Do Asus demands render router useless?

[joeejo]

Asus demands you share all your important information of the router looses most of its features.

They harvest information about your usage, your settings and even the web sites you visit and if you choose to "withdraw" from sharing this private information, this is the warning you get:

"Please note that users are required to agree to share information before using DDNS, Remote Connection (ASUS Router APP、Lyra APP、AiCloud、AiDisk), AiProtection, Traffic analyzer, Apps analyzer, Adaptive QoS, Game Boost and Web history. At any time, users can search for the contents of the terms at this page or stop sharing the information with other parties by choosing Withdraw."


We pay a LOT of money for an Asus router BECAUSE of the features, however if you do not give in to their demands for private information, they disable the most important features of the router. This makes Asus the least secure router I can find.

I am about to upgrade my router. I have used Asus routers for 20+ years now but this privacy issue has discouraged me from buying another.

Can someone recommend a router that has the features of Asus without the privacy blackmail? Or is there a way to disable the invasion of privacy and still benefit from the features?

Thank you

 

[dave14305]

Nothing has really changed about those features except requiring consent after the GDPR regulations went into effect. So they were always "harvesting" your data, but not required to inform you. This has been discussed a lot in the past year on the forums.

 

[Val D.]

I have used Asus routers for 20+ years

The new consumer routers are produced with bare minimum engineering, quality control and software development efforts. All manufacturers, not only ASUS. What we get these days is mostly disposable products (CPU on 100C... should be fine!), with bold false advertising (MU-MIMO... 3 times faster?) and even faking own products (R6700... Broadcom? MediaTek?). It's all about money.

 

[tekknyne3]

The new consumer routers are produced with bare minimum engineering, quality control and software development efforts. All manufacturers, not only ASUS. What we get these days is mostly disposable products (CPU on 100C... should be fine!), with bold false advertising (MU-MIMO... 3 times faster?) and even faking own products (R6700... Broadcom? MediaTek?). It's all about money.

Haha, that's what capitalism does. But I wonder if there are in fact any router manufacturers that hang their hat on not selling your private info to marketing goons ?

 

[Val D.]

But I wonder if there are in fact any router manufacturers that hang their hat on not selling your private info to marketing goons ?

Many consumer routers in particular don't collect user information. Internet sites and services you connect to collect user data. Your ISP knows where you connect to, your mobile operator knows where you physically are, etc. Many people put voluntarily cameras and microphones in their homes, just because the device was "on sale" or it's a "great gift" to someone you care about. There is nothing Free in this World. In order to get something you have to give something back.

Do you know cameras in some stores collect user information too? Technology exists to identify your gender, your approximate age, your interests based on what you look at inside the store and for how long, etc. What is Free WiFi inside Walmart stores for, for example? To make you happy or to track what you look for on your phone? Data collection is everywhere and is unavoidable. And it is going to get worse over time. All we can do is to limit unnecessary data sharing, it is still possible.