It is with heavy heart I write this news: Ayrstone will be going out of business at the end of June. Ayrstone was actually formed in 2007 (with a different business goal). We introduced the first AyrMesh Hub in 2010, and the “Hub2” line started in 2013. I’m proud of all that we have accomplished, but the time has come to fold our tent.

We have tried everything we could think of over the last two and a half years to keep Ayrstone alive, but, unfortunately, none of it has been successful. We just can’t pay the bills any more, and I’d prefer to close up in an orderly way rather than just disappear and leave you in the lurch.

AyrMesh products will continue to just work – the only difference will be how you configure and maintain them. AyrMesh.com will disappear, and we’ll put all the AyrMesh products into “Manual Configuration Mode.” We have updated the products to add a “Manual Configuration” link on the “status” page. I enncourage you to familiarize yourself with the Manual Configuration page and understand how to log into your Hub and change the parameters there. If you’re having trouble with any of your AyrMesh products, contact support today so we can have a look at it. After June 30, there won’t be anyone to talk to.

We have done a lot of work to make sure you’ll be able to continue to use your AyrMesh products successfully. It has always been my goal to make sure no one is ever “stuck” with an AyrMesh products, and that commitment continues even after we exit the market.

What happens now?

Nothing dramatic should happen to your AyrMesh products – they should just keep working. Insofar as most folks seldom (if ever) make changes to their network with AyrMesh.com after the first week or so, it will make no difference to most people. The only change will come if you want to update an SSID or encryption key, or change the channel. We have put together a quick guide to the Manual Configuration on Ayrstone.com, which has links to our more comprehensive PDF instructions.

The article on the front page of Ayrstone.com contains a list of possible replacement products; while there’s nothing that replicates the function of the AyrMesh Hub2 products (Hub2x2, Hub2T) as a mesh, there are good “single” outdoor high-gain, high-power access points available, and good shorter-range, higher-bandwidth meshing access points available (similar to the HubDuo).

It does pain me a little that there’s nothing similar to the Hub2 products on the market any more. That may change – it’s not hard to add meshing capability to an access point (we use the Open80211s package in OpenWRT – anyone else can, as well), but it can be a bit tricky to build something that makes it easy to use. That was the goal of having a “cloud controller” (AyrMesh.com) – to keep all the Hubs, Receivers, and IndoorHubs “playing nicely” with each other.

Reconfiguring

While your products will just continue to work, at some point you may find a need to reconfigure them. To do that, you’ll log into each individual AyrMesh device on your network and use the simple on-device web page to change the settings.

One big warning about special characters!

Since we updated AyrMesh.com a couple of years ago, it has been more accepting of special characters in SSIDs, encryption keys, usernames, and passwords. However, NOT ALL DEVICES ARE AS ACCEPTING in Manual Configuration mode, and some AyrMesh products will “translate” special characters into their URL code equivalents. For example, a username of “[email protected]” will become “bill%40foo.bar” – if you don’t know what has happened, you won’t be able to log in to the device. Similarly, putting special characters in the SSID or encryption passkey will result in an odd-looking SSID and/or the inability to join the network.

To make it even more confusing, some of our more recent products (like the HubDuo) can handle most special characters pretty well, while others cannot. The latest versions of the Hub2x2 and Hub2T, as well as the Hub2x2C can handle most special characters, while the older products cannot.

In general, we STRONGLY RECOMMEND using only letters and numbers in the text fields: SSID, Encryption passkey, Mesh ID, Mesh key, username, and password, when configuring your Hubs. If you uses a special character when you were on AyrMesh.com, that will still work the first time you log into the AyrMesh products; for instance, if your AyrMesh.com username is “[email protected],” you will be able to log into your AyrMesh products using the username “[email protected]” the first time. HOWEVER, once you click the “Submit” button at the bottom of the page, some AyrMesh products will translate the “@” into “%40” and you’ll find it difficult to log back in (unless you remember the URL codes).

We will be moving devices off AyrMesh.com the week of June 20-26. If you check AyrMesh.com and your AyrMesh product is not checking in, it may already be on manual configuration – try connecting to its IP address and logging into it.

Connect those old (and new) devices

If you have AyrMesh products you haven’t been using (for whatever reason), even if they’re brand new, connect them to your router and let them update their firmware. I have been posting firmware updates as recently as last week, so even brand-new products may need to update.

The standard warnings apply: in general, only connect one device to your router at a time; having two Hubs or a Hub and a Receiver connected to your router at the same time may allow them to connect and create a network loop. Recent updates have been made to make the products easier to use with Manual Configuration (and fix a couple of bugs we found).

So PLEASE DON’T HESITATE – do it today!

Other issues

As of the date of this writing, we still have some AyrMesh products on the Ayrstone.com shop available for purchase at deeply discounted prices. IN PARTICULAR, we still have a large stock of ETHERNET CABLES in 50′, 100′, and 200′ sizes. These are all-copper, UV-resistant cables suitable for outdoor use, and we have them marked down below the prices of “Copper-Clad Aluminum” (“CCA”) cables on Amazon.com and elsewhere.

I think it’s an excellent idea to have a few extra Ethernet cables around; networks are getting more important, and the need to connect devices to your network is increasing.

If you can use 5 or 10 or more cables, please get in touch and we’ll give you an even bigger discount.

Note that, since they’re pure copper wiring, they’re heavy; hence, they’re more expensive to ship than you might realize. All the more reason we’d like to get them out of our hands and into yours!

I’m going to try to have one more update of this blog before the 30th.