Hi @JulesW 

Thanks for posting in our business forum.

JulesW wrote

  @Clive_A You say "ever since the Omada was introduced". 

Perhaps that model... 

And I can firmware update my ER7206 from the Omada cloud manually... and it's been firmware updated automatically, too. 

 

So - That's an inconsistent statement, seemingly?  

 

Further - There's still the issue why the ER7212PC isn't picking up the firmware. 

Why is that? 

 

 

 

 

I think the last reply deviated from the topic "manual upgrade of the controller". I re-read what I wrote and I think I was trying to discuss the controller. ER7212PC as the all-in-one with the controller, the feature is not available. The upgrade we are talking about, what you miss is the function of "manual upgrade" which is to upgrade the controller from the Global View instead of a specific site.

Upgrade the firmware of a single device that is not a controller, that's possible.

Upgrade an OC200 or any sort of controller from the cloud is not possible. You only have the option of the online upgrade. That's something that was never added.

The task of the firmware development is not an easy thing not to mention this model integrates the controller. That's a joint mission of different teams and they work together to generate new firmware.

ER7212PC is not picking up the pace which is a known fact to the dev. For detailed reasons, I am not aware of it. Based on the roadmap previously revealed to me, Q2 expects a series of upgraded router product lines. A big release. I have not received any information about what models are involved and when it will be yet.

  @JulesW 

JulesW wrote

  @Clive_A Okay - Well - I am hoping that I've not bought a product that will miss out on functionality - as the gateway function is way behind something like a USG. 

 

But the firmware checking saying things are up to date, when they are not is a problem that TPLink need to address. 

 

I've been caught out with the EAP245 / EAP265s this last week with the OC200 not tell me the firmware was over a year out of date, but saying it was up to date. 

 

And if there was a critical vulnerability patched in the firmware for the ER7212PC  - How many other users out there are exposed? 

 

 

I am not sure how you come to a conclusion that there was a critical vulnerability. If there is one, feel free to propose it here and I will relay your valuable information to the dev for a further diagnosis. If there is one serious vulnerability, our team will check and verify it and patch it.

The dev is working on firmwares ETA released in Q2. Based on our roadmap, Q2 will some models updated to adapt to the new features that come with the Controller V5.14 or newer beta.

The firmware update is based on the product status and necessity after an evaluation. It does not mean stable or great when you get a frequent firmware update. For the business environment, you seek stability rather than new fancy features. As long as it works stably and well. 

And we also take into the consideration of the hardware limits of the product. Some products may reach its limit and we will stop continuing to add new features to it. And we will release a new hardware version of it.

Hi @JulesW 

Thanks for posting in our business forum.

JulesW wrote

  @Clive_A Hi Clive,

 

I suggest you read the release notes of firmware 1.1.2

 

https://static.tp-link.com/upload/firmware/2024/202401/20240115/ER7212PC_v1_1.1.2%20Release_Note.pdf

 

 

"2. New Features & Enhancements

1. Fixed some known security vulnerabilities."

 

Given I was on firmware version 1.1.1, and when I checked click "check firmware version" and it says it was up to date, I would suggest that without digging in to exactly what vulnerabilities were there, you and TP Link are not acknowledging the issue. 

 

If I hadn't gone manually looking and wondering if there was a firmware update, I'd have never have known. 

 

Regards

 

First, you seem to be confused and entangled on this matter. This may make you even more confused if I explain too much.

Please try to understand the fact that there are bugs and vulnerabilities in any software or any system, and they are being found every day and every time. Some are not known and some are known. Some are actively found and some are warned by the organizations(CVE).

This is what I learned over the years of using any devices or any software. Windows, macOS, or any software on the market, all have bugs and vulnerabilities. Even the state-of-art tech is filled with bugs. AI? Mature software for cars? Nope. They all have bugs and vulnerabilities.

I am not finding excuses but this is a fact and you can find the note anywhere on any software. I also use Windows, Android, and iOS stuff. I use different routers back in my home lab.

What about us? If we know there is a bug, we fix it. If there is no discovery on that, we have to wait for some reports to patch it.

What do we do? Zero-day vulnerabilities and Apache were found during the COVID(https://www.tp-link.com/en/support/faq/3255/). We fixed it with the update.

If you are very concerned about this and really lack confidence and trust in this, please consider a different solution. As you have already lost trust and confidence, what I explained may seem to be merely excuses in your view. I shall not explain anymore.

But our stand remains the same we fix vulnerabilities with high priority. If you can submit a vulnerability, we are open to receiving your feedback and testing and examining it.

If you take a look at other models we have, we fixed bugs or vulnerabilities and we wrote them in the release notes. Some are not reported as we don't want you to panic or it is not serious.

If it is serious, and we think it is necessary to release an announcement about it, we will do that like the link I posted above.

For the reason why you did not receive the cloud push, like described above, the last two releases of the firmware were not cloud-pushed. For some reasons and concerns of the devs, they decide not to cloud-push it. I cannot comment on this further more.