ASUS rolled out an update to its firmware (3.0.0.6.102_34791) that now requires users to be over the age of 16 and to send a slew of metrics and data back to ASUS. If you do not agree or do not check the box to verify you are 16y or older, you cannot use the router. At this time, I’m not sure if ASUS has meant to disable the router for anyone under 16 or if it’s a bug.
You can opt out at any time but lose access to a slew of features:
Please note that users are required to agree to share their 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 the contents of the terms at this page or stop sharing their information with other parties by choosing Withdraw.
Moreover, ASUS disables automatic firmware updates and worse, all security upgrades unless you opt into the data sharing. Security upgrades perform the following:
Security upgrade incorporates security measures that continuously update its security file and scans to protect against malware, malicious scripts, and emerging threats in order to secure the router and ensure system stability. Some upgrades addressing important security issues or meeting legal/regulatory requirements will still be downloaded and installed automatically, even if “Security Upgrade” is turned off.
Edit: I have personally contacted their CEO’s office, but if others would like to voice their disapproval as well, here is a link: https://www.asus.com/us/support/article/787/
If you own a router from ASUS and find OpenWRT too difficult:
install Asuswrt-Merlin
The data sharing happens on merlin too
It builds on devices’ source code published by ASUS. The is no data sharing with ASUS.
Merlin’s privacy disclosure:
The only outbound connection made with me by this firmware is when the firmware checks for availability of a new version.
That thread is about the official firmware as distributed by ASUS.
Here are some screenshots from my router administration pages. Notice the “Powered by Asuswrt-Merlin”.
In the first image you can see that I have a particular feature disabled.
When I toggle it on I receive a warning that my information will be collected by Trend Micro.
I included another screenshot showing the location where I would withdraw my consent to having my data collected, were I to actually use the advanced features of the router, that I thought I was paying for at the point of sale. Instead I was apparently paying for the privilege of having the option dangled in front of me, behind an agreement for yet another, separate company to collect my family’s data.
I mean if you’re using their servers for all of that cloud management can you really expect them not to take a look? You can buy a router and install open source firmware that doesn’t scrub your data or keep giving money to giant corporations that put profits over customers.
deleted by creator
Probably. But still so shady to give the choice when it doesn’t actually work. Feels worse this way TBH.
never use stock router firmware
Any other open source alternative you recommend?
openwrt
On ASUS routers, the best choices are OpenWRT or Asuswrt-Merlin.
openwrt or ddwrt
Usually it’s OpenWRT
There is also FreshTomato if your router has Broadcom wifi chipset like mine does.
Broadcom sucks I would avoid it at all costs.
You know, I’d 99% of the time agree with you but has anyone else tried out the little (travel?) routers from GL-iNet?
Their default router interface ain’t half bad at all, and if you do need to use Luci you can simply do that too
I bought a couple of them for a family member and they haven’t poked me once for help with them.
i dont blame you. GL-inet routers have always seemed so cool to me. always wanted to get one.
paired with the blue merle firmware it would be a godlike setup
https://github.com/srlabs/blue-merle
but i think blue merle is not being maintained anymore… is there any other firmware with similar functionality? like imei rotation, mac randomizer, etc? that you know of, even for similar hardware
Fraid not.
I recall worrying about MAC address tracking one time and using Chainfire’s MAC privacy app, but that’s a non factor now since they’re randomised by default on Android on the most recent versions.
Removed by mod
Top level comment to remind the Open WRT fanboys that this ASUS router uses a Broadcom chipset, which is not supported on OpenWRT. Been seeing it recommended by a lot of replies to comments when it won’t be helpful in this case, since Broadcom chips don’t have open drivers
However, freshtomato is another router firmware, that isn’t as feature rich or well supported as opwnwrt, but is focused on supporting broadcom chipsets.
https://wiki.freshtomato.org/doku.php/hardware_compatibility
I flashed it to my netgear router with a broadcom chipset, it works wonderfully!
Yeah I’ve stayed out of those because it’s just felt like a knee jerk without actually even reading anything. “Someone said something critical about a router firmware, quick put OpenWRT on blast!” 😏
Should I need a new motherboard, which vendor would you guys recommend that’s not crap (as a company)? Gigabyte? GamersNexus had a few very negative reports on MSI as well.
Yeah gigabyte is solid. I was quite happy with the Aorus line up. I have never bought MSI because I’ve always felt them to be cheap and dodgy. So not surprised NG was having issues with them.
I hate gigabyte with a passion. The 980Ti Gaming G1 has explosion issues (literally) including mine and some other people. They didn’t step up. Then there’s the PSU debacle. There was an r/fuckgigabyte for a reason. I think just AsRock is left?
IMO, ASRock.
Considering that they’re probably the only mobo manufacturer that officially supports using consumer AM4 CPUs on a server (see ASRock Rack), and always supported ECC ram on all AM4 motherboards - and that I haven’t had anything negative happen with any of their products so far (at work) - I personally would choose ASRock next.
Haven’t had the chance to try them for AM5 yet, sadly.
The last thing I want is my router sharing information with other parties.
I worry about that more than I should. But yeah, that is the central hub that everything goes thru. I actually don’t even want it to ping Asus’s update servers because I can’t be sure what kind of data is being sent.
I moved to Merlin firmware and hoping that doesn’t have any telemetry. Unfortunately OpenWRT doesn’t support wifi 6/6E routers and even the rare ones it does support, aren’t really the greatest.
I want the asus hardware, just not their shitty software.
The list of supported WiFi 6-capable routers has a good number of entries.
But yeah, that is the central hub that everything goes thru
Does vpn help with this?
No.
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Yes it’s my fault for needing wifi 6 🤪
Give it a minute: Tech Jesus and his Nexus friends are having a great time with ASUS recently. I’m sincerely looking forward to how far they take things.
Who is this “Tech Jesus”?
Hello there
Stephen Burke, Editor-in-Chief and founder of Gamers Nexus. They do computer hardware reviews, consumer advocacy and sometimes even investigative journalism. Steve has a majestic mane, earning him that nickname.
See https://gamersnexus.net/ and https://www.youtube.com/@GamersNexus
Ah, fair enough.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.piped.video/@GamersNexus
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
This is sickening.
People should use alternative routers and software such as OpenWRT, DDWRT, and Gl.iNet routers
Yeah. When I bought my ASUS router I was looking into OpenWRT supported routers but they are really hard to come by (at least in NA) and quite dated. Router manufacturers really don’t want to have their telemetry removed.
Okay ASUS is out. Recommendations?
PC with opnsense.
Man, idk. I installed WRT Merlin in hopes this doesn’t make it there. OpenWRT is really hard to get onto routers. Even the ones that support it (which tend to be pretty dated) have a ton of hurdles or restrictions as manufacturers really don’t want to lose the telemetry.
Asus makes great hardware unfortunately. Some of the fastest and most performant routers out there. Moreover, they don’t rely on subscriptions to gate some of the features like pretty much every one else.
I tried TP Link and Netgear (if their “legendary” Nighthawk) and the Asus just blew them away on every level. Especially stability and reliability.
OpenWRT is really hard to get onto routers
I bought the Nanopi R4S, and it was extremely easy to switch out their modified OpenWRT for vanilla (literally just use a command/program to install the image on an SDcard). Granted, I did have to find a solution for wifi, but even that was easy with the Belkin RT3200s and the instructions (more in-depth, but still hand-holding). I also flashed it onto a Netgear AC1200 using nmrpflash, which sounds imposing, but really just entailed installing the pre-reqs, hooking the router’s ethernet port directly to my PC’s and running the command.
I did have to do my research to arrive at my decision to buy these specific models for their compatibility with OpenWRT. If you don’t, you might end up with something that requires popping open the shell and setting up serial comms, which is a pain.
As far as I could find, out of the three Wifi6 enabled Asus models (RT-AX###) that are compatible with OpenWRT, 2 require ssh and running commands that are given in the guide; the other one, and all of the supported AC### models, seemed to work using ASUS’s built-in web-app to upload the OWRT image. I wouldn’t say any of it is easy, but I also can’t agree with “really hard.”
Another consideration is setup and maintenance. Proprietary firmware tends toward being as “click here to set and forget everything, here are the only 3 pieces of info you need to know from now on”; OpenWRT is definitely more hands on and requires a lot of RTFMing and routine maintenance.
There’s a few routes (pun intended) you could go.
DIY with opnsense on an old PC will give you the most flexibility and will allow you to build your router to your exact needs.
Ubiquiti is also another choice albeit a contentious one. Their hardware is pretty good which also doesn’t require a recurring charge to use (unfortunately rare when you get into the enterprise grade gear). The software side is where people have such mixed feelings as for consumers and prosumers it’s pretty good but when you start getting into enterprise level configurations you’ll find their software pretty lacking. For example if you need a L3 switch for inter VLAN routing you’ll want to go with a different vendor as ubiquiti’s L3 is practically broken.
I went with Mikrotik and it’s great, but honestly I cannot endorse them as consumer routers, they are very hard to set up
I love mikrotik especially their switches as they are the only vendor making relatively affordable 100 gigabit gear. I completely agree their software isn’t user friendly which I why I didn’t endorse them. Plus I don’t really have experience with their wireless access points nor have I seen any in the wild.
And Ubiquiti’s support is non-existent. Don’t get me wrong, I like their hardware, and their software works just fine for my needs, especially at their price point. But if you have issues, you’re searching forums or are SOL.
Ruckus gear is pretty good too, though I don’t have much hands-on experience with it. And it’s expensive. Like really expensive.
I’ve actually never had any problems with their support the two times I had to RMA some dead products but maybe I’ve been lucky.
They’ll RMA just fine, but I was speaking more to software support.
You can also get a Celeron-based (for example with a N100) fanless mini-pc meant for use as DIY routers like these and install something like pfSense on it.
Personally my really old router still does what I need so I’m leaving it be, though I’ve replaced my media box and my NAS with a similar device running Lubuntu but can’t really make it also be the router since it only has 1 ethernet port.
Something with OpenWRT. Turris Omnia is pretty good.
Because they aren’t legally allowed to spy on minors they add this shit to bypass it?
Precisely
Is the train of thought that if the adult approves they can harvest data from minors regardless? It harvests data from anybody using the internet, not just person handling the settings. It doesn’t seem legal that the data harvest agreement binds all users in a household rather than the one managing the settings?
Is that legal in Europe? is it legal to suddenly semi brick a device if you dont allow them to data harvest? Is it really considered giving consent freely when the device you paid $$ for suddenly no longer does 90% because you disagree with sudden data harvest practices?
I can understand a feature not working because you disagree on sharing something. E.g: can’t tell you which pizza place is near you if you dont share your location.
But this? I hope it’s illegal and they get sued into oblivion for this. This is super invasive.
I think it’s literally just legalize to appease law makers with regards to collecting info from a minor. That’s typically a no-no in NA. If you lie and click the box but you’re 15, that’s on you. There isn’t any legal recourse if someone just lies. I’m totally ok not needing to send anyone “proof” of my age for anything on the net (this, porn, NSFW, etc,).
But that’s the point. You, the 15 year old, never click or see the box. Your data is harvested because somebody somewhere else agreed to it.
It’s like giving any website the right to farm your data because somebody else on the same shared IP clicked accept all.
I’m also totally okay not having to send any identity data over the net. I fully agree there. It’s just their standpoint of “let an admin click it and we can farm everybody’s data behind that device” seems like a very unstable legal standpoint.
Then again. I’m not a lawyer and the law doesn’t work based on how lawful i feel something is or should be.
Fantastic. Time to deliver opnsense and/or pfsense to the masses. Or better, recycle a router with openwrt or similar
Is Asus just asking to have a shitload of lawsuits?
It doesn’t seem like they give a shit. This is the company that strong armed NexusGaming with their repairs and have scammed a slew of people thru their warranty system.
If you search for “ASUS repair scam” they have a sorted history of this kind of douchery.
And in return Gamers Nexus is teaching all of their viewers what their consumer rights are, and how to report fraudulent activity to the proper regulatory authorities. This isn’t the first time Gamers Nexus has gotten regulatory agencies involved with computer part manufacturers fucking over customers, and the history of those incidents didn’t go very well for other companies involved.
On the other hand Gamers Nexus has also gone out of their way to point out companies that have done the right thing when issues came up, to make sure those companies are getting kudos for NOT fucking over consumers. Because sadly that’s all we really want.
If the FTC gets enough complaints to warrant the manpower to investigate ASUS warranty fraud, there is no doubt in my mind that they’re gonna be fucked based on what we’ve seen so far.
Watching the GN video was insane because I had that exact same experience with ASUS 10 years ago. Back when they made the Nexus 7. I had to RMA 3 of those dam things and each time I had to go through that song and dance with the RMA forms. I think when the 4th one failed I just gave up, recycled it, and moved on from this company as a whole.
Looks like nothing’s changed, which means this way of treating their customers is endemic at this point. They’re a lost cause.
My experience was similar, but I gave up after my first RMA because I saw everyone else going through the same thing. The N7 started as such a delight and ended up as one of worst product experiences.
That’s brutal that they get away with that crap. I will never buy anything ASUS branded again. They are on my embargo list now, right under Sony, which I haven’t purchased a single thing from them for about 18 years since they screwed me out of repairs on my phone. Only way IMO.
I think the word you’re looking for is “sordid”.
Sometimes I take spellcheck for granite.
It’s a slippery slope.
Wait, that’s not a typo…
Neither are mine. Grammatical mistakes are not typos.
Yes.
How many 14 year olds can afford a lawyer?
No need, they can just lie :)
All you need is one lawyer in this case to handle the class action lawsuit that would follow. There is power in numbers.
A class action lawsuit with a related FTC warranty fraud investigation is a pretty tough thing to fight.
Nasty. Thanks for the heads up.
NP. I was pretty pissed as they haven’t released a new update in almost a year and when they did, this is all that’s been changed.
Good news is moving to WRT Merlin is a piece of cake and even carries over all your original settings. Hopefully they rip out this crap with their own firmware.
I wanted to swap over to Merlin last year but my router isn’t supported. Grrrr!
Same :(
