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Comment by georgemcbay | Hacker News Reader

The more things change, the more they remain the same:

Back in 1995 I "cracked" Cisco's router password "encryption":

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!original/comp.dcom.sys.cis...

Strikingly similar 'security', which is extra funny as Linksys is owned by Cisco. (EDIT: Not anymore! Thanks for the correction)

Back then net admins would regularly post their configuration files (with 'encrypted' passwords left intact in most cases) to usenet to get help/tips on how to better configure their routers, which was an unaddressed (by Cisco) security nightmare.

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FWIW, Cisco sold Linksys to Belkin. I guess slapping Cisco logos all over poorly-designed Linksys home networking products didn't do anything especially positive for people's perception of Cisco.

You're right, it is Belkin now, somehow I missed this year old news!

Wonderful. Either my WeMos will start working better or ...

Since we know about previous security issues for firmware updates on WeMo, and since I had awful customer experiences with belkin.com ... Both WeMo and Linksys products are off my "buy" list from now on, until I see some serious improvements. It's a shame, really...

Yeah WeMo has been a disaster. Just wondering, did you replace yours? If so with what? Z-Wave?

I'll take a WeMo I have to firewall from the internet any day over a Z-Wave device that responds to commands 50% of the time, and then only after 20-30 seconds. Which is exactly how all the ones I already own work. The WeMo switches always work, and always instantly.

Yeah, I have a NAT and... I takes my chances. (Wait, don't they defeat those? Hmm.)

Actually, they aren't hooked up right now, though I suppose if I were paranoid, I'd keep a second WiFi network disconnected from the net most of the time. It's a shame though that they used WiFi -- ZigBee Hue lights have worked great for me, and Bluetooth LE goes forever.

Thanks for the heads up on Z-Wave, but you've also just inadvertently described the WeMo product line as well, minus the ongoing security issues they'll have and a lot of times they just go offline completely until you manually reset them. Really horrible.

What do you recommend then? Zigbee?

I'm not sure an explicit description can't be inadvertent. I've had the WeMo switches and sensors for months; they've never needed a reset and have always responded and broadcast status changes instantly.

Maybe you have a problem with the phone app? I don't use it. They speak UPnP, so I use that from a node.js server.

http://i.imgur.com/aYOaB1e.jpg

I have no problem with connected devices using WiFi. I'd rather talk to them directly over TCP than have to use some hub to bridge different networks.

Ahh that may be it. Their iOS app is pretty bad. I've only had them for a month and I just didn't have time to experiment. I just wanted them to work.

I've actually had a lot of problems connecting them to WiFi, since before the firmware update they don't allow most special characters, and for some reason they can't hit my router due to range. I had to actually get a WiFi repeater to get everything up and running. Hmm it could have been the amount of UPnP traffic as well. I got about four switches, four plugs, and four motion sensors. Even when I didn't poll them with the iOS app, they would just randomly fail to follow their rules or maybe the motion sensors would fail to send messages.

Yeah I'm not keen on spending money for a hub with different radios but I literally just finished packing up all my WeMos today for a return. Too bad. I got them at a pretty decent discount too. I guess I'm willing to pay a little more for something that just works. I probably should have just kept them and got a Smartthings hub.

Ah I see. I suspect my irritation with their use of wifi also came down to their Android app. If you can believe it, it's even worse.

That said, it's not necessarily a bad thing for devices to have a hub. The hue lights, for example, hook up to a zigbee base station with an ethernet jack. So I never needed to enter a wifi password in the first place ;-)

That said, I had range issues too. The antennas must be microscopic. Maybe we'll have pCell routers someday.

Yeah I feel that's why the WeMos were really flawed. They needed a hub. A guaranteed place that keeps track of their status as well as a guaranteed place to relay data.

Luckily for us hackers, since they use wifi any computer can be that hub. Just give them static IP leases on your router so you don't have to re-discover them after a power/network outage.

I wish I talked to you sooner. I just didnt' have the time to experiment. I didn't have a spare computer either.

Not to mention the complete lack of customer support

Well not any more : http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-24/cisco-sells-linksys... (as Cisco sold LinkSys to Belkin) but the point is valid.

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