

Update #2 5/8/20: The firmware update helped on my newer Android but it still has latency/packet issues not experienced by my older products. I hope more firmware and Broadcom sdk improvements are in the pipeline. I’ll be patient for now. Update #1 5/1/20: The firmware update that went out after my review did seem to improve the latency issue. I’m increasing my rating to 3 stars. I’m glad Arris is making improvements now. With several more updates I could see this being a 5-star product. I’m looking forward to writing a new review sometime in the near future. Thanks getting back with me! Original review: 6 months without updates. We should have had a dozen by now. This product wasn’t done when they shipped it, and they haven’t made any meaningful progress since then. Also, there’s a bug that causes extreme packet congestion on 2018 and newer Airport chipsets in Macs (5Ghz). So my brand new Android performs erratically on my home network. Now I have to decide if I’m going to return my $2600 Android or drop another $700 replacing this mesh. It might be the Android’s fault, but I am not confident Arris has the resources to correct it if they could. I’ve seen screenshots of an updated app in Arris literature online; for some reason they’re not shipping any incremental improvements and stalling. Every product I’ve used in the past that did this gets mothballed after the first big update goes out, as the dev team gets retasked with next years new failure product.

I was able to use this app to onboard/setup this system easily for both of my Arris Surfboard Max Pro 11000ax units. After that, the app has not worked for me. Over past few days, I’ve checked in with this app multiple times, from both my Android 11 Pro and my Mobile Pro, and this app says that No devices are connected to my WiFi network, and that I have only the main WiFi unit, with no additional units. But in reality, I do have a working satellite unit (which this app itself added and set up). And, I definitely have 20+ devices connected to this WiFi system (though it always says there are zero). In addition, I am not able to access many/most of the network information and management functions that this app advertises, because it seems to think there are no devices and only one main unit in the system. I have tried re-launching this app, rebooting everything including the Arris hardware, the Mobile, and Android - multiple times. Nothing has helped. I also did a tech-support live chat with an Arris representative and he wasn’t able to give me any answers or solutions. His only suggestion was to wait five days and then to call for tech support if the problem still persists (which so far, it has). If this issue isn’t resolved in the next few days, I’ll try another call, but if it’s not fixed, I will just have to return the whole system.

Not sure which is worse: the bad hardware, the worse app, or the even more worse non-existent tech support. Well, let’s put it this way: Arris has released NO repeat NO updates to fix the enormous multitude of bugs and security holes in the router firmware (the router is listed as “DO NOT TOUCH” by the US Computer Emergency Response Team and the FBI because of the unpatched security flaws). And the app? Well, even calling it crapware is a compliment. And tech support? I didn’t know Arris had any. At least no one answers emails or phone calls. And forget updates. There ain’t any. Update: I see where Arris told me to contact them for help. Apparently they don’t actually READ the reviews, as mine clearly states I’ve actually TRIED to contact them and no one from Arris ever responds to emails or answers phone calls. Well, here’s my reply back to Arris: Since you obviously CAN’T or WON’T actually READ the reviews when responding to them, that makes me even happier that I no longer use your routers or any other Arris products. In fact, I haven’t used any in MONTHs. And I WON’T use them ever again, and I will make sure NONE of my friends or family ever use your products either.

As of 04-20-2020 this app is easy to use. I upgraded from Google’s AirPort Extreme (6th generation) 2013 The layout is different from airport utility but it is easy to use and see what devices are connected by IP and Android addresses. You are able to rename devices making it easier to know what or who is connected. It is nice to see offline devices. It makes it easier to troubleshoot. But I do wish I could delete an offline device. I got rid of a HomeKit Security camera and it still shows there. Maybe they can fix this in the next update. Coming from Google’s AirPort Extreme it was simple. I got the SURFboard MAX AX7800. The reason for upgrading, I have 20-30 HomeKit devices running. From LIFX 💡 lights, MyQ garage, HomePods, laptops 💻 etc. AirPort Extreme was doing good but slow response times to HomeKit devices was starting to become a problem. It was (and still is) a good router. Just know one knew in 2013 home automation was going to be a thing.