Google OnHub router to join Google’s list of dead products next December

If you’re still using a Google OnHub router, Google wants you to know that you’re nearing the end of the line. According to Android Police, the company sent an email to OnHub owners to let them know that support for the router is ending on December 19, 2022. The router will still operate at a basic level after this date, but advanced services and router configuration will no longer be available in Google apps, and you will no longer receive security updates.

In an email it sends to OnHub users, Google is also offering a 40 percent discount on Nest Wifi hardware for people who want to replace their OnHub with another Google router.

OnHub has always been something special in Google’s hardware lineup; it shipped with mediocre performance and was never very flexible or customizable, and was replaced by Google Wifi (now Nest Wifi) just a year after it launched. Early OnHub adapters were always able to integrate the old router into their modern Google or Nest Wifi setups as a router or satellite, but that functionality is likely to go away when Google stops support in a year.

That Google can take an outdated but perfectly working router and disable most of its functionality is one of the downsides of network hardware that requires you to sign up for an account or use an app to administer it. While most advanced mesh routers are moving in that direction, offerings from Asus, Netgear, Linksys, and others at least retain some sort of web administration interface so you can continue to perform basic configuration tasks if these companies drop support or discontinue its existence. Mesh systems like those owned by Google Nest and owned by Amazon Eero offer simple configuration, affordable pricing, and an overall ease of use that these more advanced products can’t always match.