Purchase Advice - Asus / Non-Asus Replacment

[i82register]

Looking for advice.
I have an aging RC-AC3100 that served me well for 8 years and I'm looking to replace it. I bought a GT-AC2900 just a year ago and was very disappointment with the End of Life notice by Asus.

I am looking for something were this won't happen again; I'm considering the GT-AX11000 Pro / RT-AX88U Pro; When will those models reach End of Life?

Also, RT-BE88U is within my price range; its brand new, but it is not supported by Merlin firmware which I am in love with.
Alternatively - maybe its time to make a switch; TP Link seems interesting but only BE900 supports Wireguard, and its expensive.

Any advice?
https://rog.asus.com/ca-en/networking/rog-rapture-gt-ax11000-pro-model/

 

[jerry6]

i have the AX1100 pro and it has been rock solid when will support end ? Good question I hope to use it for a good 10 years like my AC3200 but these days with the models changing so rapidly you take your chances . Buy the cheapest model that suits your needs and pray that support will be for many years

 

[tiko]

As someone who was been working in the dev industry within the U.S., I am personally thinking that all of these EOL notices have the same origin. Lately all companies have been reducing their staff, firing many people and restructuring their own processes. Maybe Asus has been facing the same, and many people were let go, or are being let go.

When that happens, the teams staying cannot deal with all the dev that was happening, and they were the ones who had to pick up what products to support. Possibly they were given an instruction to streamline the code for less variables and newer models will all look the same (like Apple iPhones) because it's cheaper to maintain. So possibly support could be 10 years easily for newer models.

This is just my 2 cents from my perspective and from seeing what has been happening in the industry globally.

 

[tiddlywink]

..

 

[RMerlin]

Those are minimal support timelines published specifically to address legislations in the UK. It's highly likely that real support will last longer than that, based on Asus' past support timelines.

 

[tiddlywink]

..

 

[sfx2000]

Those are minimal support timelines published specifically to address legislations in the UK. It's highly likely that real support will last longer than that, based on Asus' past support timelines.

Back in the day, wasn't there some kind of settlement in the US regarding Asus SW security issues on their devices for a period of time?

Perhaps that's why we had RT-AC68U direct support for over 10 years until that time limit expired...

 

[RMerlin]

Back in the day, wasn't there some kind of settlement in the US regarding Asus SW security issues on their devices for a period of time?

No.

 

[Justinh]

Back in the day, wasn't there some kind of settlement in the US regarding Asus SW security issues on their devices for a period of time?

Perhaps that's why we had RT-AC68U direct support for over 10 years until that time limit expired...

Maybe you are you are thinking of this: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/new...ers-cloud-services-put-consumers-privacy-risk

"The proposed consent order will require ASUS to establish and maintain a comprehensive security program subject to independent audits for the next 20 years."

 

[Tech9]

The most likely reason for RT-AC68U extremely long support was AiMesh marketing. Many people had one of the many variants and this fact was used to sell them another Asus router for AiMesh. Brilliant marketing strategy and worked quite well for AiMesh introduction.

 

[tiddlywink]

..

 

[jerry6]

Real support is 4 years as stated by Asus. Anything beyond that should not be assumed nor counted on when making a purchase.

UK only even then my AX and AXE1100 are good until 2026 probably longer if past experience counts my RT-12 was good for over 10 years just retired it in 2015

 

[i82register]

GT-AX11000 4 years (until 31th December 2025)
RT-AX88U Pro 4 years (until 31th December 2026)
RT-BE88U 4 years (until 31th December 2028)

[Networking Product] Duration of Security Update Support (only for UK) | Official Support | ASUS Global

Support is 4 years from release. Anything beyond that, is fictional today.

If you want longevity and to stay with Asus, buy the TUF-AX4200/TUF-AX6000 and flash with openwrt.

Very interesting offer, thank you - I will look into it.

 

[i82register]

Those are minimal support timelines published specifically to address legislations in the UK. It's highly likely that real support will last longer than that, based on Asus' past support timelines.

Any plans to support Merlin on recent model?

 

[Tech9]

Any plans to support Merlin on recent model?

See this:

[ 3006.102 alpha Build(s) ] Testing available build(s)

https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/test-builds No support on Alpha builds GT-BE98_PRO RT-BE96U New Builds: 2024-09-25 GT-BE98_PRO RT-BE96U New Builds: 2024-10-08 RT-BE96U GT-BE98_PRO RT-BE86U RT-BE88U 3006.102.xx (xx-xxx-xxxx) 2024-10-08 - NEW: Added support for RT-BE88U (based on GPL...

www.snbforums.com

 

[i82register]

See this:

[ 3006.102 alpha Build(s) ] Testing available build(s)

https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/test-builds No support on Alpha builds GT-BE98_PRO RT-BE96U New Builds: 2024-09-25 GT-BE98_PRO RT-BE96U New Builds: 2024-10-08 RT-BE96U GT-BE98_PRO RT-BE86U RT-BE88U 3006.102.xx (xx-xxx-xxxx) 2024-10-08 - NEW: Added support for RT-BE88U (based on GPL...

www.snbforums.com

Thank you - useful info; I'll hang tight till we know which two Wifi 7 routers will be added

 

[Squall Leonhart]

As someone who was been working in the dev industry within the U.S., I am personally thinking that all of these EOL notices have the same origin. Lately all companies have been reducing their staff, firing many people and restructuring their own processes. Maybe Asus has been facing the same, and many people were let go, or are being let go.

When that happens, the teams staying cannot deal with all the dev that was happening, and they were the ones who had to pick up what products to support. Possibly they were given an instruction to streamline the code for less variables and newer models will all look the same (like Apple iPhones) because it's cheaper to maintain. So possibly support could be 10 years easily for newer models.

This is just my 2 cents from my perspective and from seeing what has been happening in the industry globally.

lets not conspire bs.
Asus has been on a hiring spree lately.