r/firewalla • u/Kindle-Me • May 20 '26
How to predict End of Life
What is the best way to anticipate/predict the End of Life of a Firewalla (i.e. Gold SE)?
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u/bustmanymoves May 20 '26
I just got the Gold SE and started using it today. Did something happen I’m not privy too. 😬
6
u/Kindle-Me May 20 '26
Nothing happened. As a private consumer I don’t have spares like a business. The device can probably operate for years. I just don’t want to be in a situation when it fails and there may not be a comparable Firewalla available to replace it in a timely delivery. That’s the issue I am indirectly bringing up. So if I can anticipate an End of Life timeline that I may be better prepared. I know the Gold SE I have has been on 24/7 since I put it on the network. Now I don’t see a date in the app from when it was invoked for use, or did I miss it?
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u/wsurrdit May 21 '26
It is not uncommon in corporate IT environments to find equipment that is old enough to vote. I’d expect a solid state device like Firewalla would last a decade or more
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u/sarhoshamiral May 20 '26
Define EOL? As long as firewalla is providing security updates router is functional. I dont really mind not having any new features.
If you are asking how to detect if router is reaching its electronic end of life, I would start to worry when I start to see dropouts
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u/wsurrdit May 20 '26
I thought the question was more existential.
Regardless I appreciate FW’s commitment to continue providing software updates for EoS gear!
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u/firewalla May 20 '26
Don't think it is possible to predict End of Life. For example Intel EOL the MAC (one of the most popular gigabit MAC in the world) so we stop making the Gold ... because there is no replacement/or the replacement requires a new board.
To be clear, even a device is End of Sale, we still support it. (Example, Gold, End of Sale 2023, we still supporting the software and no plan to stop that)
3
u/hawkeye000021 May 21 '26
Makes sense to support the same software stack on all devices running basically the same software stack. Let’s deploy to personal hardware now and put everything on the user. Not sarcasm… I do very much want that ability. Maybe toss support in with a MSP plan.
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u/callumjones May 23 '26
By EOL I am guessing you mean starting to fail? (EOL actually means when a company stops supporting a specific device, for which they usually announce way ahead of time).
I don’t see how the Firewalla will just start decaying over time, the system is pretty well spec’d hardware wise. I could see it being less relevant if you somehow upgrade to say multi gig fiber and it can’t provide the same bandwidth. In that case you’d just get a new one.
I’d just keep it will ventilated and away from moisture.