Google to end support for OnHub routers in 2022

Btw 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).<p>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.

&lt;&lt;A special discount code has been emailed to OnHub users only, for 40% off Nest Wifi on the Google Store.&gt;&gt;<p>Looking at that, I&#x27;m wondering who is stupid enough to buy a new device from them like this. It is like &#x27;bite me once, bite me again please.&#x27;.<p>&#x27;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&#x27; ...

And 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.<p>And I look at compatibility matrix before buying it.<p>This strategy has worked very well. I upgrade on <i>my</i> terms.

What utter BS!<p>&gt; &quot;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.&quot; [0]<p>It&#x27;ll work, but you won&#x27;t be able to control it in any way!<p>0 - From the email I received telling me support was ending

In case anyone wants it, here&#x27;s how to root a TP-Link OnHub. They&#x27;re essentially glorified chromebooks, with some magic sauce on them.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.exploitee.rs&#x2F;index.php&#x2F;Rooting_The_Google_OnHub" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.exploitee.rs&#x2F;index.php&#x2F;Rooting_The_Google_OnHub</a><p>Dis: Googler, not near Nest&#x2F;Home

It&#x27;s a meme now that Google doesn&#x27;t support anything long term and breaks compatibility etc. all the time. Why? Because that&#x27;s what&#x27;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&#x27;s the culture, this is what you get. On the whole, it does seem to work out well for them!

Oh Google... People do not care when it was introduced - people care for support from the time when the last one got sold!

&gt; You won’t be able to update things like Wi-Fi network settings, add additional Wifi devices, or run speed tests.<p>Wow, I&#x27;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?

F Google.<p>Every time I trusted you with my money for hardware I ended up with paperweights.<p>They don’t even open up the protocols for products they artificially eol, you have to dump them.<p>Never ever again.

It 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&#x2F;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.

If 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&#x27;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.

I&#x27;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&#x27;ve paid for if I had bought a Samsung android device. I&#x27;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&#x2F;OpenWRT to extend support long after the manufacturer has stopped providing updates.

&quot;End support&quot; 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.

Doesn&#x27;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&#x27;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.

Another one bites the dust. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;killedbygoogle.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;killedbygoogle.com&#x2F;</a>

Does anybody know if Google will shut down all your accounts in retaliation if you try to enforce consumer rights laws on them?<p>In this case I&#x27;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).

And they expect people to buy hardware from them in the future?

At the risk of sounding cynical, I will say that anyone buying a router from Google should have known exactly what to expect.<p>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

The link « you’ll need to upgrade to a new wifi » points to a google wifi product page whose big bold tag line is<p>« Wi-Fi you can count on »<p>Oh the irony.

How 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.

&gt; Since OnHub routers were introduced 6 years ago…<p>I’m curious, does anyone know when the product stopped being sold?

Looks like some interesting hardware for ~$60 at the bookstore. Generous RAM and flash, bluetooth and zigbee. Sibling comment has the root instructions.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.smallnetbuilder.com&#x2F;wireless&#x2F;wireless-reviews&#x2F;32823-google-tp-link-onhub-router-reviewed" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.smallnetbuilder.com&#x2F;wireless&#x2F;wireless-reviews&#x2F;32...</a>

I 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.

<i>Google reassured that onhub will not face any issues since they will commit to long term support of the device.</i><p>Which is hilarious because of course they didn&#x27;t. They never do. How many times does Google have to fuck their hardware customers before people wise up? This isn&#x27;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 <i>instant</i> it becomes profitable to do so is a damn fool.

This bodes well for their flailing cloud gaming service, Stadia.

Okay, seeing this news and the fact that that onhub page is still up on google&#x27;s site, I&#x27;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&#x2F;services, but retiring hardware is IMO a different thing...

And here I am with my 10+ years old Mikrotik router, still receiving frequent updates and new functionality.

I 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

When 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?

Abstractly bogus, but on a rational analysis my TP-Link OnHub has already lasted wayyyyyyy longer than any other access point I&#x27;ve ever owned. Its predecessor, an ASUS RT-N66U, lasted barely two years.

Are these running the same OS and software as the Nest&#x2F;Google Wifi routers? If yes, then I&#x27;m not sure why Google couldn&#x27;t at least support them in terms of security patches.

Why wouldn&#x27;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.

I&#x27;m almost degoogled... except for Recaptcha, and my Pixel phone with LineageOS...

Is that another company that they purchased and crushed?

Killed by Google, hardware edition.