HINT Control vs Orb.net
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
HINT Control
Manage your T-Mobile Home Internet gateway with advanced features. Control WiFi settings, view statistics, and more. This app is not affiliated with T-Mobile.
- Advanced statistics
- WiFi radio control
- SSID management
- Band steering
- Gateway access
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HINT Control is a cross-platform app for accessing and managing your T-Mobile Home Internet gateway, with some extra features compared to the official app. Features include advanced statistics, WiFi radio control, SSID management, and band steering, with more to come as more is discovered about the gateways. HINT Control currently supports the Arcadyan KVD21, the Arcadyan TMOG4AR, the Sagemcom Fast 5688W, the Sercomm TMOG4SE, and the Noka 5G21. The Askey LTE gateway is not supported at this time. This app is NOT affiliated with T-Mobile. HINT Control is open source and also available for other platforms. Check out the downloads and source code at https://github.com/zacharee/ArcadyanKVD21Control/.
Orb.net
This free platform continuously measures your internet connection's responsiveness, reliability, and speed. It provides easy-to-understand scores and detailed technical information for users who want to understand their true internet experience.
- Measures internet responsiveness
- Measures internet reliability
- Measures internet speed
- Continuous lightweight tests
- Easy-to-understand scores
- Technical details for advanced users
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Orb shows your true internet experience and is a free platform that runs without disrupting your connection or device. It measures Responsiveness, Reliability, and Speed using lightweight, continuous tests, and provides easy-to-understand scores as well as the technical details for nerds.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Orb.net at 4.6 against HINT Control's 4.2. HINT Control's advantage is ratings volume (111 vs 35). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Orb.net holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 111 and 35 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 65% of HINT Control's written reviews are positive against 62% of Orb.net's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 13, 2026 and August 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | HINT Control | Orb.net |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (111 ratings) | 4.6 (35 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 65.1% of reviews — better | 61.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 111 — better | 35 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 99 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Zachary Wander | Orb Forge Inc. |
Customer experience
HINT Control
Orb.net
User reviews
HINT Control
From 111 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great alternative to T-Mobile app
- 🚀 Useful for T-Mobile gateway management
- 💡 Allows disabling WiFi radios
- 👍 Provides useful network data
- 🚀 "Reboot" shortcut is great
Room to improve
- 🐛 UI bug hides settings
- 🐛 Cannot disable 5ghz wifi
- 🐛 Breaks gateway functionality when disabling 5ghz
- 🐛 Latest update crashes repeatedly
- 🐛 Not compatible with G5AR gateway
Orb.net
From 35 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Good network insights
- 💡 Helpful for working from home
Room to improve
- 🐛 Doesn't run in the background
- 🐛 Inaccurate speed test results
- 🐛 High system overhead
Bugs and requests
HINT Control
Reported bugs
18 issues- UI bug hides settings on SSID management page
- Cannot disable 5ghz wifi after warning
- Disabling 5ghz radio breaks gateway functionality
- Latest update crashes repeatedly
- Not compatible with newly released G5AR T-Mobile gateway
Show 13 moreShow fewer
- Invalid JSON error when trying to log in
- Latest update crashes over and over
- G4AR not showing LTE stats
- Cannot paste password or use password manager to login
- Keyboard will not reduce on login screen (iPhone 11 Pro)
- App doesn't work with VoiceOver
- Unauthorized Error at Login
- Doesn’t work - Unauthorized error
- Doesn’t work - unauthorized access error
- Changed channel, now cannot connect on other devices, requires factory reset
- Latest update breaks Sagemcom gateway, won't pass login screen
- Cannot pick channel 36 for 5ghz, always goes to channel 40
- No G4AR support
Requested features
14 requests- Add automatic reboot schedule (daily, weekly, monthly)
- Trigger reboot on connection loss
- Add Beacon Interval control
- Add more Transmit Power control (e.g., 8mW on 5GHz, 21mW on 2.4GHz)
- Advanced control with number input for transmit power
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- Restore transmit power slider
- Add temperature of gateway
- Allow users to name unknown devices
- Clarify named devices further
- Add port forwarding controls
- Add DMZ controls
- Support for G4AR gateway
- Adjust APN settings
- Web app version
Orb.net
Reported bugs
2 issues- Console opens on desktop every time
- Slow performance
Requested features
3 requests- Apple TV app
- PlayStation app
- Background mode
In-app purchases
HINT Control
No in-app purchases
Orb.net
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is HINT Control free?
Is Orb.net free?
Which has better reviews, HINT Control or Orb.net?
Do HINT Control or Orb.net have ads?
Which is updated more often, HINT Control or Orb.net?
Other comparisons
