Google Announces The ASUS OnHub

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Wait, what happened to the first OnHub router Google announced a month or so ago? Oh well, I'm liking this new ASUS OnHub better already. :cool:

Whether you’re chatting with friends, streaming music or video calling family, Wi-Fi matters. You should have more router options that don’t involve spotty connections, messy cords and complicated settings. That’s why we introduced the first OnHub router this summer, designed to be fast, secure and easy to use—not to mention attractive enough to put out in the open, where Wi-Fi works best. Now, with our partner ASUS, we’re introducing the second member of our growing OnHub family.
 
Proof is in the pudding. I want to see actual performance in various real-world environments.
 
Just another way to separate fools from their money and do more data mining in the process.
 
Yeaaaah... Let me just put Google right there in the center of my network. Yessiree, where do I sign up?
 
Based on the information available, the only functional difference between the 2 routers is in the "special feature" department. On that basis (in the absence of proper independent testing), the TP-Link device seems like it crushes the ASUS device. Increased range in a specific direction seems a lot more worthwhile than temporarily prioritizing traffic to a particular device, especially since the idea that the router would be in an easily accessible location (where it's convenient to wave your hand over) is for many a pipe dream.

I do like the idea of more frequent (and easy) firmware updating, though.

As for Google's datamining...whatever. Google already has access to virtually all of my information, so they'd gain little new advantage in my case.
 
Suckers pay just so they can be data mined more even efficiently
 
Well this thing is an oddity in that its a router and a WAP that wants to be in the middle of your house. I dont know about you all but my demarcation point is way off to one side of my house. (Where it should be.)

IMO this is a combo network device for apartments and other small living spaces only.

If you own a home please do yourself a favor and go buy a proper wired only router and a proper separate WAP that you can put anywhere in your home. You'll thank me when you need to upgrade that WAP to whatever the new spec for Wifi is in two years and you can save money by not having to replace the router at the same time.

I have had great success with Ubiquiti products and they work better than the consumer crap anyway.
 
Who thought this idea up? it seems pointless, as Routers already seem to do this. And there already are stylish looking routers on the market.

I didn't hear one feature different than other advanced wireless routers that are already on the market, and it sorta sounds like a 'Blonde Valley teenager's idea of a wifi router.

"like we totally don't want it on the floor, so we simplifed the look of it to go other places, and now it like, totally works better!".

Seriously who is this geared towards? I almost feel like this is a apple market product for the Isheeples and all their ipads, iphones, and iwatches, etc.
 
Axiomatic said:
Well this thing is an oddity in that its a router and a WAP that wants to be in the middle of your house. I dont know about you all but my demarcation point is way off to one side of my house. (Where it should be.)

IMO this is a combo network device for apartments and other small living spaces only.

If you own a home please do yourself a favor and go buy a proper wired only router and a proper separate WAP that you can put anywhere in your home. You'll thank me when you need to upgrade that WAP to whatever the new spec for Wifi is in two years and you can save money by not having to replace the router at the same time.

I have had great success with Ubiquiti products and they work better than the consumer crap anyway.
Click to expand...
No. Do yourself a favor and make sure that your ISP provides a device that covers everything decently. Dealing with two different devices is bad enough. Don't buy yourself yet another point of eventual failure for family internet access.
 
Babbster said:
No. Do yourself a favor and make sure that your ISP provides a device that covers everything decently. Dealing with two different devices is bad enough. Don't buy yourself yet another point of eventual failure for family internet access.
Click to expand...

You are kidding right? That makes no sense. With two devices, one can fail and the other is fine. With a combo device, if the WAP fails you are then throwing away a device with a perfectly good router.

Madness.
 
Axiomatic said:
You are kidding right? That makes no sense. With two devices, one can fail and the other is fine. With a combo device, if the WAP fails you are then throwing away a device with a perfectly good router.

Madness.
Click to expand...

I personally miss having my old sonicwall and then a wrt54g combination.
 
Babbster said:
Based on the information available, the only functional difference between the 2 routers is in the "special feature" department. On that basis (in the absence of proper independent testing), the TP-Link device seems like it crushes the ASUS device. Increased range in a specific direction seems a lot more worthwhile than temporarily prioritizing traffic to a particular device, especially since the idea that the router would be in an easily accessible location (where it's convenient to wave your hand over) is for many a pipe dream.

I do like the idea of more frequent (and easy) firmware updating, though.

As for Google's datamining...whatever. Google already has access to virtually all of my information, so they'd gain little new advantage in my case.
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Hardware is different too this is a downgrade

the orginal on hub had 13 antenna everything else is the same with new software features and it is 20 more expensive.

im going to say since I could pick up any of the top tier consumer routers for 50 to 100$ less than it would cost to pick up either on hub device. The best deal is a used tp link one for 165 but... I paid 120 for my asus ac 68u it comes with similar hardware except more wired ports and only 3 antenna.
 
Axiomatic said:
I have had great success with Ubiquiti products and they work better than the consumer crap anyway.
Click to expand...

I second the testimonial for the Ubiquiti Unifi AP's.

I've set up three of them (1x Unifi and 2x Unifi LR) over the years, and all of them have performed admirably.

I tried 4 different consumer routers (including the - for the time - high end Netgear WNDR3700) and had nothing but issues due to the congested 2.4ghz band in my neighborhood, crawling along at a handful of Mbit.

Then I tried a Unifi, and everything just worked,

at full 65Mbit speed,

all the time.

Great devices. I'd take a Unifi b/g/n device over any consumer ac device, any day.
 
Babbster said:
No. Do yourself a favor and make sure that your ISP provides a device that covers everything decently. Dealing with two different devices is bad enough. Don't buy yourself yet another point of eventual failure for family internet access.
Click to expand...

Yeah, disagree,

I was constantly displeased with my old routers.

They would disconnect during game server refreshes due to too small NAT tables, have poor range, poor wall penetration, dealt poorly with congested 2.4Ghz bands, and were unreliable having to be poweer cycled on a regular basis, because they lost connection.

My first home router was a HP wired only unit, before Wifi became popular. Then I got an old school Linksys wireless router.

After that I had two different routers from Verizon for my FiOS connection, an Actiontec followed by a Westell. The Westell router was marginally better, but they both stunk.

Then I tried a relatively high end for the time Netgear WNDR3700, still got unsatisfactory wireless results.

I have never been happier since switching to pfSense on my ESXi server as my router, and a Ubiquiti Unifi AP as my wireless access point.

Couldn't imagine going back.
 
Wow, 220 USD for a router, and if you want to hook up some wired devices you're gonna need to add a switch. Oh and Steve "likes" it with a buy it now link right next to it. Pfffft.

It'd actually be better if you just said "If you're in the market for one, you can support us by buying it through this link at Newegg". More upfront, honest, and just plain more Hard|OCP (IMO).
 
LMT MFA said:
Wow, 220 USD for a router, and if you want to hook up some wired devices you're gonna need to add a switch. Oh and Steve "likes" it with a buy it now link right next to it. Pfffft.

It'd actually be better if you just said "If you're in the market for one, you can support us by buying it through this link at Newegg". More upfront, honest, and just plain more Hard|OCP (IMO).
Click to expand...

Except last time I checked newegg stopped paying hard ocp and they switched to amazon referrals.

Either way the value of this router is not the 200 plus range but the 100 dollar range if it had a full 4 lan port switch inside maybe 200 would be more reasonable but when I can grab similar routers with 4 port hubs and 2 usb 3.0 ports for almost half the extra features dont speak to me if this is supposed to be marketed as an ap only then I still think it is over priced for what you get.
 
Lunas said:
Except last time I checked newegg stopped paying hard ocp and they switched to amazon referrals.

Either way the value of this router is not the 200 plus range but the 100 dollar range if it had a full 4 lan port switch inside maybe 200 would be more reasonable but when I can grab similar routers with 4 port hubs and 2 usb 3.0 ports for almost half the extra features dont speak to me if this is supposed to be marketed as an ap only then I still think it is over priced for what you get.
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Only mentioned because the Newegg link had a referral for KB Networks in it.

And yeah, looks more like an up-priced-because-of-brand-and-looks device.
 
Jesus, no way I'd touch this. I'm waiting to see someone get their hands on the firmware and see what's going on inside. That should be popcorn worthy.
 
Babbster said:
No. Do yourself a favor and make sure that your ISP provides a device that covers everything decently. Dealing with two different devices is bad enough. Don't buy yourself yet another point of eventual failure for family internet access.
Click to expand...

You rent your router from the ISP? IMO, nobody should ever get their Cable Modem or router from the ISP. You'll pay for the modem in less than a year and the Modem/Router in less than 2.

Besides, I've never gotten the impression that the cable tech support is that knowledgeable, until you get to T2 or T3 support. In most cases, they ask me to do things I did long before I called them. In other cases they ask me to do things that have virtually no possibility of affecting anything.
 
nilepez said:
You rent your router from the ISP? IMO, nobody should ever get their Cable Modem or router from the ISP. You'll pay for the modem in less than a year and the Modem/Router in less than 2.
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I should have said "provides or supports."
Besides, I've never gotten the impression that the cable tech support is that knowledgeable, until you get to T2 or T3 support. In most cases, they ask me to do things I did long before I called them. In other cases they ask me to do things that have virtually no possibility of affecting anything.
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You think modem/router manufacturers provide better support? Get off the pipe.

Bottom line: For a household that doesn't have its own troubleshooting/support mechanism (I serve as such for my mother and sister's household), adding two extra devices to the system when one will get the job done is stupid.
 
Babbster said:
I should have said "provides or supports."

You think modem/router manufacturers provide better support? Get off the pipe.

Bottom line: For a household that doesn't have its own troubleshooting/support mechanism (I serve as such for my mother and sister's household), adding two extra devices to the system when one will get the job done is stupid.
Click to expand...

I couldn't tell you, I've never called them, but my point was that renting from them is a sucker move. If your modem dies every 12 months, it's still cheaper to buy.

But that's not what you were saying and I do agree that you should buy a modem they support. Routers, IMNSHO, are not relevant. They're behind the modem, and I've never had a router that was incompatible with a cable modem.
 
Babbster said:
No. Do yourself a favor and make sure that your ISP provides a device that covers everything decently. Dealing with two different devices is bad enough. Don't buy yourself yet another point of eventual failure for family internet access.
Click to expand...

Yeah cause a SINGLE point of failure for everything is so much better.

My set up: SB6183 to ZyXel USG 50, with an Airport Express and TP-Link switch for my PCs and server to connect.

Dedicated devices are so much better than an all in one.
 
canon.tk said:
Yeah cause a SINGLE point of failure for everything is so much better.
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A single point of failure for which you have relatively local support available, yes. Trying to get support from China/Taiwan is far more miserable than dealing with, for example, Comcast (a company a despise and with which I will not do business).
 
These routers are not targeted at the typical HardOCP user. If you even know what a router or firewall does, this is not something for you. It's for the average consumer who needs stuff to just work.
Personally, I like blinky lights and crazy looking antenna arrays. bear claw. Pffft.
 
Not really a product for me, though i'd be interested in seeing what makes it special other than the purported looks so you don't hide it in a corner. I looked at the original announcement and it mentions bluetooth connect / weave networking for connected home, but no mention of zigbee or z-wave which are the market leaders. Is it meant to be a future automation hub? Can it use reverse beam forming logic and tell us where in the house each wifi device is located when we misplace it? It would be interesting if it would let you say set up managed VPNs between yourself and your friends/family using Google accounts (no IP or dyndns needed, just send an invite via gmail), and proxy broadcast upnp services so you can share printers and DLNA services between subnets, stuff like that, pick and choose detected services via a gui. I mean it needs something pretty special to make someone dump a $100-$150 router and upgrade.
 
Meh.

i'll keep my R7000 Merlin updates his firmware's on a regular basis.

Just updated yesterday with a oct 25 Build date for the firmware.
 
If this was a great Omni directional antenna I might be interested in buying it to pair up with a sweet switch but from what I hear it has terrible range.
 
hafnium911 said:
No thanks, ill stick to my ubiquiti routers :)
Click to expand...

Ahh, Unlike the rest of us, you actually use their routers?

I - for one - was kind of annoyed with the 4.x software update, when now it looks like they are trying to pull me into an ecosystem, when all I ever wanted was an AP.

At least there should be an option to disable the various modules in the management software so the management screen doesn't look like something is missing/broken

22522336832_865702a3e8.jpg
 
The damn thing also looks like its completely sealed and no ventilation. Most routers I've seen simply cook themselves to death with no heatsinks or anything. The chips themselves really don't need much extra cooling (as evidenced by other similar ARM architecture chips in smartphones), but with all the other electronics shoved in there they tend to need just a little help.

It's shaped like a tower too, This would have been extremely easy to put some heatsinks in it with ventilation holes on the bottom and top then let natural convection keep it cool.

If this is to be the "average joe" router, this thing is still going to get shoved on bookshelves, closets, in drawers, or under tables. Everywhere the manufacturer doesn't want it to be. The looks won't affect this outcome much because people are still stupid and won't care. They should have made this thing capable of surviving these high temp situations.
 
Every time I see it, I want to say "Alexa, what is the 7 day forecast?"
 
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