I’m not sure what’s meant by “sneaky updates”. The Glowforge is a centrally-managed device. GF rolls out updates as necessary and invisibly to the end user, which is the whole point of centrally managed computing device - take the pain of device management out of the hands of the end user. So any updates they push to the machines aren’t sneaky, they’re being pushed exactly like they’re supposed to be. You sign up for this when you buy your GF.
I don’t know, but it is certainly possible that some updates may not be performed until the machine is power cycled. I think GF probably understands how updating the machine between jobs would be suboptimal from an end user perspective, if the update changed the machine’s behavior in some way. So never power cycling the machine off may conceivably prevent it from updating when it’s supposed to. That might cause problems as the servers could be getting updated with a change that assumes the printers are also up to date.
I’d add that having multiple Glowforges connected to multiple WiFi access points in no way demonstrates that GF servers are at fault if all the machines stop working at once. The data going to/from those different WiFI access points probably ends up in the same place at some point along it’s path to GF’s servers. A fault anywhere after the data streams are merged on to a common “transport” would affect all machines regardless of their WiFi connection. So all that multiple WiFi access points does for you when all machines fail at once is maybe demonstrate that the WiFi link itself isn’t at fault. It does not demonstrate that you aren’t experiencing a network problem.
The fact that you seem to experience problems fairly often and there isn’t a “hue and cry” from the general GF community about the same kind of problem strongly suggests the issue is at your end of the network connection and not a problem with GF’s servers or software. May not be the answer you want, but the odds are much more likely IMO that the fault is in your network connection somewhere (part of my real job is a discipline called “failure analysis”).
By way of example, I think I’m over 3 years of GF ownership. While I don’t run it 24/7, I do run it for extended intervals periodically. I have never had an issue with my machine not coming on line or going off line. The thing has worked every single time I’ve turned it on and used it.
Not only is there a data convergence out in the web at some point, but we know GFs have cheap WiFi chips. Despite being on different WiFi networks and services, they have the same achilles’ heel. A bit of random disturbance on the 2.4 ghz wavelength could absolutely take both out at the same time. I’m positive these chips are like the 99.9999% of all radios chips out there that are designed to surrender to/accept interference. And since these are cheap ones…
We used to have a microwave that would wonk my connection. Figured it out and replaced the microwave - the shielding was breaking down so it was actually a good thing it disturbed the Wifi Force
I fought an intermittent problem for months. I could go days or weeks with no issues and then suddenly it would rear its ugly head only to mysteriously “self correct”. This could happen several times a day and the go back to no issues. It turned out to be a conflict with the family access our Apple TV while I was locked away with my GF.
You’re not the only one to discover an Apple TV interfering with their Glowforge’s wifi. @Pearl shared the same discovery in a previous @coalakida discussion.
I know. I was being sarcastic because OP keeps not-so-subtly accusing the company of nefarious or incompetent activity. But hey, if there is evidence, let’s see it.
