Solutions of avoiding Cisco Connect Cloud

Recently, a sensation paid attention by the world especially by the Cisco Router customers may annoy some users too. That is Cisco just rolled out across their router line, forcing users to register with Cisco's cloud service or end up with a bricked device, which make the customers upset a lot. And what's that mean? 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. Regardless of the necessity, I do believe that some customers may want to avoid the 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.

Fortunately, there are many users who are good at theory and application have found out the solutions so that you can make full use of all the old functions with rolling back your firmware, and 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. Now let’s share the detailed steps one by one.
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 your 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.
Certainly, that Cisco blog post 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. Maybe we all are waiting for the action of Cisco, yes?