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> Boy am I glad I replaced stock firmware with OpenWRT the moment my router came out of box last week. I have had an Asus for years and use the vendor firmware

> Boy am I glad I replaced stock firmware with OpenWRT the moment my router came out of box last week. I have had an Asus for years and use the vendor firmware, and update it semi-regularly when I remember to, and have never had an issue. I bought an Asus because they have decent capabilities out-of-box, but also because there is the option of using third-party firmware (which I've never bothered to do). Even with this event I'll probably stick with the OEM firmware.

daneel_w 3y ago
Even if it turns out (once this event has been fully understood) that the vendor-installed firmware "phoned home" to collect an update of sorts that led to this?
- rajamaka 3y ago
  I have like 50 other pieces of software on my systems calling home whenever they want. One more for the pile I guess.
  - daneel_w 3y ago
    Looking at it in a shallow way I suppose one could say that. But to me there's a great distinction between a switch/router and e.g. a smartphone or desktop browser.
    - wernercd 3y ago
      Switch/Router, IMO, is a bigger reason to have automatic pull/updates. You're looking at your phone on a day to day basis. Using your desktop. The router/switch/lightbulb/etc? All stuff that sits in the background and gets forgotten. Those things should do self maintenance - especially with zero days and issues that require updates to not be pwned the instant you connect to the www.
      - daneel_w 3y ago
        I think it's an entirely acceptable solution for non-technical users who don't know how or cannot be bothered to improve the scenario. Personally I would never run Asus/Netgear/Zyxel/etc's all-in-one router firmware on the network's edge. Probably not even on the inside of the network.
        wernercd 3y ago
        Well depending on how you roll, I've had 2 routers - inside/outside. Guest network, IoTs, etc on the outside. Computers, Phones, Printers on the inside. Don't currently - but I also don't have many IoTs currently. Will probably return to this at some point but moved and haven't went out of my way to set it up "fancy" like. But realistically, it's definitely better for the "masses" to have stuff that just takes care of itself. Grandma don't know how to update router firmware and people like that are why stuff like Apple's "appliance" model is better than Androids more hands on approach.
        BuckRogers 3y ago
        Even some of us software developers get tired of managing all of these devices. I am not opposed to “appliances“, nor do I view it in someway diminishes my or anyone else’s elite status because we don’t want to manage and optimize eight computers for life. I do prefer Android for streaming devices, there’s just too much value added from using Android there. But I use an iPhone because I just want my phone to work. And I limit my desktop computer count to exactly one. For networking, I use Asus Merlin. I don’t use it for its flexibility or features, just for the stability which this recent news confirmed was a good idea. The only special features I even use are an OpenVPN server, and secure DNS over TLS to cover my devices that don’t support DNS over HTTPS.
- jameshart 3y ago
  The convenience of having a device that can phone home and update itself is far more valuable than the risk that occasionally one of those updates might cause a problem.
  - daneel_w 3y ago
    We're definitely two different kinds of people. When it comes to network equipment I value control and security over that sort of convenience any day. (add.: and I don't mean "different kinds of people" in a condescending way, but that we value different aspects and have different methods for going about these things)
    - jameshart 3y ago
      So, you want to manually download an update, install it and brick your device on your own schedule?
      - daneel_w 3y ago
        Now you're just taking a silly defensive position by trivializing what I said using stupid rhetoric... I prefer to be in control over updates for network equipment, even the router in my home, reviewing changes and feedback, and to be "on the ready" in case the update does not work. I leave automatic updates for things like browsers.
        jameshart 3y ago
        Sounds like a lot of work for something that should happen frequently and normally not cause any problems.
        daneel_w 3y ago
        It's actually not too bad in my case. All in all not that many minutes of pre-emptive effort even across a whole year. The hassle of a surprise Internet outage and having to find what/where the problem is would cost me more.
- throw0101c 3y ago
  > Even if it turns out (once this event has been fully understood) that the vendor-installed firmware "phoned home" to collect an update of sorts that led to this? I have auto-updates disabled.
  - jojobas 3y ago
    The author claims to have had auto-updates disabled as well, surprise surprise.
thomastjeffery 3y ago
I find it ironic that you are selling the reliability of ASUS' firmware on a post about it breaking.
- agret 3y ago
  If you read the article it was not a firmware issue, it was one of the security features it has downloaded an invalid config due to ASUS staff errors, the config caused the router to run out of available storage space and soft-brick. There was no firmware issue, any device will start crapping out when it runs out of available storage.
- throw0101c 3y ago
  > I find it ironic that you are selling the reliability of ASUS' firmware on a post about it breaking. What in Earthly existence does not break eventually? It's about dealing with the odds and rates of breakage.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
short_throw 3y ago
I'm like you, Asus router on stock firmware and happy. In my case I set that up after a bad experience with openwrt. Years ago I bought a $100 gigabit Linksys router, immediately flashed it with openwrt, and set it up. I assumed my isp was the reason my download speeds were struggling to hit 100mbps (new house and network all at once), and later when I bought my first NAS I assumed hdds are just inherently slow. I had abysmal network performance for over a year before I figured out my gigabit router was the performance bottleneck, my isp was giving me 3x what the router could handle. The reason for the terrible performance was that openwrt doesn't have the closed source binary blobs to run hardware accelerated routing, instead everything gets squeezed through the cpu, and my router couldn't do it. So basically, many routers lose performance, in my case I got a 10x performance drop, and openwrts website is all but useless for telling you which routers to buy. All I can say is be careful blindly installing openwrt unless your router has a CPU that's complete overkill for what you want to do...and none of the mid range consumer combined routers/access points meet that criteria.
heyoni 3y ago
Asus, the company that makes routers with paid monthly subscriptions whose trial you cannot opt out of? Go out a buy one of their newer nightshade whatever routers and see what I’m talking about. You literally cannot stop that thing from nmap’ing your home network for the first month. /edit I might be getting mixed up with netgear!
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

daneel_w 3y ago

Even if it turns out (once this event has been fully understood) that the vendor-installed firmware "phoned home" to collect an update of sorts that led to this?

rajamaka 3y ago
I have like 50 other pieces of software on my systems calling home whenever they want. One more for the pile I guess.
- daneel_w 3y ago
  Looking at it in a shallow way I suppose one could say that. But to me there's a great distinction between a switch/router and e.g. a smartphone or desktop browser.
  - wernercd 3y ago
    Switch/Router, IMO, is a bigger reason to have automatic pull/updates. You're looking at your phone on a day to day basis. Using your desktop. The router/switch/lightbulb/etc? All stuff that sits in the background and gets forgotten. Those things should do self maintenance - especially with zero days and issues that require updates to not be pwned the instant you connect to the www.
    - daneel_w 3y ago
      I think it's an entirely acceptable solution for non-technical users who don't know how or cannot be bothered to improve the scenario. Personally I would never run Asus/Netgear/Zyxel/etc's all-in-one router firmware on the network's edge. Probably not even on the inside of the network.
      - wernercd 3y ago
        Well depending on how you roll, I've had 2 routers - inside/outside. Guest network, IoTs, etc on the outside. Computers, Phones, Printers on the inside. Don't currently - but I also don't have many IoTs currently. Will probably return to this at some point but moved and haven't went out of my way to set it up "fancy" like. But realistically, it's definitely better for the "masses" to have stuff that just takes care of itself. Grandma don't know how to update router firmware and people like that are why stuff like Apple's "appliance" model is better than Androids more hands on approach.
        BuckRogers 3y ago
        Even some of us software developers get tired of managing all of these devices. I am not opposed to “appliances“, nor do I view it in someway diminishes my or anyone else’s elite status because we don’t want to manage and optimize eight computers for life. I do prefer Android for streaming devices, there’s just too much value added from using Android there. But I use an iPhone because I just want my phone to work. And I limit my desktop computer count to exactly one. For networking, I use Asus Merlin. I don’t use it for its flexibility or features, just for the stability which this recent news confirmed was a good idea. The only special features I even use are an OpenVPN server, and secure DNS over TLS to cover my devices that don’t support DNS over HTTPS.
jameshart 3y ago
The convenience of having a device that can phone home and update itself is far more valuable than the risk that occasionally one of those updates might cause a problem.
- daneel_w 3y ago
  We're definitely two different kinds of people. When it comes to network equipment I value control and security over that sort of convenience any day. (add.: and I don't mean "different kinds of people" in a condescending way, but that we value different aspects and have different methods for going about these things)
  - jameshart 3y ago
    So, you want to manually download an update, install it and brick your device on your own schedule?
    - daneel_w 3y ago
      Now you're just taking a silly defensive position by trivializing what I said using stupid rhetoric... I prefer to be in control over updates for network equipment, even the router in my home, reviewing changes and feedback, and to be "on the ready" in case the update does not work. I leave automatic updates for things like browsers.
      - jameshart 3y ago
        Sounds like a lot of work for something that should happen frequently and normally not cause any problems.
        daneel_w 3y ago
        It's actually not too bad in my case. All in all not that many minutes of pre-emptive effort even across a whole year. The hassle of a surprise Internet outage and having to find what/where the problem is would cost me more.
throw0101c 3y ago
> Even if it turns out (once this event has been fully understood) that the vendor-installed firmware "phoned home" to collect an update of sorts that led to this? I have auto-updates disabled.
- jojobas 3y ago
  The author claims to have had auto-updates disabled as well, surprise surprise.

thomastjeffery 3y ago

I find it ironic that you are selling the reliability of ASUS' firmware on a post about it breaking.

agret 3y ago
If you read the article it was not a firmware issue, it was one of the security features it has downloaded an invalid config due to ASUS staff errors, the config caused the router to run out of available storage space and soft-brick. There was no firmware issue, any device will start crapping out when it runs out of available storage.
throw0101c 3y ago
> I find it ironic that you are selling the reliability of ASUS' firmware on a post about it breaking. What in Earthly existence does not break eventually? It's about dealing with the odds and rates of breakage.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

short_throw 3y ago

I'm like you, Asus router on stock firmware and happy. In my case I set that up after a bad experience with openwrt. Years ago I bought a $100 gigabit Linksys router, immediately flashed it with openwrt, and set it up. I assumed my isp was the reason my download speeds were struggling to hit 100mbps (new house and network all at once), and later when I bought my first NAS I assumed hdds are just inherently slow. I had abysmal network performance for over a year before I figured out my gigabit router was the performance bottleneck, my isp was giving me 3x what the router could handle. The reason for the terrible performance was that openwrt doesn't have the closed source binary blobs to run hardware accelerated routing, instead everything gets squeezed through the cpu, and my router couldn't do it. So basically, many routers lose performance, in my case I got a 10x performance drop, and openwrts website is all but useless for telling you which routers to buy. All I can say is be careful blindly installing openwrt unless your router has a CPU that's complete overkill for what you want to do...and none of the mid range consumer combined routers/access points meet that criteria.

heyoni 3y ago

Asus, the company that makes routers with paid monthly subscriptions whose trial you cannot opt out of? Go out a buy one of their newer nightshade whatever routers and see what I’m talking about. You literally cannot stop that thing from nmap’ing your home network for the first month. /edit I might be getting mixed up with netgear!

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]