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Google rolls out “If This Then That” support for its $200 OnHub router

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21–30 of 196 posts

Re: Google rolls out “If This Then That” support for its $200 OnHub router

#21
post #11

I cannot understand why anyone would buy hardware from Google. Chromecast for $35 a pop is as much as I'd be willing to pay from something that they could arbitrarily shut down.

Like how I get a popup notice on my Samsung TV every few days about they're shutting off various apps like Skype on their smart platform?

$35 is about the right amount of money a smart TV enabler.

Re: Google rolls out “If This Then That” support for its $200 OnHub router

#22
post #16
post #11

I cannot understand why anyone would buy hardware from Google. Chromecast for $35 a pop is as much as I'd be willing to pay from something that they could arbitrarily shut down.

Im curious how you think they'll shut your router off? Certainly, they could turn cloud based features such as this off, but the router itself?

OnHub runs (effectively) ChromeOS and self-updates, so in theory Google could send an update that bricks it but they'd have to be stupid to invite that class action lawsuit.

Re: Google rolls out “If This Then That” support for its $200 OnHub router

#23
post #16
post #11

I cannot understand why anyone would buy hardware from Google. Chromecast for $35 a pop is as much as I'd be willing to pay from something that they could arbitrarily shut down.

Im curious how you think they'll shut your router off? Certainly, they could turn cloud based features such as this off, but the router itself?

Your question rests on the assumption that it's "my" router, since it's a piece of physical hardware that I bought, and that it will continue to function after they shut down the cloud-based features that they used to lure customers in and justify the price tag.

Past experience - most recently with Revolv - suggests that your assumption is wrong and Google has no problem bricking the device instead of letting it function without cloud support.

In other words: When Google shuts down a product, it's 100% shut down. Hence, I cannot understand why anyone would buy non-throwaway hardware from them.

Re: Google rolls out “If This Then That” support for its $200 OnHub router

#24
post #5

I just wish more of these companies would add support for a locally runnable IFTTT equivalent, or at least something like MQTT support so you can bake your own.

There is startup near me called losant[1] that pretty much does this. Their protocol is basically MQTT with a few small additions so if they /did/ shut down it wouldn't be quite as difficult to get up and running.

Unfortunately all of the neat IFTTT style stuff is all on their servers. They don't have nearly as many inputs and ouputs as IFTTT yet, but it is still enough to do some pretty neat stuff. They have also made it really easy to do reasonably secure stuff with your own electronics.

[1] Kind of difficult to find, because the just changed their name. http://losant.com

Re: Google rolls out “If This Then That” support for its $200 OnHub router

#25
post #18
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im curious how you think they'll shut your router off? Certainly, they could turn cloud based features such as this off, but the router itself?

What would stop them? EDIT: @sohailk, think you're missing the point, which is not if it's logical, but what literally would stop them from doing this? (Hardware, legal, etc.)

common sense? locking down unnecessary software features is bad but not gamebreaking. locking down hardware would just be crazy.

Re: Google rolls out “If This Then That” support for its $200 OnHub router

#26
post #5

I just wish more of these companies would add support for a locally runnable IFTTT equivalent, or at least something like MQTT support so you can bake your own.

Look at running OpenWRT on a cheapo consumer router (I use a TP-Link router, but nowadays TP-Link is being stupid and shutting down the ability to load custom firmware so avoid them). You can install all kinds of packages like mosquitto MQTT server.

Re: Google rolls out “If This Then That” support for its $200 OnHub router

#28
post #18
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im curious how you think they'll shut your router off? Certainly, they could turn cloud based features such as this off, but the router itself?

What would stop them? EDIT: @sohailk, think you're missing the point, which is not if it's logical, but what literally would stop them from doing this? (Hardware, legal, etc.)

[deleted]

Re: Google rolls out “If This Then That” support for its $200 OnHub router

#29
post #4

Until they discontinue support and turn the service off in a 18 months. It's hard to put any faith in google products anymore, especially with the new alphabet revenue strategy put into place.

The opinions stated here are my own, not necessarily those of Google.

If you are referring to Revolv, Nest/Revolv stopped selling the device the day Nest acquired them (Oct 2014), and they are also issuing refunds to anyone that contacts them[0]. The other major hardware cancel I know about was the Nexus Q which Google also provided a full refund for anyone that contacts them.

Sure, Google could cancel it, but they seem to only do that with something if it was a total flop, and they then do what they can to fully refund whoever was effected.

http://revolv.com/

Re: Google rolls out “If This Then That” support for its $200 OnHub router

#30
post #3

OnHub is one of the best routers I've ever owned. I've been buying custom router hardware for years -- I even went as far as building my own OpenBSD / PFsense router way back when, but nothing I've ever built (or bought!) has given me the same reliability / stability / speed as the OnHub. I'm seriously impressed with it. Also: the OnHub management app for mobile is AMAZING. It is so cool. Awesome product. Really grea…

Single data point on custom router build reliability:

I've been using IPFire/pfSense on a little passively cooled Celeron box for a couple years. It reliably hits the theoretical gigabit limit ~800Mb/s and has never once failed even while running intrusion detection. Coupled with a ~$150 wireless router-turned-access point, I have never had a single reliability issue.

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