81–90 of 153 posts
So far Apple “just works”. Is it perfect? No. But I can’t imagine fuckup of this magnitude from them.
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If it's a "router" and you can't install a OpenWRT on it, then it's an absolute no-brainer to not to buy it.
For most non-technical people this is irrelevant. Even if the router supported OpenWRT, they wouldn't know how to install it, let alone how to configure it. Luckily, many (but certainly not all) continental West-European ISPs allow you to lease a Fritz!Box or you can buy one in a store and hook it up [1]. Perfect router/modem for consumers (not too complicated), can be configured through a web interface, and the hard…
And this is why "mandatory app to configure" is an instant dealbreaker for me for any piece of hardware. Don't buy crap like this. Force companies to be better.
When buying fridge, washing machine, oven etc, when I moved, I told the sales person, I like quality, am not price sensitive, but any device that requires an app or has a camera/mic built in is out of question. Some didn't know how to handle that, being used to sell it as a "good thing".
You probably meant "I want no frills product because of its simplicity, not because its cheap" but when that feedback reaches a PM, they'll only hear "I will pay more to not have a camera or a mic".
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I'd suggest buying the OpenWRT One. I've bought a bunch, and I think it's terrific.
The One is nice if you want to support the OpenWrt project, but if you want raw power, the GL.iNet Flint 2 (MT6000) is a much better choice. Faster SoC, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, one more 2.5 GBe port, twice as fast WiFi 6, and also supports vanilla OpenWrt.
Motorola was my last Android phone. Once they pushed an update that took 99% of my phones memory and I couldn’t install even a single app - I moved to iPhone and never looked back. Over 10 years and counting. I still can’t believe they literally bricked my phone back then. So far Apple “just works”. Is it perfect? No. But I can’t imagine fuckup of this magnitude from them.
apple airpods pro 2nd gen 'just don't work' with say samsung phones (s24 in our case) - constant disconnections, pairing fails maybe 50% of the time. Come with apple phone to very same plugs, and they 'just work'. Over effin' bluetooth that chinese plugs for 10 bucks have figured out better.
Wake me up when I can go on filesystem and copy to my computer any damn file I want from the device running unix kernel that I supposedly own, like photos and videos I took, over open standard usb.
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For most non-technical people this is irrelevant. Even if the router supported OpenWRT, they wouldn't know how to install it, let alone how to configure it. Luckily, many (but certainly not all) continental West-European ISPs allow you to lease a Fritz!Box or you can buy one in a store and hook it up [1]. Perfect router/modem for consumers (not too complicated), can be configured through a web interface, and the hard…
The British ISP I tend to recommend gives you a Frtizbox (included with monthly package with 12 month contract, but becomes your property), but most will include a router with their package, usually a rubbish one, and most people do not care about having a good router.
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When buying fridge, washing machine, oven etc, when I moved, I told the sales person, I like quality, am not price sensitive, but any device that requires an app or has a camera/mic built in is out of question. Some didn't know how to handle that, being used to sell it as a "good thing".
> I like quality, am not price sensitive but any device that requires an app or has a camera/mic built in is out of question You probably meant "I want no frills product because of its simplicity, not because its cheap" but when that feedback reaches a PM, they'll only hear "I will pay more to not have a camera or a mic".
I want a very good washing machine with frills, but it want it to wash well and quietly without needing to be configured from my phone over wifi.
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I'd suggest buying the OpenWRT One. I've bought a bunch, and I think it's terrific.
I'm waiting for the second version (supposedly has a better number of RJ45; that's where the "One" was a bit limited and an extra switch would have been required in the setup)
Instead I went with a Gl.inet device with three interfaces.
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When buying fridge, washing machine, oven etc, when I moved, I told the sales person, I like quality, am not price sensitive, but any device that requires an app or has a camera/mic built in is out of question. Some didn't know how to handle that, being used to sell it as a "good thing".
XFinity (Comcast) recently sent my parents a new router, and AFAICT there was no way to configure it from a LAN computer. It required a damn proprietary phone app, which I assume was bouncing commands through the internet.
Your best option is to purchase your own cable modem/router and quit renting that garbage hardware from Comcast.
Or kick them to the curb and go cableless using Verizon with a router that's worth paying for.
And this is why "mandatory app to configure" is an instant dealbreaker for me for any piece of hardware. Don't buy crap like this. Force companies to be better.
Stop mandating apps that will eventually break or cease being supported. Give us an OOBE that can be run independent of some mobile app.