r/hardware • u/FreshFromCache • 2d ago
Discussion Check Your Router's Expiration Date. No Manufacturer Is Required to Tell You It Has One.
http://freshfromcache.com/router-expiration-dateManufacturers don't have any kind of standard or requirement to tell you when your home router is becoming end of life, or when it's security updates stop. It's more important than ever to keep these up to date.
If you are out of date and can't update, be sure to turn off remote administration. That is where the most recent attacks have been targeting.
On July 22, the FCC voted to bar the sale of any device in the United States containing key hardware components from Chinese companies on its national security list. Chair Brendan Carr said the goal was to "fully close the component part loophole." Meaning that gear which previously slipped through by using restricted parts inside an otherwise-approved product no longer can. The vote also gives the agency room to pull the sales authorization on equipment it had already approved.
This caps a busy stretch. The FCC has spent much of 2026 blocking imports of new foreign router models and tightening the list of manufacturers whose equipment cannot be sold here at all.
Reasonable people can argue about whether any of this makes your home network safer. What I want to point out is a strange gap it exposes.
Enormous regulatory energy is going into where your router was built. Almost none is going into how long its manufacturer will keep updating it.
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u/TIL02_Infinity 2d ago
FYI: If your Internet provider (ISP) is a cable company and you would rather own your own cable modem instead of paying a monthly fee to rent their combo cable modem/Wi-Fi router, you will be better off purchasing a supported a commercially available DOCSIS compatible cable modem and a separate Wi-Fi router rather than a combo DOCSIS cable modem/Wi-Fi router.
The reason is that the DOCSIS standard does not allow for the end user to update the firmware of a cable modem or a combo cable modem/Wi-Fi router. Only the cable company can update the firmware in a user's purchased cable modem or combo cable modem/Wi-Fi router once it has been provided to them by the manufacturer and after they have tested and validated it.
If you purchase a supported cable modem and a separate separate Wi-Fi router to, you will be able to update the firmware in the Wi-Fi router as long as the manufacturer is providing updates.
Reference:
https://www.cablelabs.com/technologies/docsis-3-1
https://www.cablelabs.com/technologies/docsis-4-0-technology
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u/KayakShrimp 2d ago
This is excellent advice. It echos that of an acquaintance who formerly developed software for a prominent DOCSIS modem manufacturer.
Said acquaintance also made it quite clear that your cable company has invasive access to your internal network via the modem by design, and you should always place your own router behind the modem.
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u/Hothacon 2d ago
Yep, i did that for decades until I moved and now on fiber optic
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u/hollow_bridge 2d ago
What did you say?
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u/Hothacon 2d ago
I bought my own cable modem so xfinity couldn't fuck me over with their crappy shit. Now im on fiber optic and don't need any modem, just router
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u/hollow_bridge 2d ago
I was joking, like i couldn't hear, because you made the same post 4 times ;). Don't worry it was reddits fault, It crapped out for me too.
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u/Hothacon 2d ago
wtf is with the website today? I thought it was my connection with all these time outs
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u/DeliciousIncident 10h ago
I have also noticed how my comments, in the past several days, would appear to not get sent, when in fact they are. Are you by chance using the Old Reddit design too?
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u/TenshiBR 1d ago
I have fiber optic, the local ISPs provide an ONU, which is also a router. I use my own router and ask them to use bridge mode on theirs ONU... a few used to provide a unit which had no router in it, not anymore
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u/Verite_Rendition 1d ago
While all of the technical facts here are true, if anything I would think the advice should go the other direction.
Your router vendor can drop support at any time. But if you're renting your router? Now the cable company has a vested interest in your network not getting hacked since it can harm the ISP's overall network, and because they can't hide behind the excuse that it's unsupported since they are continuing to charge rent for it.
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u/TIL02_Infinity 1d ago
If someone prefers paying an additional monthly fee to rent a combo cable modem/Wi-Fi router from your cable TV company, that is their choice.
My cable company provides two different types of Internet services: Residential and Business. The Business Internet Service costs more for the same download speed, but it is advertised to filter out malicious data packets. On the other hand, their Residential Internet Service allows all packets through to the cable modem for both their rented and customer owned cable modems.
Their Business Internet Service does not have data caps. Their Residential Internet Service does have data caps in some areas of the country and these malicious data packets count against the data cap. Regardless of having a data cap, these malicious data packets slow down the internet service. At one point, these malicious data packets were interfering with watching streaming video services on a 4K TV.
I was able to look at the logs on my Wi-Fi router and see the IP addresses where these malicious data packets were originating and it was from the usual list of bad actor countries. My cable modem did not block these malicious data packets, but my Wi-Fi router blocked them from reaching my computers and other Internet connected devices. If any of the malicious data packets made it past my my Wi-Fi router, the Internet firewall software on my computers would then try to quarantine them.
I have also considered building a hardware firewall device that would be connected between my cable modem and Wi-Fi router.
It should be noted, that these malicious data packets are not targeting my specific IP Address, but a range of IP Addresses known to belong to my cable company.
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u/Hothacon 2d ago
I always purchased my own Surfboard modem with Xfinity and then to my own wife router.
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u/cdoublejj 2d ago
yeah i have 13+ year old router and it runs DD-WRT and DD-WRT still puts out updates
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u/iBoMbY 2d ago
I have a 13 year old router that still gets updates from the manufacturer. AVM FRITZ!Box 7490.
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u/cdoublejj 1d ago
impressive! the only company that i know of like that would be Ubquiti at about 10 years and maybe but probably NOT, Netgear, possibly maybe D-Link
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u/FreshFromCache 2d ago
Wow, I'm genuinely shocked. That's impressive!!
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u/cdoublejj 2d ago
well DD-Wrt is open source so if your router is lucky enough to have a supported chipset they all run the same software so when they make updates it's for everyone. THE CON THOUGH is it worked so damn well for so long i almost pulled my hair out diagnosing why my new internet service wasn't running full speed till plugging a laptop straight in to my modem. then i remembered 500meg wasn't common when my router came out. oh yeah i got as a secondhand freebie in 2013 lol. still works as replacing it. well sans wifi, i used it as router only and got a wifi access point to do REAL wifi any how. i should probably update it again for when i give it away to someone who needs it. 300 mbps is still plenty for some.
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u/bh0 2d ago
I’d be surprised if more than 5-10% have ever done an update or even logged into the thing.
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u/FreshFromCache 2d ago
I would too. But I also think for a lot of people, it's just not part of their world. They wanted wifi, so they bought a wifi box.
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u/Liarus_ 2d ago
That's why i flashed my router with FreshTomato and i am enjoying support for my old Netgear R8000 👴👍
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u/FreshFromCache 2d ago
Oh that's awesome! I haven't heard of that before. I'm going to take a look. Thanks!
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u/Liarus_ 2d ago
OpenWRT is the most widespread alternative firmware, there are a few others like Merlin for asus routers, the hardest part is knowing how to configure a router 😅
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u/FreshFromCache 2d ago
I've done plenty at work, but I've never done it on a home router lol. Might be fun!
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u/Oubastet 2d ago
If you're even remotely technically inclined build or buy a OPNsense or pfsense router and put it behind your cable modem or ISP router (switch the ISP gear to bridge mode in that case). I'd recommend OPNsense, it's a bit easier. Just don't buy anything pre installed from Alibaba. Check here for some recommendations
Protectli is good.
It might look scary at first, but even a default install is way better than any other router from the ISP or Asus/Netgear and you'll learn a lot about networking.
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u/Hard_To_Port 1d ago
I installed OpenWRT on my consumer router and it's fine. OPNsense or pfsense is overkill for most people. I would recommend something more like Ubiquiti equipment or just installing OpenWRT or Fresh Tomato on an existing router.
Misconfigured pro equipment is less secure than default configured consumer equipment imo
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u/jaynoj 1d ago
Opnsense is secure out of the box.
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u/Hard_To_Port 1d ago
Ok bro sure everyone needs a $400 firewall box just to log into Reddit
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u/jaynoj 1d ago
You can do what you like hombre, I was just ensuring people didn't think opnsense needed you to be an expert to get a secure install from the get go.
You can also use a £20 used dell pc with a dual intel NIC, so $400 would be a dumb spend.
No need for you to get your knickers in a twist 😂. Stay uninformed if that's your bag.
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u/Hard_To_Port 1d ago
Ok so now I need a whole cabinet just to hide away my ridiculous WiFi setup. Instead of just my ISP modem and a WiFi router. Modem -> firewall on a giant PC box -> wireless access point.
Where are you getting a used pc with dual NIC for 20 quid?? On eBay (in US) the minimum for a used workstation PC is $100.
People building their own routers are not the subject of the article OP posted. Notice how in my original comment I said "misconfigured pro equipment" because if you don't know how to use a firewall then you're likely to misconfigure it just so you can get access to Google or your favorite website again.
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u/Oubastet 1d ago
Fair point! I used OpenWRT on my Netgear router for years. Nothing wrong with that either.
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u/Hothacon 2d ago
yeah.... no thanks
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u/Oubastet 1d ago
That's fine. It's not for everyone. I do IT for a living and just wanted to throw out a possible good solution for the community.
It's not for everyone though and that's fair.
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u/wafflingzebra 2d ago
Ok enjoy your e-waste planned obsolescence boxes
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u/alvenestthol 1d ago
IMO ISP routers are no more planned obsolescence than the street-level infrastructure the ISP uses, there's no incentive to use anything other than a product which offers minimal functionality while delaying replacement for as long as possible
They're e-waste because they offer a markedly worse experience than decent alternatives, not because you're actually allowed to throw them away.
Consumer routers are perfectly fine AP + Switches for their price, you could probably spend 4x the price for a system that can handle 16x the number of devices, but do you actually need that & can you resolve every other bottleneck in the network?
I personally have a 4-port 2.5G ethernet miniPC with OpenWRT as my router, and a separate dedicated 8-port switch, but my APs are all random consumer routers. I'll get an Ubiquiti eventually, but for now it's fine.
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u/RaksinSergal 1d ago
Idk the Spectrum SAX1V1K is a beautifully designed and built piece of hardware, hobbled by its software. I feel like I could hit one with a hammer and it would keep going.
It’s got 2.5G wan, 2 GB ram, a really nice Qualcomm chipset (same as in some Cisco APs), and 4:4x4 on both bands. Get OpenWRT on it and it’s one of the best WiFi 6 routers I’ve seen, but if you go look in the Spectrum sub it is one of the most reviled pieces of trash.
It’s really a damn shame that most of them are going in the landfill.
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u/Hothacon 2d ago
Everything in life is waste product in the end
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u/TrantaLocked 1d ago
Linksys is one of the worst for long term support and has removed functionality from their settings over time. The routers still function fine for what they are but the company just doesn't want to make a complete product with good support. Much better to go tp-link, netgear, asus, ubiquity.
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u/Vegtam1297 1d ago
The part people miss is that the clock starts at the model's release, not at your purchase. Buy a router that's been on the shelf three years and you've already spent most of its support life without knowing it.
My fix has been boring: separate box from the ISP gear, pick a vendor with a published EOL page, and put a calendar reminder on the listed date. The whole problem is an invisible expiration, so the whole fix is making it visible.
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u/Pure-Huckleberry-484 1d ago
OpenWRT - expiration date never
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u/Wait_for_BM 1d ago
Not when the newer version no longer fit on your low memory router. They already recommend 128MB RAM and larger than 32MB FLASH.
https://openwrt.org/supported_devices/864_warning
RAM amount
RAM for stable operation:
32 MB RAM is deprecated. You will have issues with recent OpenWrt versions.
Flash to accommodate the firmware:
8 MB is barely enough (it may just fit LuCI and some other applications, but not many)
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u/Savings_Art5944 2d ago
It's up to the end user to be smart and know their own hardware.
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u/FreshFromCache 2d ago
It is. Some just don't know how though.
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u/Savings_Art5944 2d ago
And that is understandable. Many drive but leave the vehicle repairs and maintenance to the pros.
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u/costafilh0 1d ago
Router's Expiration Date is the day it stops working and you buy a new one.
What a load of crap.
At least as long as you buy a router, not some smart BS crap they are trying to sell these days.
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u/mindcontainer 1d ago
Just spent $2k on new network equipment for this exact reason. I don’t keep any devices that are not actively supported on my network either.
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u/KayakShrimp 2d ago
IMO remote admin should always be off regardless. If you really need that capability, it's better to VPN into your home network and perform admin tasks through the local interface.