WiFi Telemetry

[BYTE-ME]

MSFN members do a lot of complaining about Windows telemetry, but I recently discoverd, while shopping to upgrade my old Wifi router, that those devices, especially mesh Wifi routers, almost universally, require users to give cloud access to the manufacturer and let them sniff your LAN traffic in order to onboard the device to your local network. No more logging into a Wifi router's IP address to set it up.  No, they want you to use a smart phone app so they know exactly who you are. Aside from the security risk, I find this kind of instrusiveness outrageous. The only non-telemetry mesh wifi access point I could find was GL.iNet GL-B1300. How did Wifi makers get consumers to swallow this BS?

Edited June 20, 2022 by BYTE-ME

[i430VX]

I think open firmware like OpenWRT may be able to make some sort of mesh network. I use OpenWRT and can generally recommend it, but I'm not sure how well the mesh part works as I have no need for it.

https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/mesh/start

I would doubt the reason for switching to app-based management is for telemetry. I mean... its a router. It could phone home all of your connected devices anytime if it really wanted to. (in fact, many recent routers on their stock firmware do have opt-out style telemetry covering usage statistics) As I understand it, the apps are used for better ease-of-use for the nontechnical people who frequently do buy mesh routers these days. (And at that point... why spend the R&D money to maintain two interfaces, I suppose.)

The reason why it is like this is because it benefits more people than it hinders in terms of setup ease. And, most people do not seem to care, at all, about telemetry and such, as long as the device works.

Edited June 20, 2022 by i430VX

[BYTE-ME]

@i430VX. I agree that phone app provisioning is all about ease of use and I'm normally alll for ease of use. But it's also discriminatory against people who don't have or c an't afford smart phones. In reacent years in the tech world, ease-of-use has become a trojan horse for privacy invation and proprietary schemes that prevent end users from using/improving/modifying or hacking a product in the way the consumer wants, in many cases. So when you hear: "Let us save you the trouble of understanding this process...."  run the other way! 

Edited June 21, 2022 by BYTE-ME

[Adriann]

Personally, I won't let anyone see my traffic.)