ofc it's real. They're saying "at this date, we wont update it anymore". The router still works, it just isn't updated anymore.
If i had an old product, there's also some point where i'd say "I wont be updating this anymore", as to phase it out. Expecting something to receive active support forever is unreasonable.
It's real in the way anything I make up is real. It's really made up, and a way to pretend like the product died rather than the support for it.
> there's also some point where I'd say "I wont be updating this anymore", as to phase it out.
You don't get to phase out my stuff. If you're not going to update it anymore, you've broken our support relationship, so you should also be breaking the hardware and software locks that prevent me from getting support from another source.
If i had an old product, there's also some point where i'd say "I wont be updating this anymore", as to phase it out. Expecting something to receive active support forever is unreasonable.