Program ends, routers bricked

In 2020, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched the Measuring Broadband Australia (MBA) program. The goal was simple: find out how fast broadband plans really were for everyday households. Thousands of volunteers were given whitebox routers supplied by SamKnows, a company that specialized in internet performance measurement. These devices ran automated tests against servers hosted in Australia, measuring the real-world performance of fixed-line broadband services delivered over the NBN and other access networks.

The program ran for several years, producing regular reports on the actual speeds that customers could expect from retail service providers. The whiteboxes were designed to run quietly in the background, periodically sending test results to SamKnows. The data helped regulators and consumers see whether advertised speeds matched reality. According to a report from December 2020, the ACCC initially expected to distribute about 4,000 whiteboxes throughout the program. By that time, more than 2,600 had already been sent to volunteers.

Now the program has ended. Last month, the ACCC released its final performance report, and on June 30 the routers used in the program were disabled. Volunteers received an email in mid-June from the SamKnows team, which is part of Cisco, saying that the whitebox would be disabled and the SamKnows One account would be closed. The email also said that measurement and registration data would be deleted in accordance with the end-user license agreement.

Working hardware turned into e-waste

The problem is that the routers were not broken. They were still functioning perfectly well. One volunteer who spoke with reporters pointed out that the whiteboxes run a custom version of OpenWRT, an open-source, Linux-based operating system for embedded devices. That means the devices could easily be reflashed into normal Wi-Fi routers with very decent performance. The volunteer said they personally reflashed their own device, an operation that requires a soldering iron when the company does not provide support, and it now works great as a Wi-Fi router running OpenWRT. They added that everything needed to keep these devices useful already exists.

Despite this, the official guidance to volunteers was to unplug the whitebox and dispose of it in an environmentally responsible manner. SamKnows pointed volunteers to free e-waste recycling services at local councils, resource recovery centres, Officeworks, JB Hi-Fi, or Harvey Norman stores. But the volunteer argued that it is a shame to turn thousands of perfectly good devices into trash simply because the company did not want to send out a final firmware update that would open the devices up to end users.

This is not a small issue. E-waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the world. When working electronic devices are unnecessarily disabled, the environmental impact includes the raw materials used to manufacture them, the energy consumed in production, and the pollution generated when they are eventually discarded. Even if recycling is handled properly, it is always better to extend the life of a working device than to replace it. The whiteboxes used in the MBA program are not ancient or underpowered; they are capable routers that could serve perfectly well in homes, offices, or community projects.

Who made the decision?

Reporters reached out to SamKnows using the email address that had been used to contact program volunteers. The only response was an automated message saying that the inquiry was being reviewed. No answer ever came. When SamKnows-owner Cisco was contacted, a representative said that all inquiries related to the Measuring Broadband Australia program should be directed to the ACCC, citing an agreement between SamKnows and the ACCC.

It remains unclear whether Cisco had any say in disabling the routers. Cisco acquired SamKnows in 2023, several years after the ACCC announced that it would use SamKnows for the MBA program. The acquisition meant that Cisco took over SamKnows operations, but the contractual relationship with the ACCC may have left little room for flexibility. Still, Cisco is a massive technology company with deep expertise in networking and firmware. It arguably had the technical capability to help keep the routers running, even if it chose not to.

The ACCC was also asked why the routers were disabled instead of being unlocked with a final firmware update, and what the response to e-waste concerns was. In a statement, an ACCC spokesperson said that the MBA program was delivered with SamKnows as its testing provider, and that the whitebox is a dedicated hardware-based device provided to a few thousand volunteers. The statement confirmed that the devices had been disabled and were no longer operational. It also repeated the advice that volunteers should unplug the disabled whitebox and dispose of it through free e-waste recycling services. The statement did not explain why the routers could not have been opened up for continued use, nor did it address the environmental concerns raised by volunteers.

Similar programs, similar questions

This is not the first time SamKnows has been involved in a large-scale broadband measurement project. In a similar study in the United States, SamKnows distributed around 9,000 routers to volunteers to help test internet speeds for a report published in 2011. That project was conducted with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC and SamKnows have never publicly stated what happened to those 9,000 routers. It is possible that they suffered the same fate, or that they were collected and reused in some other way. The lack of transparency around that earlier program makes it harder to understand why the Australian whiteboxes were bricked.

The Australian program was specifically focused on the NBN, which is the country's government-owned wholesale open-access broadband network. The NBN has been a major national project for more than a decade, and measuring actual broadband performance is important for consumers, regulators, and internet service providers. The whitebox devices were a key part of that measurement process, and they were built to be reliable and to run tests over many years. It is ironic that a program designed to give consumers more information about internet performance ended with thousands of working devices being thrown away.

Volunteers left with few options

Volunteers who participated in the MBA program likely expected that their contribution would help improve broadband transparency. Instead, many now have to decide whether to follow the official advice and recycle the device, or to try to salvage it independently. Some tinkerers have already shared details online about how to keep the disabled routers working. Because the hardware is based on a common platform and runs a customized version of OpenWRT, technically skilled users can reflash the firmware and turn the whitebox back into a standard Wi-Fi router. This requires a soldering iron and some patience, but it is possible.

For the average volunteer, the process is not practical. They may not know how to solder, or they may worry about voiding warranties or damaging the device. The companies and regulators involved could have made the process much easier by providing a final firmware update that would automatically convert the whitebox into a general-purpose router, or at least remove the restriction that disabled it. No such update was offered.

The decision to brick the routers also raises broader questions about the sustainability of government-funded technology programs. When public money is used to buy hardware for testing, monitoring, or research, the public should arguably benefit from that hardware after the project ends. If the hardware can no longer be used for its original purpose, every effort should be made to repurpose it, donate it, or sell it rather than sending it to the scrap heap. In this case, the whiteboxes have enough processing power, RAM, storage, and network interfaces to be useful for years to come.

Transparency is needed

The relevant stakeholders appear reluctant to provide a clear explanation of why working routers were disabled when another solution was available. It is possible that SamKnows, Cisco, or the ACCC do not want to be associated with future problems or concerns about the routers if they were updated for easy continued use. It is also possible that there are contractual reasons that prevent the devices from being repurposed, or that the companies simply did not think it was worth the effort.

But the lack of communication is frustrating for volunteers who gave up their time and space to help the government gather data. It also undermines the credibility of programs that claim to care about consumer interests. If the ACCC truly wants to protect consumers, it should also protect the environment and the value of the equipment that volunteers helped deploy. Recycling should be the last resort, not the first option, especially when the devices are still operational.

Until there is a clear explanation, volunteers and the public are left to wonder whether this was a hasty decision made without consideration of e-waste, or a deliberate choice to keep working hardware out of the hands of end users. The whole episode shows how easily a well-intentioned program can end on a sour note when officials fail to think about what happens after the project is over.

Source: Ars Technica News