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My router (TP Link) said it had a firmware update. I'm a responsible adult, so I update my firmware. When I log back in, I get this popup that they'd like to share my clients info.

cool...

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[-] bus_factor@lemmy.world 186 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

One of two things happened:

  • They implemented it just now, and it's nice of them to ask

Or:

  • They've been doing it for years, and now legal told them they need to ask
[-] shittydwarf@piefed.social 104 points 4 days ago

It's always #2

[-] artifex@piefed.social 141 points 4 days ago

Weird, I must be seeing a different screenshot, because all I read here is "TP Link would like you to overwrite its firmware with OpenWRT."

[-] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Hold up. Since when can you put OpenWRT on non linksys routers??? I stopped following the project years ago when i stopped using linksys routers. Have they expanded their repertoire?

[-] artifex@piefed.social 6 points 2 days ago

I've been using it for 10+ years on a combination of Netgear, TP-Link and Raspberry Pi hardware, so at least that long?

[-] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

The last time I engaged with OpenWRT was around 2010 so that tracks.

[-] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 86 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

https://openwrt.org/

I've never personally used that one, but it gets recommended a lot.

I've been using DD-WRT for 15+ years, but that's for no particular reason other than It's what I found first and haven't had any reason to switch.

[-] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 19 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I used DD-WRT for 9 years and had no reason to switch until I was forced to. At some point after a firmware upgrade my routers began to occasionally lose their configurations after power failures. Months of troubleshooting, logging errors and recreating configs made no difference. I had been concerned for some time that the project seemed to rely on one guy, and although what he's doing is amazing, it is not possible for him to thoroughly test each firmware release. When one of my routers lost its config when I was 200 miles away and I lost alarm monitoring I was forced to make a change.

Open-WRT has been a really pleasant surprise. It's completely stable on the same routers and the feature set is unbelievably broad. The learning curve was a bitch though.

[-] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 4 days ago

My story is very similar. I used DD-WRT for years until something broke. Then I switched to OpenWRT and never looked back. That was maybe ten years ago.

[-] pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 4 days ago

I'm using openwrt and it's great

Maybe Later

I hate it here

[-] trevor 22 points 4 days ago

Rapist's mentality.

[-] Raptor_007@lemmy.world 26 points 4 days ago

shares it anyway

[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 53 points 4 days ago

We won't save your private information. But the third party services - some of which are owned by the same parent company as us - absolutely will.

[-] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 8 points 3 days ago

We won't save it, but we will pass it along to whoever gives us money.

[-] umbrella@lemmy.ml 27 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

tp link routers tend to run openwrt pretty well.

check yours.

[-] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 14 points 4 days ago

tp link routers tend to run openwrt pretty well.

Of course, I have the TP-Link router that isn't well-supported 😖

I kind of miss my old Linksys routers, which officially supported third-party firmware.

[-] Damage@feddit.it 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I am a fan of gl.inet stuff, they come with [a customized version of] OpenWRT preinstalled. I'm a industrial tech and I've used a couple of their products as hotspots when working on machines for years, I've even connected multiple together to work on 2-3 production lines on different subnets at the same time.

[-] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 days ago

Very cool. Thanks for the recommendation.

[-] warmaster@lemmy.world 16 points 3 days ago

Slap OpenWRT on that little trojan horse.

[-] artyom@piefed.social 15 points 3 days ago

Maybe later

Fuck off to hell with this shit

[-] proton_lynx@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

It's the rapist mentality, they won't accept "no" as an answer.

[-] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 19 points 4 days ago

Any chance of something like OpenWrt?

[-] laurelraven 12 points 4 days ago

I love how they say they won't save your private info, but nothing about whether the third party will

[-] 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip 11 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

i have always wondered how this works from the legal point. what if you disagree, should you sue to get your money back? you are buying product with some expectations, they can't just change that after you paid, can they?

it is similar with cars, what if you buy new car and the car's infotainment asks you to accept some outrageous terms and conditions, you do bother to actually read them and then decline. can you get your money back? has anyone ever tried?

[-] Petter1@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

a third-party services

Now, what is it, one or many!?

[-] cardfire@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 days ago

Cooool. Anyone know how to deaden this behavior?

[-] Pogogunner@sopuli.xyz 20 points 4 days ago

Don't use their software, use something like openwrt

[-] Lyra_Lycan 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Well, TP Link have never been trustworthy. Cheap and trustworthy rarely exist together.

I have the best smart plugs I could acquire - Kasa brand. They're great adapters, but the moment their API call doesn't get a response from their servers, they restart themselves every ten minutes. We all have to make some sacrifices in the journey to net security and independence, and keeping their API unblocked is one of mine.

If anyone wants smart plugs for monitoring purposes the Kasa brand is operable without the TP-Link app. Tapo is far worse. Never go full Tapo.

[-] Bldck@beehaw.org 9 points 4 days ago

Kasa is owned by TP Link

[-] Broken@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago

I have kasa switches and everything is blocked on my firewall so they can't phone home.

Overall they function fine. But I have 1 pesky switch that is constantly in a disconnected state (red light) no matter what I do. Every time I reconnect it it disconnects not too long later. It functions fine though, possibly because its a 3 way and the paired switch is fine.

I have another set of 3 way switches that have disconnected a few times but reconnecting them works just fine for a long while (years).

So my questions are, that pesky red light switch sounds kind of like your situation. When you say they reset themselves, do the lights go red?

Secondly, yours reset every 10 minutes? Most of mine seem fine. I'm not sure what's different between our setups.

[-] Lyra_Lycan 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I haven't seen the lights go red, only off, then orange, then green if they were already on.

Of my KP105 and KP115 plugs, only one has misbehaved, only once when their server was unreachable. The main culprit is the Kasa 303 I think it's called? The 3-outlet adapter.

They are great devices! But I'm waiting for a Zigbee or Matter alternative with energy monitoring so these can be swapped out

[-] Broken@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago

Gotcha. So with a few exceptions they overall seem perform well across the board.

Once upon a time I dreamed of switching them all out for something better, and was actually looking forward to Tapo with matter support.

But for my uses I'm basically pulling the plug. My switches are smart enough. I can do schedules, profiles, and control with the app.

I don't need more than that and there's not really a privacy focused option as far as I know. Blocking internet is my solution to keep things contained.

[-] ekky@sopuli.xyz 2 points 4 days ago

Yup, bought a bunch of TP-Link mesh towers. Turns out that they take down the whole WiFi when the main node looses internet connection. That's just not acceptable, I might have an unstable internet connection but still want access to my local devices, such as my streaming server or router.

On that node, does anyone know of a brand of mesh towers that can survive unstable/no internet connections and don't use custom firmware? DD-WRT works just fine, but I'm not gonna flash custom firmware onto friends' devices.

[-] ZinQ@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago

Wouldn't you be helping them?

[-] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 6 points 4 days ago

I stopped using TP Link stuff after read a few articles on their significant security issues having something to do with their Chinese ownership, and back doors or something. It’s too bad, as far as usability and reliability, they were way better than the Netgear and Asus is have now.

[-] AndyMFK@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 days ago

What router do you have? I have the TP-Link Omada ER7212 and am not seeing this on the latest firmware

[-] megaman@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 3 days ago

Archer AX11000

[-] a4ng3l@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

I doubt something like this will spillover to the professional line of products. We should be clear for a while with Omada.

[-] Pika@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 days ago

Well, thats a shame. I have always preferred TP-Link due to their pricing and freedom of software/smart home integrations. This definitely puts a damper on that.

[-] surph_ninja@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

Time to learn how to set up OPNsense.

[-] irmadlad@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

Or in my case, pFsense, but yeah...that's the way.

[-] Zerush@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago

My router (WiFi v.6) has an inbuild Firewall

[-] thefluffiest@feddit.nl 1 points 4 days ago

Asus and Merlin forever

this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2025
318 points (100.0% liked)

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