Semi-permanently disabling modem in ResMed Airsense 10

[Sleep87]

Putting the Airsense 10 into "Airplane" mode supposedly disables the modem, but the machine regularly nags you to exit airplane mode.

As a semi-permanent solution, you can disconnect the modem internally. The process takes just a few minutes. These instructions are based on an Airsense 10 as sold in the US, containing a CDMA modem-on-a-chip by Telit, model CE910-DUAL.

Usual warnings: I will not take responsibility for damage to your equipment. Doing this might void your warranty. Doing this might annoy your DME vendor. And so on.

Required tools:

• A Torx T-10 screwdriver.
• A plastic scribe(s) for prying the case apart. A credit card or other piece of thin, rigid plastic might substitute. If you are willing to risk causing some damage to the case, a flathead screwdriver could be used instead.

1. Start by unplugging the Airsense 10 and removing the water tank and hose.
2. Remove the shiny black front bezel by prying at the indentation in the bottom. Fingernails should be sufficient. You can instead pry gently from the top. Again, fingernails should be sufficient.
3. Remove the two exposed T-10 screws on the front of the Airsense 10.
4. On the bottom of the Airsense 10, there are eight screws. Remove only the two screws at the very back of the CPAP, about 3/4" up the side.
5. On the lower front of the machine carefully pry the upper housing FORWARD - there are several clips that run horizontally back into the machine.
6. On the lower back of the CPAP gently pry the upper housing up and out. Take your time.
7. Remove the upper housing from the machine.
8. On the circuit board on the front of the machine, find the SD card cage on the left. Just below it, find a small black connector labelled J302 with four white wires running to it. You want to disconnect this gently. Place something smooth and flat under all of the wires and gently lift up. It should disconnect very easily. Do not force it.
9. If you want, test the machine before reassembling it. Plug it in; make sure it runs. Under the "Options" menu, select "About". You should see blanks in the modem fields.
10. Put the top cover back on. Proceed gently. You will need to press in on the front edge. Reinstall two screws in the front and two on the bottom. Replace the front bezel. You're done.

If you ever want to reconnect the modem, just open the machine as above and plug the connector back in.

P.S. to anyone from ResMed reading this: some of us do not consent to sharing our sleep data you. I was very tempted to have my DME supplier swap out this ResMed device for another vendor's CPAP. I hope your future machines have an easy option to disable the modem and leave it disabled. Perhaps the modem could be an easily-removable add-on, as with your S9 CPAP or Phillips' machines. Or perhaps you could have a hardware disable switch hidden inside one of the side panels.

Here's the machine with the front bezel removed. Remove both of these screws.



Remove these two screws on the base.



The front edge of the top housing, showing three of the five clips that extend horizontally into the CPAP:



The main board showing the white modem wires connected to J302, just below the SD card cage:



Close up:



Disconnected:



Success:



Here is a video showing the process. This video shows not only how to disable the modem but also how to remove the modem entirely as well as tear down the blower chamber for cleaning.

[chunkyfrog]

Even though I leave my modem on for insurance purposes,
I strenuously defend your right to choose whether or not to share your data in this way.
The "nag screen" can be quite irritating for users who need not prove compliance.
Resmed, fix it, already!

[BlackSpinner]

Why do they assume that everyone is hooked to a DME?
A lot of people all around the world don't report to anyone.

[webbie73]

I find it highly insulting to have a modem on our pap machines. For me it is too much of a "big brother"thing.

[davecpap]

I feel the modem will be beneficial to a large portion of Airsense 10 users. It far easier to have compliance info automatically sent - no need to visit DME. I think its cool that doctors can monitor your progress and change settings remotely - how easy is that? People on this forum don't need it, but we represent a small portion of users I suspect.

I also like the Over-the-Air firmware upgrades, like the humidifier one being sent out now suspected to fix issue with climate line hose. When has a bug ever been fixed in a CPAP machine like this before? See viewtopic/t104355/Airsense-Software-Upg ... t-Now.html

I also understand the opposite side of the coin - I didn't use insurance, so no one cares about my compliance data. My doctor recently had his license taken away, so he's not going to be remotely monitoring my progress and changing my settings. I don't like people having more information about me than they need to know. But I think the built in modem is a game changer for many reasons.

I'm not sure if detailed data is being sent or only compliance data (detailed data sounds expensive), but imagine researchers having all of this data from tens (hundreds?) of thousands of users. Maybe it would help them identify improvements to the auto titration algorithms or understand better how people use the machines.

Not all data collection is malicious. I would like more info about the steps taken to protect data, if its anonymized, what kind of authentication is required to have doctor/DME change settings, etc..

I welcome the Internet of Things.

[palerider]

I welcome the Internet of Things.

+1

[archangle]

Don't forget that if you put the machine into flight mode, the modem stays off until you turn it back on.

I do agree there should be an easy way to "mechanically" disable the modem, such as a mechanical switch. And that the nag screen shouldn't be so persistent.

[Player]

They can turn it back on remotely I think.

If it gets unplugged or the power goes off it turns the modem back on.

[k_ogre]

not sue about the power going off will have to try that when I get home but they can't remotely turn it back on

[archangle]

They can turn it back on remotely I think.

Very unlikely it can be turned back on remotely, due to the way cell phone communications work, and the purpose and regulations involved in flight mode.

[Sleep87]

If it gets unplugged or the power goes off it turns the modem back on.

Incorrect. When power comes back, there is a nag screen encouraging you to turn off airplane mode. You get the same nag screen every time the machine is turned off (or turns itself off due to high leak detection).

[robysue]

I feel the modem will be beneficial to a large portion of Airsense 10 users. It far easier to have compliance info automatically sent - no need to visit DME. I think its cool that doctors can monitor your progress and change settings remotely - how easy is that?

I am deeply concerned about the ability to change the settings remotely: If the DME that sold you the dang machine is anal-retentive and notices that you've been changing the settings (on your own, with or without your doc's approval), what's to stop them from changing the settings back to what they think they should be without telling you about it?

I'm not sure if detailed data is being sent or only compliance data (detailed data sounds expensive), but imagine researchers having all of this data from tens (hundreds?) of thousands of users. Maybe it would help them identify improvements to the auto titration algorithms or understand better how people use the machines.

While I agree in principle that a large amount of detailed data might be useful for improving the algorithms, the data being gathered is NOT anonymous data. In other words, your data can be traced back to you. And no-one is asking the CPAPers for their written permission to have this personal medical data gathered and stored (indefinitely?) on a company's website. And that is a major privacy concern.

In an academic environment if a faculty member wants to gather any kind of data from human beings, it's considered "research involving human subjects" and it requires official clearance before the professor can proceed. One part of that clearance is making sure that the proposed research obtains and keeps track of "permission to gather data" from each of the subjects in the study. And the "permission to gather data" has to be an informed consent---the subject has to be told the purpose of gathering the data, what data will be gathered, and how the data will be used. (It doesn't need to be real specific, but nonetheless, the subjects do need to be told the point of gathering the data.) Another part of the clearance process is documenting how the researcher will insure the confidentiality of the data gathered and making sure that the subjects are aware that the data gathered will be treated confidentially.

It's not asking too much (in my opinion) for a for-profit company that wishes to gather personal, medical related data to obtain written consent. And there is a huge difference between a modem silently sending out whatever data the company wants to gather regardless of the CPAPer's desires and a CPAPer bringing in an SD card and asking for a report to be generated.

Not all data collection is malicious.

I agree that not all data collection is malicious, but gathering any data about our medical condition should require our explicit permission. And we should be entitled to know the details about when that data will be shared, who it will shared with, and under what circumstances it will be shared. Right now we know NONE of that.

And we should have the right to receive treatment without being forced into allowing a company to gather our personal, medical data without our consent. And right now, users of the Resmed A10 appear to NOT have this right. Unless they want to put up with annoying nagging from the machine. Or open the machine up and void the warranty.

I would like more info about the steps taken to protect data, if its anonymized, what kind of authentication is required to have doctor/DME change settings, etc..

None of this has been publicized by Resmed. And that's a huge concern. Moreover, since the whole point of the modem is to make it easier for DMEs to track compliance, it's clear that the data cannot be anonymized: It does the DME no good to know that 30% of their patients aren't meeting compliance if they don't know which patients are in that 30%.

[BlackSpinner]

Probably somewhere in the paper work you sign is a tiny print sentence that says it is ok for the DME to collect and store your medical data as well as share it with various institutions it deems ok.

[robysue]

Probably somewhere in the paper work you sign is a tiny print sentence that says it is ok for the DME to collect and store your medical data as well as share it with various institutions it deems ok.

My DME had me sign a standard HIPAA form. It's not clear that signing the standard US HIPAA form for the local DME would authorize Resmed or PR to collect all the data my machine records for the entire time I own and use the machine. Of course, that was back in the days before the manufacturers started routinely sticking modems on the machines.

[SgtWilko]

I feel the modem will be beneficial to a large portion of Airsense 10 users. [...] People on this forum don't need it, but we represent a small portion of users I suspect.

Completely agree. For those who are less inclined to monitor their results with Sleepyhead, Rescan or even the data summary screen on their xPAP, the Resmed MyAir website is simple and provides more useful info and trends than simply looking at the default data summary screen.

I also like the Over-the-Air firmware upgrades, like the humidifier one being sent out now suspected to fix issue with climate line hose. When has a bug ever been fixed in a CPAP machine like this before?
[...]
Not all data collection is malicious. I would like more info about the steps taken to protect data, if its anonymized, what kind of authentication is required to have doctor/DME change settings, etc..

I welcome the Internet of Things.

I'm with you on this also and agree Resmed should make it crystal clear how the remote monitoring capability is, or can be used by Resmed or anyone else (beyond the MyAir web site), and how that access and collected data is protected.

I have used an S7, S8, S9 and A10. The A10 is the first unit I own that can have its firmware upgraded without simply replacing the unit. At least in Canada. I've asked my supplier about FW upgrades at each machine change and they always had the same answer "Resmed does not enable or allow us to do that". Probably for liability reasons. Considering the nature of software and the frequency of bugs and updates, the A10 remote access is a major improvement in my mind.

I don't know how things work for people in the US between the doctor and DME but in Canada, my doctor and APAP supplier are not connected in any way. My doc does not even know what equipment I use nor does he have any interest in monitoring my treatment or changing my settings remotely. Thats left to the xPAP supplier which seems to act like the DMEs in the states with respect to that. Although, my xPAP provider offers the monitoring as a service, I still have to formally authorize/sign off on it. Of course, that does not guarantee that my supplier or Resmed are not monitoring my data but honestly, unless they are changing my settings, what harm can come from my data being used to further the science of xPAP? If anyone was messing with your settings, you would see it in your results when using MyAir, SleepyHead, or Rescan anyway. You could then phone your DME and give them hell if you wish. Unless of course your results are actually better after the changes...

I fully understand and respect the sensitivity of certain individuals about their privacy but this is one aspect which to me has more upside than downside. I am much more worried and outraged at the monitoring of our cellular and internet activity and all its implications.

Now, for those of you who object to this cellular modem link, you should steer away from all internet connected devices that use your wifi. Unlike the Resmed cellular link which is limited to your A10 itself, thermostats (e.g. Nest, Honeywell, etc), fridges, alarm systems and other IOT devices, offer hackers (and manufacturers) much more access to your home network and everything connected to it.

Its certainly important to make sure our privacy is not compromised but lets not let principles for the sake of principles or paranoia get in the way of progress.

Sgt Wilko