What is expected support period for routers?

Technical Support for Routers
1

Hello,
I have a GL-AR150 and a Slate-Plus travel routers.
The AR-150 was excellent for my needs back in the day but support for it stopped relatively soon.

Since I really like GL-iNet routers and I plan to get a couple for them for my home as well, I would like to know what is the expected EoL date for Flint and Slate AX (the primary and the secondary router that I plan to use at my home).

I know that a few people say that the support is generally long-term, but how long is the “long” for those products?

For completeness shake, what is the recommended method to get long-term support for those routers? Flash OpenWRT when the EoL approaches?

2

GL iNet can EOL products at any time and multiple times they have claimed chip shortages for the short life of some products.

Some models like the AR300M16 have had a good long life, but other models like the Brume-W (GL-MV1000W) that came out on Kick-Starter in June 2020 (before general availability) and was EOL November 2022, had a very short life.

I’m sad that I now have many different GL iNet routers, including a mixture of n300, USB150, AR750 and AR750S-EXT that are all now on the EOL list.

Although GL iNet normally supports firmware updates for 2 years after EOL, this may or may not help. I have been waiting since the first announcement for 4.x for the USB150 in Jan 2021, and it is still not even in beta. The USB150’s 2 year firmware support window ends in Dec 2023, so if I do receive a 4.x release, it will only have firmware support for a very short time.

Please note that not all GL iNet routers have OpenWrt firmware, so choose wisely.

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Here is a similar topic:

4

most don’t, but I ask myself: why isn’t the stuff needed to make them run stock openwrt pushed upstream?

5

@Cal

My limited understanding is certain GL devices rely on a proprietary SDK that’s not F/OSS to fully support GL’s advertised features/specs.

@ptselios

If you’re worried about longevity (as I always am!), go for the Flint v1 (GL-AX1800) or Slate AX (GL-ATX1800); @solidus1983 already has some exciting builds for ‘pure’ OpenWrt Linux available if that’s more your speed/GL ceases support in the future.

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6

Of course I don’t expect the gl.inet interface or goodcloud if I flash stock openwrt, but having the option would be nice.

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7

I don’t disagree but I don’t think GL is looking that far (one can dream, thou!); Hell, they don’t even have Tailscale fully supported & I know you’ve seen how many threads are inquires related to that… never mind the rather inconsistent nature of firmware versioning v feature sets.

I’m just happy @solidus1983 ‘picked up the glove’ to give us a couple of options.

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Of all the new routers, the Slate Plus seems to have the best OpenWrt support. This is even stated by GL iNet Staff:

9

Nice find but that’s not enough for me to go on. The Flint v1, Slate AX are also Qualcomm SBCs (IPQ6000, quad core, 1.2GHz v IPQ4018, quad, 717MHz).

I wonder if it’s a matter of the “QCA binary drivers” licensing… but I may be going a touch off topic here. I’ll wait for @solidus1983 to chime in with his perspective.

10

Wonderful.
I don’t tend to change routers or AP often. Thus, I want to have support, or else, security updates as long as I keep them, typically 3-4 years.