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Google to end support for OnHub routers in 2022
- CaliforniaKarl 5y ago> Since OnHub routers were introduced 6 years ago… I’m curious, does anyone know when the product stopped being sold?
- mnd999 5y agoAmazon still has them on sale. Google still promotes them - https://on.google.com/hub/?main=retail https://on.google.com/hub/?main=retail
- makerofspoons 5y agoHow scummy, not even a banner saying that support is ending.
- pvarangot 5y agoIt's worse than that, this ones haven't even had security patches for a while.
- andybak 5y agoLet's all buy one and join a class action.
- ClumsyPilot 5y agoI think you should habe a valid claim, if you buy a new device you still have warranty and to have a device disabled during warranty preiod is unprecedented.
- jeffbee 5y agoYour beef would be with the retailer, not with Google. It is the retailer who makes the implied warranty of suitability for purpose, not the manufacturer (who also, in this case, is not Google).
- commoner 5y agoThat's not accurate, at least in the United States. Product warranties are issued by manufacturers, and Google's pages for TP-Link[1] and Asus[2] confirm this. The manufacturer warranty is 2 years for both the TP-Link[3] and Asus[4] OnHub models. If there were a class action, it would be against TP-Link and Asus. These manufacturers would then take the losses into consideration before collaborating with Google in the future. [1] https://support.google.com/product-documentation/answer/6279787 https://support.google.com/product-documentation/answer/6279... [2] https://support.google.com/product-documentation/answer/6314187 https://support.google.com/product-documentation/answer/6314... [3] https://www.bestbuy.com/site/tp-link-google-onhub-ac1900-dual-band-wi-fi-router-black/4409400.p?skuId=4409400 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/tp-link-google-onhub-ac1900-dua... [4] https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-onhub-wireless-ac-router-with-nat-firewall-slate-gray/4588401.p?skuId=4588401 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-onhub-wireless-ac-router-w...
- jeffbee 5y agoThose are not implied warrantees. Please read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implied_warranty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implied_warranty
- commoner 5y agoYes, maufacturer warranties are not implied warranties. They are explicit promises from the manufacturer to repair or replace products that fall below certain standards within a period of time. For example, the TP-Link limited warranty explicitly identifies TP-Link USA Corp. as the warrantor: > TP-Link USA Corp. (“TP-Link USA”) provides a limited warranty on all eligible TP-Link products purchased in the United States. https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/replacement-warranty/ https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/replacement-warranty/
- jeffbee 5y agoThey specifically end that warranty at a fixed point after the EOL date without regard to sale date. If you buy a wifi router and you take it home and it cannot be setup because that backing services have been turned down, it is the retailer with whom you have a claim. They sold you a product that was not suited to its purpose.
- Spivak 5y agoYou can still buy the TP-Link one new on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Google-WiFi-Router-TP-Link-Managed/dp/B013ALA9LA https://www.amazon.com/Google-WiFi-Router-TP-Link-Managed/dp...
- akaij 5y agoI think it was 2018, because that's when I was looking for a way to install OpenWRT on it.
- eloop 5y agoAnd they expect people to buy hardware from them in the future?
- wtallis 5y ago"End support" as used in the headline apparently means turning off various cloud and smartphone dependent features, which I think includes basically all management features. Software updates (including security patches) are already stopped, so any remaining users should plan to migrate to either new hardware or an alternative OS sooner rather than later.
- ms7m 5y ago> You won’t be able to update things like Wi-Fi network settings, add additional Wifi devices, or run speed tests. Wow, I'm not familiar if users are forced to use the Google Home app, but that seems a bit drastic to stop users from even changing the most basic settings?
- akaij 5y ago> I'm not familiar if users are forced to use the Google Home app Yup. On a related note: I haven't been able to find a way to root it for OpenWRT. Does anyone know of any resource, other than the OpenWRT website, that could be helpful?
- matt_heimer 5y agoThe dedicated apps are being discontinued across the board. I have Google mesh Wifi system and get told that "Your network was migrated to the Home app" when launching the Google Wifi app. You can continue and it still works so far. You can also use the Google Home app now if you want to manage your wifi settings with a worse UX. Edit: Being forced to use an app is not new. If you visit your routers ip address you get a single page that links to the app for the app stores. Funny enough it still links to the Google Wifi app and not the Google Home app.
- teekert 5y agoSame for the nest thermostats, the best app still works as well, and it’s nicer and feels faster (although both are slow).
- tandr 5y agoOh Google... People do not care when it was introduced - people care for support from the time when the last one got sold!
- jeffbee 5y agoThe TP-Link OnHub is still for sale on Newegg right now. I don't see how Google can control the behavior of retailers of 3rd-party hardware.
- wtallis 5y ago> I don't see how Google can control the behavior of retailers of 3rd-party hardware. That hardware bears trademarks that Google controls, so it's not purely a third-party product. Google may not be able to prevent retailers from selling off their remaining stock, but they should at least be able to prevent the manufacturers from sending any more to retailers, and inform retailers that the products are discontinued.
- jeffbee 5y agoTP-Link EOL'd this thing many years ago.
- tandr 5y agoThey still advertise it on their own website https://on.google.com/hub/?main=retail https://on.google.com/hub/?main=retail , so they expect it to be still selling.
- sebmellen 5y agoFrom that page: > OnHub’s software includes advanced and always-evolving security features that update automatically to help protect your network, your data, and all your devices. LOL
- jiggawatts 5y ago
- ay 5y agoAnd that is why the very first thing every new WiFi router in my household gets is a fresh installation of OpenWRT in place of whatever vendor software it has. And I look at compatibility matrix before buying it. This strategy has worked very well. I upgrade on my terms.
- zbrozek 5y agoDitto; I only buy wireless hardware that can run openwrt on the day that I buy it. I may not flash it on that day, but I like to know that I can. My router is an x86 machine running opnsense.
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago> I may not flash it on that day, but I like to know that I can. I agree in the abstract, but I've seen enough devices ship OTA updates that make switching harder that I prefer to just cut over ASAP these days. (This is a general approach, not just for network gear; same as how I unlock my phone bootloaders right out of the box so I don't have to deal with data wiping)
- qq4 5y agoWhat machine do you recommend? I've thought about having a custom router but I have wondered both if it is worth it and what machine I should use.
- bubblethink 5y agoGet a mini x86 device as a wired router on which you can run any number of OSes (openwrt, debian, *sense etc.) and a separate AP (ruckus unleashed devices work well).
- toast0 5y agoIf you've ever built a computer, just put together something lowend. MicroATX is usually least cost and easy to work with. Something like https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3MpGmk https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3MpGmk Some people don't care for Realtek nics, you can spend more to get Intel if you want. You could put more ram, or storage, or whatever if you're going to do more than routing. Ryzen might be nicer, but they don't have a cheap CPU with integrated graphics right now, and it's not worth paying $100 more to get one for a router, IMHO. If you can find a motherboard with IPMI for cheap, that'd be nice, but I can't, so I just use a spare monitor and keyboard when I need to. There's small x86 router boards around, and they're cool, but if anything goes wrong, your options are limited. If anything in this fails, you can get the part replaced at your local computer store, even if that's BestBuy.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- jeffbee 5y agoAbstractly bogus, but on a rational analysis my TP-Link OnHub has already lasted wayyyyyyy longer than any other access point I've ever owned. Its predecessor, an ASUS RT-N66U, lasted barely two years.
- emptyparadise 5y agoImagine how much longer it could've laster if Google wasn't about to remotely brick it.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ineedasername 5y agoI'm not sure that it says anything good about Google that they built a solid piece of hardware only to purposely brick it for users after it worked well for too long.
- commoner 5y agoThe Asus RT-N66U was released on December 22, 2011 according to Amazon,[1] and the last official firmware update was on June 18, 2020.[2] That's 8.5 years of support (assuming no future updates) compared to the OnHub's 7-7.5 years. More importantly, the Asus RT-N66U is still fully functional and still supported on the Asus Router mobile app.[3] Unlike OnHub, Asus routers that run on non-Google firmware have a web interface so the network settings will continue to be adjustable even after app support ends. Older Asus routers, including the RT-N66U, tend to be supported by open source firmware like DD-WRT.[4] OnHub is not. [1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006QB1RPY https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006QB1RPY [2] https://www.asus.com/supportonly/rtn66u_(verb1)/HelpDesk_Download/ https://www.asus.com/supportonly/rtn66u_(verb1)/HelpDesk_Dow... [3] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.asus.aihome https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.asus.aihom... [4] https://forum.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_devices#Asus https://forum.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_devices#As...
- jeffbee 5y agoThe N66U was basically a collection of shrink-wrapped CVEs and only a lunatic would allow it on their network. Mine burst into flames.
- qmarchi 5y agoIn case anyone wants it, here's how to root a TP-Link OnHub. They're essentially glorified chromebooks, with some magic sauce on them. https://www.exploitee.rs/index.php/Rooting_The_Google_OnHub https://www.exploitee.rs/index.php/Rooting_The_Google_OnHub Dis: Googler, not near Nest/Home
- yegle 5y agoA quick search suggest there's no WRT firmware for the device. That's a pity, OnHub has 1G ram and I can imaging a lot of creative usages if WRT firmware is available.
- zozbot234 5y agoIt's likely expecting to boot from a custom vendor kernel, even after being placed in "developer mode" - which is probably why the "rooting" procedure is so involved. Look, I get that this has a nice amount of RAM and all, but a lot of this random IoT junk is just not worth supporting.
- qmarchi 5y agoThere's some nice bits of hardware in there. Notably, there's a Zigbee radio, so getting OpenWRT and running Home Assistant is totally a possibility.
- TwoNineFive 5y agoIf anyone is reading this and has an OnHub they want to donate, just hit up the OpenWRT dev mailing list and offer it to existing devs. The OnHub is an ipq806x device and should be easy to support.
- gkfasdfasdf 5y agoThey can be had for 10-20 bucks on fb marketplace
- ineedasername 5y ago
- cunidev 5y agoAt the risk of sounding cynical, I will say that anyone buying a router from Google should have known exactly what to expect. That was the reason I sold (for a symbolic price) my Chromecast Audio years ago, the integration was getting increasingly unreliable in Android, and I was afraid that the next step would have been to shut down its servers entirely
- ineedasername 5y agoMaybe folks in the HN bubble of tech knowledge know this about Google, but the average consumer has no idea just how deep the Google graveyard goes.
- dqpb 5y ago
- sebmellen 5y agoAnother one bites the dust. https://killedbygoogle.com/ https://killedbygoogle.com/
- FredPret 5y agoMakes me think twice about relying on anything they do except google.com
- throw_m239339 5y agoYeah, like Stadia... If Google wants to know why I won't pay for that service, it's precisely because I know Google is going to kill it soon. GeForce now is a better model. You buy your games on diverse platforms and the subscription to run them on remote hardware separately. Your games are still there on your computer even if GeForce now is gone.
- mdoms 5y agoThis bodes well for their flailing cloud gaming service, Stadia.
- ineedasername 5y agoPretty much why I won't be subscribing to any game streaming service unless/until they let me bring my own library of Steam & GOG games.
- waych 5y agoDoesn't surprise me. Google has trouble planning for anything longer than 1-2 OKR cycles, which nowadays means 6-12 months (previously 3-6 months). Sustainability planning and long term support just aren't in their wheelhouse as a result. In fact, anything long term planning there is a bit of a farce, including headcount planning done yearly.
- ineedasername 5y agoThe crazy thing is that they don't even need to actually support a 6 year old product: you're not getting much in the way of updates from a random netgear router that old. But Netgear isn't going to brick your device so you can't make changes and reconfigure it. All google has to do it not block it in the Home app.
- waych 5y agoThe problem is that, as a product, it's just not built to be sustainable with zero effort. The phone apps end up having to keep up with the underlying android+ios stacks' ever changing details, but even worse are the cloud services that help make the app -> router connection seamless, with the need to keep up with the ever-ongoing churn required to run binaries on Google's servers (aka "in Production"). To give an idea of how much churn is required to run binaries "in Production", there is a 6 month build horizon enforced across the company to ensure that all teams keep up with the underlying churn (changes to security, rpc, filesystems, monitoring, libc, etc). Running binaries older than that is verboten. The reasoning is that teams building the underlying components would never get a chance to upgrade / turndown down-versions/ down-compatibility. Supporting these products means requiring staffing the role of keeping these services running from both dev+ops perspectives. It sounds crazy but the system is designed to build "at scale" rather than to be built "sustainably". Dealing with this ever ongoing churn is the typical life of a Google engineer building "in prod". The model works well with a healthy CI/CD (albeit still a waste of time to deal with mandated churn), but falls apart quickly when staffing is removed.
- trhway 5y ago
- Dayshine 5y agoDoes anybody know if Google will shut down all your accounts in retaliation if you try to enforce consumer rights laws on them? In this case I'm thinking about the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (UK) which has a 7 year time limit for goods not fit for purpose (which a router that only lasted 2 years definitely counts as).
- authed 5y agoIs that another company that they purchased and crushed?
- cmrdporcupine 5y agoNo, OnHub (and then Google WiFi) was developed by Google, not acquired. Source: I worked on the team (iOS app) for the first two or three years.
- authed 5y agoI'm almost degoogled... except for Recaptcha, and my Pixel phone with LineageOS...
- drivebycomment 5y agoIf anyone working on Onhub is reading this, can you please at least implement a json http api on the local network side that allows configuring the basic settings like WAN settings, DNS settings, network name and password, etc, so that the router can be kept functional for minimal case ? I don't care if you stop producing the app - but if you can implement a basic json api, I think community can easily keep it working.
- londons_explore 5y agoI think it has such an API already. Just nobody has figured out the Auth for it. Probably a few days decompiling the API server would figure it out though. There is a neighbouring diagnostic info endpoint that doesn't require Auth, and that works fine.
- gouggoug 5y agoThe link « you’ll need to upgrade to a new wifi » points to a google wifi product page whose big bold tag line is « Wi-Fi you can count on » Oh the irony.
- lgleason 5y agoIt is stuff like this, where they take perfectly usable hardware and turn it into a paperweight that exposes the hypocrisy of any of their pro environment/green talk. The right thing to do would be to give us the option of uploading firmware that allows us to update settings etc. after that date like is done with older routers.
- quaintdev 5y agoOn their search page they mention that they have been carbon neutral since 2007. I had like to ask them what about the millions of perfectly usable phones that had to be ditched because of Android and the vendor lock ins.
- ocdtrekkie 5y agoHere's the secret: Androids, Chromebooks, OnHubs, etc, are all manufactured by third parties. I suspect they do not calculate the vast majority of landfilled "Google products" as part of their carbon footprint, despite being entirely responsible for when they end up getting thrown out. Just like outsourcing mistreated contractors, Google uses third party companies to shift and hide blame.
- 14 5y agoCarbon neutral is not the same as filling the landfill with plastic and electronic waste. Just because they use solar power for energy has little to do with other environmental impacts.
- bragr 5y agoThe answer is carbon offsets Whether carbon offsets actually work is another issue though
- ClumsyPilot 5y agoMost of them don't. Loopholes allow dxisting forests to be used to create huge amount of carbon credits without doing anything. Everyone knows but hardly anyone cares. https://www.npr.org/2021/05/07/994774148/emission-impossible https://www.npr.org/2021/05/07/994774148/emission-impossible
- intricatedetail 5y agoWhen a company stops supporting the product, should they release source code so community can support it? If it turns out the product is unsafe through unfixed security holes should you be able to get a refund?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- jeffbee 5y agoMaybe.. OnHub has a command-and-control network in the cloud, with which you interact using the Home (formerly: Wifi) app on your mobile. I guess they are ending support for OnHub control protocols in the cloud. So you'd need to replace the software in the router such that it could be controlled some other way.
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y agoRight; personally I'd be quite happy if the EOL process was "here's all the needed source code to build a kernel and trivial userland, and steps to build and flash a firmware image that boots a busybox shell but doesn't have our management binaries" and then let the community do whatever they want (since that's basically what you want in order to repurpose the thing or build OpenWRT for it).
- m4rtink 5y agoThey should already provide sources for all the GPL licensed bits to be compliant - build scripts and bootloader keys are usually the biggest problem.
- aagha 5y agoWhat utter BS! > "After that, your router will still work, but it will not receive any new software features or security updates, and performance cannot be guaranteed. You will not be able to use any Google Home app features to do things like update network settings, add devices, or run speed tests. And Google Assistant commands like “Hey Google, pause my Wi-Fi” will also not be available." [0] It'll work, but you won't be able to control it in any way! 0 - From the email I received telling me support was ending
- cube00 5y agoSpeaking of BS > Since OnHub routers were introduced 6 years ago, a lot has changed. In 2022, support for these older devices will end. Given the devices were over spec'ed to allow for future expansion I highly doubt they're outdated already.
- ineedasername 5y agoMy router is about the same age, and with a 200Mbs dl speed and ~20 devices attached (no more than 6-8 actually in active use at the same time) everything still works fine all these years later. No one every complains when a few of us are streaming video and someone starts downloading > 20GB Steam game-- the router adjusts, streams continue, Steam uses whatever is left over, etc.
- ocdtrekkie 5y agoReminds me of my Nexus Q: An extremely high quality, overspecced device, that Google deleted in order to replace the functionality with Chromecast, a drastically weaker, much poorer quality product. But hey, it sold better.
- dmitrygr 5y agoThat story is not as simple as you make it sound... <dissolve/fade to flashback> The team was "android at home" and the year was 2012. This was google's first effort at home automation, and besides $60 lightbulbs you could turn off wirelessly that nobody at the time needed, we had the Q. The main focus for Q was audio. Fancy, high quality audio. It had a very nice amp. It even had very fancy hardware to allow synchronized audio playback without software resampling (an oscillator we could change the frequency of to pull it to master's freq). There was a second device in the works - a cheaper one, since Q was not at all cheap to make. We had a huge TV in our area of the building. And one day, on said TV, we saw the announcement of chromecast. By google. This was the first any of us heard of it. It did 90% of what our device did, but we were targeting $xxx and it was $15... At this point in time, the android and the non-android parts of google did not communicate much, and kept many secrets from each other. I doubt the folks in the chrome team even knew of our project. At google IO we took preorders for the Q, but given this new "chromecast" thing, it made no sense to continue, so everyone who pre-ordered one got one for free, and no support was ever provided, nor were any updates. In theory, the android bits for it are published and you can build android for it just fine.
- bochoh 5y agoI could see them doing this if they hadn’t already migrated the OnHub devices to the new google home app that controls the new Nest WiFi devices. It’s not like the control plane is going away here - the hard work of migrating to their new cloud has already been done.
- remir 5y agoAre these running the same OS and software as the Nest/Google Wifi routers? If yes, then I'm not sure why Google couldn't at least support them in terms of security patches.
- adolph 5y agoLooks like some interesting hardware for ~$60 at the bookstore. Generous RAM and flash, bluetooth and zigbee. Sibling comment has the root instructions. https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/32823-google-tp-link-onhub-router-reviewed https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/32...
- sahaj 5y agoIt's a great device and functions flawlessly with a large number of connected clients. I have installed at least a dozen of these for various family members.
- greatgib 5y ago<<A special discount code has been emailed to OnHub users only, for 40% off Nest Wifi on the Google Store.>> Looking at that, I'm wondering who is stupid enough to buy a new device from them like this. It is like 'bite me once, bite me again please.'. 'eh, we just self destroyed your device, because, fuck you, but here is a coupon to buy a new one from us that we will also kill in a few years' ...
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y agoI dunno, I'd have to do a TCO analysis; if they give you 40% off, and you just assume it'll die after X years but be fully supported for that time and then you upgrade to a faster unit with next-gen wifi or whatever, it could still work out to be a good deal. Like... not my cup of tea (TCO is even nicer when the unit's lifespan is indefinite), but it's a plausible tradeoff.
- ineedasername 5y agoI would only agree with that if Google fully published their support roadmap ahead of time so that I could know what I'm buying. Especially in light of the $ at any given time: $300 when there's 6 years of support ahead is fine, but it's not worth $300 anymore when there's only 4,3,2 years of support left. How can you possibly do a TCO analysis without that information? They at least do this for their Pixel phones.
- gruez 5y ago>and then you upgrade to a faster unit with next-gen wifi or whatever Do people actually need next-gen wifi? My impression is that 99.9+% of people would be well served by a mid-range 802.11ac router (eg. AC1750[1]) from years ago, because the most bandwidth intensive thing they do is watch 4k netflix (~25 Mb/s). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11ac-2013 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11ac-2013
- admax88qqq 5y agoI'm sure people said the same thing about 802.11ac when everyone was on n, or n when everyone was on g. Faster is always better. New 802.11ax also improves contention between devices.
- whatever1 5y agoF Google. Every time I trusted you with my money for hardware I ended up with paperweights. They don’t even open up the protocols for products they artificially eol, you have to dump them. Never ever again.
- Jnr 5y agoAnd here I am with my 10+ years old Mikrotik router, still receiving frequent updates and new functionality.
- whatever1 5y agoBtw Onhub does not even have a browser accessible interface like every router has. The only way to manage it is through the app (that they will decommission). Reviewers and experts called this out at the time, but Google reassured that onhub will not face any issues since they will commit to long term support of the device. As a testament to that they highlighted the overspecification of the device (it had enormous ram and cpu overhead) that would allow it to continuously improve.
- reaperducer 5y agoOnhub does not even have a browser accessible interface like every router has I know some people who didn't jump onto Airports because of this. If this is important to you, avoid Amazon's eero line, as well.
- waych 5y agoUnlike Google's wifi products, all the eeros I own, including the first generation versions, still regularly get updated and are still supported. They also still function when newer revisions are added to the mesh.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- chias 5y agoSame with Google Wifi and Google Home Nest. Also, fun fact, during an internet outage some time ago I learned that your Google Wifi can't even route locally if you don't have a live connection to the internet. That is, my Desktop could not connect to my NAS -- both wired via Ethernet to my Google Wifi network -- because there was no Internet access. This is a "feature", and is working as intended: https://twitter.com/madebygoogle/status/1294819896019189761 https://twitter.com/madebygoogle/status/1294819896019189761 Don't buy Google home networking equipment.
- charcircuit 5y agoDon't misrepresent them. It's a limitation. Not a feature.
- sega_sai 5y agoOkay, seeing this news and the fact that that onhub page is still up on google's site, I'm certainly not going to get a google nest (and I literally had them in my basket in google store). I understand retiring without much notice of free for users websites/services, but retiring hardware is IMO a different thing...
- ineedasername 5y agoWhy wouldn't they still let it be manageable in the app? Not providing additional updates is one thing, but essentially bricking the device is absolutely not necessary.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- bonoboTP 5y agoIt's a meme now that Google doesn't support anything long term and breaks compatibility etc. all the time. Why? Because that's what's incentivized for the engineers and managers. You climb the career ladder by releasing new stuff. Supporting old stuff is a dead end careerwise. If that's the culture, this is what you get. On the whole, it does seem to work out well for them!
- kohlerm 5y agomonorepo culture, everyone needs to use the latest and "greatest"
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- drusepth 5y agoIt's also just kind of the natural outcome of any company that has literally thousands of "product" lines. Some work, some don't, and some become less and less important to support over time for a myriad of different reasons. Small businesses with fewer products are arguably more incentivized to ensure each product lasts long-term, but it's not uncommon to see them moving on from product to product, too. They just have far fewer in total to see "Google ends yet another product!"-esque headlines about.
- baskethead 5y agoHow many people purchased these well after their “introduction” date 6 years ago? I can imagine some people bought these 3-4 years ago. Being forced to replace them is so scummy, I will never trust Google for any sort of product.
- mattvv 5y agoI had to take down my onhub this weekend, it was my primary router and my network kept dropping, it was part of a google wifi mesh and now one of the wifi points has taken over. Something feels like suspect. Was working fine for 2 years in this config
- nirav72 5y agoI've been doing my best to stay away google hardware for this exact reason. I mean I get that hardware can get old and be out of standards. But some of their decisions are just questionable from a consumer standpoint. I have a pixel 4a and a few 1st gen Google homes. The pixel 4a was just my way of compromising about not wanting to spend $1000 on a latest Samsung device every 2-3 years. It cost me a fraction of what I would've paid for if I had bought a Samsung android device. I'm not too worried once it stops receiving updates in couple of years. Regarding the Google Home pucks and display - most of them were either free or heavily discounted during holiday season couple years ago. But for networking, there are better consumer grade routers that will last for a long time. If anything - lot of devices allow for flashing open source firmware like tomato or DDWRT/OpenWRT to extend support long after the manufacturer has stopped providing updates.
- causi 5y agoGoogle reassured that onhub will not face any issues since they will commit to long term support of the device. Which is hilarious because of course they didn't. They never do. How many times does Google have to fuck their hardware customers before people wise up? This isn't even the first time Google has done this explicitly to force customers to buy into the Nest ecosystem. Remember when they bought Revolv and then bricked all their $300 smart home hubs to force people to buy Nest hubs instead? Anyone who trusts Google not to drop them the very instant it becomes profitable to do so is a damn fool.
- zibzab 5y agoKilled by Google, hardware edition.