I recently made a purchase that improved the reliability of my home network—a Cisco Linksys EA3500 dual-band wireless router. The device itself has worked just as I hoped.

But shortly after my purchase, Cisco pushed a firmware update to this router that limited owners' ability to administer the devices ourselves. The update led me (and many others) to install an older version of the firmware in order to regain all the control we had in the first place. More on just how to do that in a bit. First let's explain what Cisco did, and why many people are upset.

When the firmware update (which also applied to the EA4500 and EA2700 router models) rolled out, attempting to connect to the browser's internal administrative Web interface brings the user instead to a signup page for the “Cisco Connect Cloud," as seen here:

The service basically replicates all the features router administrators already have, but moves them from your home network to Cisco’s cloud. The supposed benefit is that you can manage your router even when you’re not at home. I can’t imagine many circumstances in which I would need to do that; connecting my router’s administration features to a Web account also seems like a needless security risk (albeit a small one).

In exchange for the convenience of Connect Cloud, you have to agree to some pretty onerous terms. In short, Cisco would really hate it if you use the Web to view porn or download copyrighted files without paying for them.

From the Cisco Connect Cloud Terms of Service:

You agree not to use or permit the use of the Service: (i) to invade another's privacy; (ii) for obscene, pornographic, or offensive purposes; (iii) to infringe another's rights, including but not limited to any intellectual property rights; (iv) to upload, email or otherwise transmit or make available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, spam, junk mail or any other form of solicitation; (v) to transmit or otherwise make available any code or virus, or perform any activity, that could harm or interfere with any device, software, network or service (including this Service); or (vi) to violate, or encourage any conduct that would violate any applicable law or regulation or give rise to civil or criminal liability. While we are not responsible for any content or data that you choose to access or otherwise use in connection with the Service, we reserve the right to take such action as we (i) deem necessary or (ii) are otherwise required to take by a third party or court of competent jurisdiction, in each case in relation to your access or use or misuse of such content or data. Such action may include, without limitation, discontinuing your use of the Service immediately without prior notice to you, and without refund or compensation to you.

These terms of service have sparked a bit of an uproar among Cisco customers—you can get a sampling of the outrage among fellow Ars readers in the forums. A lot of that outrage is focused on privacy concerns. ExtremeTech found that Cisco has deleted a portion of a privacy statement that said Cisco would keep track of Connect Cloud customers’ “network traffic” and “Internet history."

I e-mailed Cisco public relations reps to ask how Cisco would know if anyone is using its cloud service for pornographic purposes or to infringe intellectual property rights, and also whether Connect Cloud keeps a record of everything its users do on the Internet, but haven't gotten a response yet. Cisco did previously weigh in with a blog post saying “Cisco Connect Cloud does not actively track, collect or store personal info or usage data for any other purposes, nor is it transmitted to third parties.”

Perhaps “actively” means Cisco only does the tracking sometimes. If no tracking occurs at all, why do the terms of service give Cisco the right to penalize customers for porn- and copyright-related offenses?

Some have claimed Cisco will “transform your router into a useless brick” if your porn habits violate the cloud service’s conditions. I don’t read the terms that way. Instead, the terms indicate to me that Cisco would discontinue a user’s right to use the cloud service, while still allowing you to use the router you bought and paid for.

Rolling back your firmware, ditching Connect Cloud

In fact, the Cisco Knowledge Base provides instructions on how to roll the router’s firmware back to avoid using the cloud service at all.

I followed the instructions last night and was able to regain access to the traditional Web interface for managing my router.

The first step is downloading the earlier version of the firmware. Next, you disconnect the Ethernet cable from the router’s Internet port. That’s because if your computer is online, navigating to 192.168.1.1 takes you to the Connect Cloud signup page. Severing the Internet connection brings you to a different page that provides administration access with your router’s password.

At this point, you can use the previously downloaded file to roll the router’s firmware back to the prior version. The router reboots, and once you plug the Ethernet cable back in you’re online, and going to 192.168.1.1 gives you the traditional Web interface—no cloud service account required.

The final step is to uncheck the automatic upgrade option. Now your router won’t automatically receive firmware updates. You could try the third-party firmware DD-WRT, but it seems to be supported on the Linksys EA2700 but not the other two models affected by the recent update.

Not receiving firmware updates isn’t ideal, of course. There is one way around this without signing up for the cloud service, though. Even with the latest firmware, you can manage your router without a Connect Cloud account by using the software that comes with a Cisco router. However, this software only includes the most basic options—for anything advanced, it redirects you to 192.168.1.1, which in turn redirects you to the Cisco Connect Cloud if you haven’t rolled back your firmware.

There’s also a phone app called Cisco Connect Express that works on your home network without a cloud account. That app is still available for now, but Cisco is pushing a new phone app that requires the cloud account.

That Cisco blog post we mentioned said the company is developing an updated version of the opt-out process for automatic updates to make it clearer that customers have more options than simply creating a Connect Cloud account.

Cisco is promising that Connect Cloud will offer many new conveniences, like adding devices to your home network with a tap of a button. I’ve never had any trouble adding devices to my home network in the first place, though, so for now I’m sticking with the older firmware.