[pmorici]

You have to look at it from their perspective. Why spend money updating something that works? The number of people who care that their device firmware uses a recent Linux kernel version is so infinitesimally small satisfying them wouldn't even move the needle on sales and you apparently bought one any ways so why should they care?

If you want hardware you can tinker with build your own from parts you know work with recent kernels or buy a product specifically marketed at that segment.

[adrianratnapala]

It's a mistake from the manufacturers perspective too.

Because they don't have a proper QA procedure at the software level, they fear change and have to keep maintaining an in-house snapshot of a archaic ecosystem. They spend and more keeping the obsolete system going, because they have in past years made the cost of upgrading higher and higher.

Eventually they get forced into ground-up rewrites, with all their predictable problems.

[voltagex_]

I've been told I bought the wrong device repeatedly. Annoyingly a day after I bought it, I didn't need the ADSL modem any more. For years, I needed Broadcom ADSL chipsets to get >5 megabit downstream at home, but my next upgrade will probably be a separate router and WiFi AP.

[kevin_thibedeau]

The telcos and cable companies don't want to provision subscriber provided modems so they come up with the BS excuse about unsupported equipment to screw their customers over.

[__david__]

I have had good luck with that separation. I use an Apple Airport Extreme for my wifi (running in bridge mode), and a PC Engines "apu" [1] running OpenWRT for my router. I figure the wireless part is a detail I don't care too much about—it just gets my laptop onto the wired ethernet. The router is totally open source and hackable and I like that.

[1] http://pcengines.ch/apu1d.htm

[stephenr]

> but my next upgrade will probably be a separate router and WiFi AP

Personally I go the "other" way. Router + WiFi (I use an Airport, but pick your poison), and then the most basic modem possible for the location - this might be a provider-supplied DOCSIS Modem/Router in bridge mode, right now it's a provider-supplied "1 port" ADSL2+ modem/router in bridge mode. With an ADSL setup, you'll probably need to use PPPoE from the router, with a DOCSIS setup, the auth is usually on the MAC address so your router doesn't need to know anything, it just connects via IP to the bridged cable modem.

If the modem ever gives me issues, I'll just replace it with a plain-jane ADSL2+ modem. If the ISP's expand their docsis/fibre network past our new house, I'll just swap the ADSL modem for a DOCSIS modem/router in bridge mode.

This setup has given me the least headaches in every scenario across several houses in both Australia and Thailand. The only hard part really has been trying to express "I want a DOCSIS router that i can turn off the router" in a way that a Thai-speaking technician or my non-technical english&thai speaking wife can all understand.

[voltagex_]

The problem I've found is that a few of the ISP supplied devices no longer allow bridge mode, or you lose access to features ("free" city wifi).

[stephenr]

With adsl, I'd just discard the isp device and use a cheap modem-only device.

As I said docsis is often MAC address controlled, so if you can't get the admin password to unlock the devices (http://portforward.com has lots of isp configs/auth details) you could buy your own docsis modem/router that supports configurable MAC address and simply spoof the isp provided device.

For fibre based devices usually you just have a ONT with an Ethernet port, so no modem required just plug in your router.

If you can give more info on the specific last-mile tech you're dealing with, we can probably make some suggestions.

[voltagex_]

Fibre to the home. I think your ONT is my NTD. Box on my wall that I'm not really allowed to touch, then Ethernet straight to my router which handles PPPoE.

[stephenr]

Well pretty much any router with a PPPoE client should work then.

What is the "free city wifi" thing you referred to that requires the isp provided router?

[snuxoll]

Which ones? Sometimes the configuration is confusing, but I haven't found one I can't disable yet (my Ariss/Moto SBG5580 doesn't have a simple 'bridge mode' toggle, I have to disable NAT/NAPT to put it into bridge mode).