Canadian (CA) EAP firmware is not updated and behind EU and US. Hobbled product?
Trending evidence shown below is TP-Link Omada drops CA Firmware matching support when comparing EU and US. Canadian products in the hands of customers functionally fall behind and go stale. Are the EAP’s hobbled for the Canadian market? Are there any security fixes missing too? "Optimize security vulnerabilities" is mentioned in some release notes missing from CA versions. This is very concerning!
The following is a sample of devices I have deployed and still manage. With the latest SDN versions, some of these are being flagged as no longer compatible or fully functional.
EAP245(CA)_V3_5.0.5 Build 20220323 versus EAP245(US)_V3_5.3.3 Build 20250627 !!!!! SDN flagged as "outdated"
EAP772(CA)_V2_1.0.4 Build 20241018 versus EAP772(US)_V2_1.3.14 Build 20260128 WiFi 7 EAP already behind several versions!
EAP723(CA)_V2_1.0.6 Build 20250520 versus EAP723(US)_V2_1.1.3 Build 20250901
EAP650(CA)_V1_1.1.0 Build 20240830 versus EAP650(US)_V1_1.1.3 Build 20250326
EAP610-Outdoor(CA)_V1 _1.4.4 Build 20250718 vs EAP610-Outdoor(US)_V1 _1.4.4 Build 20250718 vs EAP610-Outdoor(EU)_V1_1.4.3 Build 20250520
EAP683 UR(CA)_V1_1.1.0 Build 20240412 vs EAP683 UR(US)_V1_1.2.2 Build 20250328
EAP655-Wall(CA)_V1_1.3.1 Build 20240929 vs EAP655-Wall(US)_V1_1.4.2 Build 20250319
EAP265HD(CA)_V1_5.0.5 Build 20220323 vs EAP265HD(US)_V1_5.3.2 Build 20250627 !!!!! SDN flagged as "outdated"
EAP225-Outdoor(CA)_V3_5.1.11 Build 20250401 vs EAP225-Outdoor(US)_V3_5.2.3 Build 20250709 vs EAP225-Outdoor(EU)_V3_5.2.2 Build 20250709
Omada SDN reports: “2 devices are using outdated firmware that is no longer supported. Please upgrade to the latest version as soon as possible.”
Perhaps for the CA market, it would be more appropriate as: "2 devices are using outdated firmware that have limited SDN support. If this affects you in material ways, please consider upgrading to newer models of EAP" .... However, the newer models also follow this stale firmware trend which now results in a lack of confidence for CA customers.
EAP245(CA) is worst case being many versions and 3 years behind US. The new EAP772(CA) is already behind many versions and a Beta! EAP610-Outdoor must have had enough CA sales as it is the only device matching US (in my sample).
A reasonable person can understand that the Canadian market is smaller than the US or EU as well as the effort required to modify, test and release every firmware variation… some versions might get skipped. Beta versions don’t apply. I’d expect that near to final firmware be matching before manufacturer discontinuance. Certainly security related improvements should motivate the effort.
