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Google breathes a few more weeks of life into its soon-to-be-dead smart router
OnHub support is now ending in January
Google announced last year that it would be winding down support for its oldest router, the OnHub, in late 2022. The date Google set, December 19, is coming up fast. But per a recently updated support page (as spotted by 9to5Google), that date's now been pushed out a few weeks, giving owners a little breathing room before having to deal with the consequences of a functionally dead smart router.
Google is killing off its OnHub routers, easing the pain with Nest Wifi discounts
More like OffHub, am I right?
In 2015, Google launched OnHub, a $200 router-smart home hub hybrid with an easy-to-use app to manage it. Just about a year later, it launched Google Wifi, a less expensive router that dropped some smart home features to focus on mesh networking. (Google was at least nice enough to let us use the two together.) It's been a long time coming, but Google's announced that it's finally ending software support for OnHub routers next year.
Routines powered by 'presence sensing' are now widely available in the Google Home app
They started rolling out earlier this month
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The Google Home app is core to how you control and interact with dozens of different devices, so it's understandably one of Google's most feature-packed applications. It only got more interesting with version 2.28, as the new update hinted at the rebranding of Android TV, as well as adding some new features surrounding routines and home presence-sensing that were teased earlier this year. Now it seems like the new Home/Away routines powered by presence sensing are available to most users.
[Deal Alert] Google Store back to school sale kicks off with Pixel, Home, OnHub, and other discounts
Summer is about halfway done, and since time immemorial that's meant at least one thing: back to school sales have begun. The Google Store is no different from other retailers in that regard, and starting today you can pick up a Pixel with a free Daydream View starting at $524 (up to $200 off, a crazy value), a Google Home for $109 ($20 off), either OnHub router for $99 ($30 off), the LG Watch Style for $199 ($50 off), and a free Chromecast Audio with a Google Wifi 3-pack. It's at least possible that little Johnny's grades will be improved by your new phone, right?
If you're worried about things like IPv4 exhaustion, today is a good day. Google has just released an update for the Google Wifi app — and their Google Wifi and OnHub routers — that brings IPv6 support to the two networking devices. Other features in the new update include a warning when using the "Family Wi-Fi" feature to pause a connection on the current device, the ability to delete custom names, and a tool for benchmarking the speed of your mesh network.
Spending too much time on the internet? I mean, you're on it right now, and don't you have something better to do? The latest update to the Google Wifi app might help, provided you have a Google Wifi or OnHub system. You can now use Scheduled Pause to kill your internet access at certain times of the day.
You may recall when Google released the first OnHub router, manufactured by TP-LINK, back in 2015. Then a year later, the Google Wifi was introduced, replacing the entire OnHub product line. Perhaps in an effort to clear warehouse space, Google has discounted the ASUS OnHub to $129 ($70 off) and $145 ($54 off).
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- Google has put up a support page dedicated to the issue. As many of you suspected, the root cause for the resets ended up being improper handling of errors in responses from the Google Accounts auth servers.
Something strange has begun happening to many of Google's OnHub and Wifi routers. The units are refusing to broadcast WiFi signal, and are requiring factory resets to function properly again. Many people refuse to use OnHubs or Wifis because Google has too much control over them, and it seems like they'll have a little more ammunition to use in arguments against these cloud-connected devices now.
After the flurry of activity in the last few weeks, deal alerts seem few and far between these days. I am always thankful to see sales on toys and gadgets, especially when they include crucial items that bring all of the things together, like routers. If you're looking to boost your home network setup, then Best Buy has a deal for you. You can get the Asus OnHub router for $99.99, a huge savings of $92.
Modern routers can do some cool things, especially if you're using the new Google WiFi mesh routers. They can cover your home in a healthy glow of electromagnetic waves, intelligently connect to devices, and keep track of your data usage. However, linking Google WiFi with an OnHub can result in some weird data usage stats. Google now says it's aware of the issue and is working on a fix.
I'm reviewing Google Wifi because my apartment sucks. Well, specifically: my apartment's walls suck. And the placement of my router is far from ideal. You see, because I need a hardline to my desktop PC in my office, that means keeping the router in the office, too, or snaking around fifty feet of unsightly ethernet from my living room along the wall (in-wall cabling is not an option for me). This presents a conundrum, because it means that if I want my apartment to have well-distributed Wi-Fi, I need a big, ugly, long cable running the length of the place. If I don't want to run the cable, it means lopsided Wi-Fi coverage.
Google released the Google On app last year alongside the OnHub, but the OnHub is yesterday's news. The hot new router in town is Google WiFi. Devices are going to be hitting virtual and physical store shelves in a few days, and the On Hub app is being updated to prepare. It's no longer called "Google On," though. It's Google WiFi now.
One thing we're all thankful for as geeks is the multitude of deals on phones, gadgets, accessories, and general nerdy stuff. And we're even more thankful when said deal is on a piece of technology that benefits all the other pieces of technology in our possession, like the router.If you want to upgrade your router setup at home, you can grab an ASUS OnHub or TP-Link router from Amazon today for a significantly discounted price. Both are 38% off, which brings their price down about $75. The ASUS goes from $199.99 to $123.99 and the TP-Link goes from $199.99 to $124.89. This is the best deal we've seen on both routers; previously, the ASUS was down to $130 once and the TP-Link never went lower than $179.87.For this discounted price, you get a dual-band AC1900 router, an impressive antenna array for optimal performance, and compatibility with Google's On app which lets you prioritize devices, set up guest access, and manage the different aspects of your OnHub experience. Even better, these routers will work with Google Wifi's mesh network so they will stay relevant if you decide to move to a multi-router Google Wifi setup.Shipping is free on Amazon, but you may need to be a little patient as deliveries might take a bit more time now that the holidays are in full swing. Purchase links can be found at the source below.Source: ASUS OnHub, TP-Link OnHub
Google only gave OnHub a passing mention at today's event before announcing Google Wifi. For some reason, the presenter didn't feel it important to mention that those of you who spent $200 on the OnHub last year are not being left out of all the cool new WiFi stuff. Yes, OnHub will be compatible with Google Wifi.
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How's your OnHub doing? Still pretty much the same as it was a year ago? Yeah, me too. Google never pushed many updates to the OnHub, which was supposed to be a hub of home automation. Hell, the USB port still doesn't work. The OnHub isn't dead, but Google is clearly moving on with the announcement of Google Wifi. This networking solution takes more of a mesh approach to cover your home, rather than using a single unit with a bunch of fancy antennas.
OnHub-schmonhub: two sources are now telling us that Google will introduce an own-brand Wi-Fi router called Google Wifi, and that the device will cost $129. A source that has proved reliable in the past has told us that the device will be launched alongside Google's Pixel phones, Google Home, and the 4K 'Chromecast Ultra' on October 4th.That source additionally claims that Google will advertise the router as having "smart" features - probably similar to OnHub in some respects - and that Google will claim it provides enhanced range over typical Wi-Fi routers (a claim we see basically every router make, to be fair). But the one thing that will make it an insta-buy for many over OnHub? Our source claims multiple Google Wifi access points (two or more) can be linked together to create one large wireless network. Do I have your attention now? Because my interest is certainly piqued.We don't have any details on how this works, unfortunately. But one source claims the Google Wifi device will essentially be like a little white Amazon Echo Dot. So, relatively small and inconspicuous.We give this rumor a confidence level of 9 out of 10. We are extremely confident that Google Wifi is real and that it will cost $129 when it is released. We are fairly confident it will be announced on October 4th alongside Google Home, because it seems positioned as a sort of companion device to Home. Where we subtract a point is on the multiple Wifi "mesh" system - it's not clear if this is a launch feature or something that Google merely plans to do eventually. And knowing Google, major device software features getting pushed is far from impossible.So, in short: don't buy an OnHub right now. That would be a bad idea.
Google's OnHub devices would like to change the way you look at and interact with routers. They are designed to be simple to use, attractive, and intelligent. That's nice, since most routers are fairly complicated for the technically challenged and their blinking lights and protruding antennas make them look like tiny, ugly, Romulan mining vessels (most people would think of this as a negative, but I'm not so sure about the AP crowd).If you've been interested in trying out an OnHub router for a while, but have been waiting for the right deal to pop up, then now is your time to flash some plastic and buy one. As part of their daily Gold Box promotion, Amazon has the Asus OnHub Wireless AC Router on sale today for just $130 – that's $70 off the MSRP, and $20 less than the last time we saw it go on sale.Not a bad deal, eh? If you want to pick one up then you'll need to act quick. The deal expires at the end of the day (or when Amazon runs out of inventory). There are no codes to fiddle with and the router ships free whether you are a Prime subscriber or not. Just follow the link if you are interested and you can buy for yourself. Happy interneting!
The Google OnHub was launched one year ago with a lot of implicit promises about smart home functionality. We never saw any of that materialize, though the router has gotten more capable. Now there's finally some smart home integration happening in the form of a Philips Hue partnership. Oh hey, guess what still doesn't work. Yep, the USB port.
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- Amazon has matched the same $149.99 price.
Psssssst. You, yeah you. I know you're waiting for Google I/O to start and you're impatiently twiddling your thumb, unlocking and relocking your phone to see if YouTube is about to notify you of the livestream, and maybe staring at your Android Wear watch every two minutes to see what time it is. I've got something for you though: a deal on an ASUS OnHub.What is that? This isn't as exciting as I/O?! How dare you? Seriously, how would you even watch I/O keynotes or read Android Police or download the latest N image if you don't have a nice router you can connect to the internet with? See, now you get my point.One of the best routers you can grab is the ASUS OnHub. Thanks to an Android app that lets you control everything, very decent specs, and frequent firmware updates, the OnHub should be on the top of your router want list. And now you can grab it for $50 less than its original price of $200. This is by far the best discount we've ever seen on the OnHub: the previous one was at $180 and we still dared to call it a deal. At $150, it's unequivocally one.Best Buy is the one discounting the OnHub so that's where you should head if you want a unit. Free shipping is available too, to save you a few more bucks.
Google sold Motorola to Lenovo at the end of 2014, but now it's getting a small piece of it back—the CEO. Lenovo recently announced a reorganization of its mobile business. This included the departure of Moto's CEO Rick Osterloh, and now we know why. Osterloh has come back to Google where he will lead a new hardware team that's responsible for Nexus, Chromecast, Glass, and more.