I'm almost degoogled... except for Recaptcha, and my Pixel phone with LineageOS...
Google to end support for OnHub routers in 2022
141–150 of 230 posts
Re: Google to end support for OnHub routers in 2022
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
I probably will. The OnHub has performed substantially better than the other consumer wireless routers I've used, and after 5 years it's due to be replaced anyway. Might as well take the discount.
Why is it due to be replaced? Has your bandwidth speed substantially improved to the point that OnHub can no longer keep up? Because otherwise it sounds like you're happy with where you're at. There's no reason to replace a well-functioning device that does everything you need just because it's reached the end of the ever-shortening consumer electronics lifecycle. My own router is about ~7 years old, I have twice the…
WiFi isn’t that simple: every generation makes substantial improvements in things like how they handle contention with multiple clients or interference. Since most of us have more than one device active these days, that is noticeable — especially if you have devices which also talk to each other rather than exclusively over the internet.
When I replaced my 2016 OnHub + Google WiFi mesh with an Eero WiFi 6 system, I saw across the board improvements in latency and bandwidth from almost every client (faster ones more than doubled). We also lost the sporadic hangs for iOS devices which Google never fixed for totally innocent reasons.
Re: Google to end support for OnHub routers in 2022
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'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.
Faster is not always better. I upgraded to 10Gbps for my network and I barely use above 1Gbps, what I originally had. I upgraded my Wi-Fi to wifi6 and I can’t tell any difference at all, despite having around 40 wireless devices on my network. All our phones support it and I literally don’t notice anything. We may be getting to the point where more speed is not as important.
We may be getting to the point where more speed is not as important.
To an extent this is true, but part of this is just how long US broadband speeds stagnated, especially upload speeds, killing off any product ideas that required high upload bandwidth. I'm sure that over time we'll find uses for more speed.
Re: Google to end support for OnHub routers in 2022
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
> after 5 years it's due to be replaced anyway Are people really replacing their home network infrastructure every 5 years?
The best move is to add cables where possible. I’ve got a slightly upper scale consumer mesh network (with Ethernet backhaul) for anything that moves, everything else is connected via cables (have to admit that I only had to draw one cable from the fiber outlet to the other side of the room where an Ethernet outlet was ready) and gigabit switches, both of them at a very low cost. I get almost the same speed and laten…
Definitely this. I use any time where I have to open a wall as an excuse to put Ethernet in it. Bathroom getting renovated? Great, use the opportunity to run Ethernet up to the second floor. Garage has a drywall puncture with moldy insulation behind it? Great, run Ethernet.
The upside here is adding Ethernet has been very low cost for me: Literally the cost of the cable and the keystones. Downside is I've been here like two years and my Ethernet runs are still somewhat random/piecemeal.
In one case, which has performed surprisingly well for basically the whole two years: I used an existing coax run with a pair of Motorola MoCA adapters, which provides a gigabit connection from my basement to a room that's particularly hard to retrofit a connection to.
Wi-Fi is for guests and smartphones. Ethernet is for life.
Re: Google to end support for OnHub routers in 2022
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
Make sure you check out some of the other "pro-sumer" lines first. I moved from a flaky consumer router which dropped Wifi all the time to a Ubiquiti which has been rock solid. I'm not recommending Ubiquiti specifically given recent events but just using it as an example of a prosumer brand, even a few years old now and it still gets firmware updates, where as my old consumer router would be lucky to get any updates…
> Make sure you check out some of the other "pro-sumer" lines first Unless you enjoy networking as a hobby, I would worry with that strategy that there is a sizeable risk of wasting your time with unreliable devices, with ongoing maintenance work, or having to rework your network in a few years. My current solution is to buy Unifi UAP-AC-LR (~120USD) and configure it as an access point using the “Unifi Network” app f…
Doing exactly this works well, but the other bits of UniFi kindof suck. The desktop software is flaky and I’ve seen some really unreliable firmware updates. The non AP hardware is really overpriced as well
Re: Google to end support for OnHub routers in 2022
#146What 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 wo…
Speaking 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.
Reminds 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.
Re: Google to end support for OnHub routers in 2022
#147It 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.
On 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.
Here'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.
Re: Google to end support for OnHub routers in 2022
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
I probably will. The OnHub has performed substantially better than the other consumer wireless routers I've used, and after 5 years it's due to be replaced anyway. Might as well take the discount.
Why is it due to be replaced? Has your bandwidth speed substantially improved to the point that OnHub can no longer keep up? Because otherwise it sounds like you're happy with where you're at. There's no reason to replace a well-functioning device that does everything you need just because it's reached the end of the ever-shortening consumer electronics lifecycle. My own router is about ~7 years old, I have twice the…
I’m guessing that Google has datamined everything that it could from all of the users who would get something like this, so there is no point financially in supporting it.
Re: Google to end support for OnHub routers in 2022
#149If 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.
Re: Google to end support for OnHub routers in 2022
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
I probably will. The OnHub has performed substantially better than the other consumer wireless routers I've used, and after 5 years it's due to be replaced anyway. Might as well take the discount.
> after 5 years it's due to be replaced anyway Are people really replacing their home network infrastructure every 5 years?
5-6 years seems to be about the time between wifi revisions (1999, 2003 (g), 2009 (n), 2013 (ac), 2021 (ax/6))