Product EOL
I bought Firewalla Blue four years ago, now the product is EOL, or so the app tells me. I feel I am forced to buy a new device, so I would like to share some thoughts or questions. First off, let me start by saying I love this device and I'd like nothing more than to keep using Firewalla products instead of moving to some other solution.
- Ads have started appearing where these have been blocked earlier. Is this due to the EOL or have the advertising companies found ways to circumvent Firewalla's blocking algorithms?
- Is there a discount program for returning clients?
- If I would buy a new Firewalla, say a purple one - what's the expected EOL for that? I'd be awfully sorry if you would pull the same again after less than four years of use. You don't mention EOL for Purple SE here: https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/articles/19801510202643-Firewalla-End-Of-Life-Guide
Many thanks & kind regards
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The red/blue EOL is due to a lack of kernel software support due to the CPU EOL during the pandemic. You can find out more about the EOL https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/articles/19801510202643-Firewalla-End-Of-Life-Guide
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i'm also using firewalla blue. i've started with red device and now i'm using blue, gave red to my parents.
i also noticed the eol and i decided once firewalla blue will not be able to work anymore, i'll disconnect it and no more buy firewalla devices. Because all of them will have eol date.
i had a live before firewalla, at moment i'm still living with firewalla and in the future i'll need to learn living without firewalla again. i'll need to trust my router's firewall and give trust to my pihole with unbound.
red device at my parents is already not starting anymore. it's asking IP from router and i can ping the device but firewalla service is not starting, the app says it's offline. I don't have mood, power and time to figure out why it's offline. -
the difference is, internet routers like Fritzbox have local webinterface and will work for many years after EOL. Devices like Fritzbox won't stop working after EOL. There are a lots of old and very old devices running out there. Commonly used as wifi accesspoint or small phone system.
But firewalla is cloud based device. Once it's not supported anymore, we'll have tons of electro waste.
Fritzbox 7590, for example, was first built in 2017 and will still get firmware-updates. There are also beta firmwares. 7 year old device.
If Firewalla will also have local webinterface, i'll consider to buy a new device. But it seems that also the biggest firewalla-devices are still cloud based only. I understand that blue device is limited with cpu and ram. But firewalla gold will have enough power to host it's local webinterface, isn't it? -
As a security device, Firewalla is much more complex than simple routers. It provides many features that will require maintenance.
- For example, if the CPU manufacturer discontinues a CPU, support (both from the community and the manufacturer) will likely reduce significantly. So, it may not be easy to maintain the core software.
- Firewalla also runs software to detect security issues; memory becomes a significant bottleneck for newer signatures and algorithms as our software advances.
So to protect your network, you need the core software to be secure and signatures (behavioral algorithms) up to date. Meaning that all modern security devices (including firewalla) will be required to grab signatures / and the latest behavioral algorithms from somewhere. Without the cloud, there is no way to push them to you.
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Also EOL Fritzboxed will get patches, if there's any security risk like iOS and old iPhones.
But just have an EOL device running, it's not automatically security risk. Especially when all ports are closed from outside (WAN side) and strong password is set. No UPNP services, file-services and so on.
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