Routers are much like graphics cards in the sense that once you buy one, you likely won’t have to replace it for years. A third-party router, once bought, may follow you from home to home, from ISP to ISP, and be no worse off.
But routers aren’t immortal, and they aren’t “good forever,” either. As standards evolve and connections improve, you may find yourself in a place where you seemingly either have to lower your expectations or buy a new router. I’ve got some good news for you there, though: there’s a third option.
Your old router probably isn’t failing, but the world may have moved on
Routers are sturdy, but they’re not eternal
Confession time: I’ve never had a router straight-up break down on me. Well, actually, I lied. It happened once, but that was an ISP-issued router. These days, I always buy my own third-party routers for both performance and financial reasons, and those have never failed me.
With that said, they do get worse with age, just not in the way most people think.
Older routers fall behind in ways that are easy to miss. It’s not about raw speed, and it has little to do with speed tests, in general. The bigger issue lies in Wi-Fi and the fact that modern home networks overload a Wi-Fi connection like nobody’s business.
Quiz
Home networking & Wi-Fi
Think you know your routers from your repeaters — put your home networking know-how to the ultimate test.
Wi-FiRoutersSecurityHardwareProtocols
What does the ‘5 GHz’ band in Wi-Fi offer compared to the ‘2.4 GHz’ band?
That’s right! The 5 GHz band delivers faster data rates but loses signal strength more quickly over distance and through walls. It’s ideal for devices close to the router that need maximum throughput, like streaming 4K video.
Not quite — the 5 GHz band actually offers faster speeds at the cost of range. The 2.4 GHz band travels farther and penetrates obstacles better, which is why smart home devices and older gadgets often prefer it.
Which Wi-Fi standard, introduced in 2021, is also known as Wi-Fi 6E and extends into a new frequency band?
Correct! 802.11ax is the technical name for Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E. The ‘E’ variant extends the standard into the 6 GHz band, offering a massive swath of new, less-congested spectrum for faster and more reliable connections.
The answer is 802.11ax — that’s Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E. Wi-Fi 6E adds support for the 6 GHz band, giving it far less congestion than the crowded 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. 802.11be is actually the upcoming Wi-Fi 7 standard.
What is the default IP address most commonly used to access a home router’s admin interface?
Spot on! The vast majority of consumer routers use either 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 as the default gateway address. Typing either into your browser’s address bar will bring up the router’s login page — just make sure you’ve changed the default password!
The correct answer is 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1. These are the most common default gateway addresses for home routers. The 255.x.x.x addresses are subnet masks, and 127.0.0.1 is your own machine’s loopback address, not a router.
Which Wi-Fi security protocol is considered most secure for home networks as of 2024?
Excellent! WPA3 is the latest and most robust Wi-Fi security protocol, introduced in 2018. It uses Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE) to replace the older Pre-Shared Key handshake, making it far more resistant to brute-force attacks.
The answer is WPA3. WEP is completely broken and should never be used, WPA is outdated, and WPA2 with TKIP has known vulnerabilities. WPA3 offers the strongest protection, and if your router supports it, you should enable it right away.
What is the primary difference between a mesh Wi-Fi system and a traditional Wi-Fi range extender?
Exactly right! Mesh systems use multiple nodes that talk to each other intelligently, handing off your device seamlessly as you move around your home under one SSID. Traditional range extenders typically broadcast a separate network and can cut bandwidth in half as they relay the signal.
The correct answer is that mesh nodes form one intelligent, seamless network. Range extenders are actually the ones that often create separate SSIDs (like ‘MyNetwork_EXT’) and can significantly reduce speeds. Mesh systems are far superior for large homes with many devices.
What does DHCP stand for, and what is its main function on a home network?
Perfect! DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is the unsung hero of home networking. Every time a device joins your network, your router’s DHCP server automatically hands it a unique IP address, subnet mask, and gateway info so it can communicate without manual configuration.
DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, and its job is to automatically assign IP addresses to devices on your network. Without it, you’d have to manually configure a unique IP address on every single phone, laptop, and smart device — a tedious nightmare!
What is ‘QoS’ (Quality of Service) used for in a home router?
That’s correct! QoS lets you tell your router which traffic gets priority. For example, you can prioritize video calls or gaming over a family member’s file download, ensuring your Zoom meeting doesn’t freeze just because someone is downloading a large update.
QoS — Quality of Service — is actually about traffic prioritization. By tagging certain data types (like VoIP calls or gaming packets) as high priority, your router ensures latency-sensitive applications get bandwidth first, even when the network is congested.
What does the ‘WAN’ port on a home router connect to?
Correct! WAN stands for Wide Area Network, and the WAN port is where your router connects to the outside world — typically to your cable modem, DSL modem, or ISP gateway. The LAN ports on the other side connect to devices inside your home network.
The WAN (Wide Area Network) port connects your router to your ISP’s modem or gateway — essentially your entry point to the internet. The LAN (Local Area Network) ports are for connecting devices inside your home. Mixing them up can cause your network to not function at all!
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A router that used to feel super capable might now be juggling smart TVs, phones, laptops, mini PCs, tablets, all at the same time, on top of your main connection to your PC. That alone can feel like a lot, but there’s also the fact that Wi-Fi standards kept on moving and evolving between the time you bought your router and now, and expectations evolved alongside them.
This is why the wireless side may feel dated before the wired connection ever begins to struggle. The gap becomes even more obvious once you look at what newer gear adds.
Wi-Fi 6 was built to improve efficiency on crowded networks, and Wi-Fi 6E goes further by opening up the 6GHz band for compatible devices, giving them access to cleaner spectrum with less congestion from legacy hardware.
There’s also the question of support. Even if an older router still works, outdated firmware and end-of-support hardware can make it risky to use.
All the above factors don’t make your old router bad, but they do add up to a sad conclusion: at some point, older routers become more of a liability than an improvement.
9/10
- Brand
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Unifi
- Range
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1,750 square feet
The Unifi Dream Router 7 is a full-fledged network appliance offering NVR capabilities, fully managed switching,a built-in firewall, VLANs, and more. With four 2.5G Ethernet ports (one with PoE+) and a 10G SFP+ port, the Unifi Dream Router 7 also features dual WAN capabilities should you have two ISP connections. It includes a 64GB microSD card for IP camera storage, but can be upgraded for more storage if needed. With Wi-Fi 7, you’ll be able to reach up to a theoretical 5.7 Gbps network speed when using the 10G SFP+ port, or 2.5 Gbps when using Ethernet.
First fix? Turn your router into a wired helper
Ethernet is where old networking gear ages gracefully
The easiest way to get more life out of an old router is to stop treating it like the center of your network. In a sense, that does mean replacing it, but that doesn’t mean you have to get rid of it entirely.
Once the Wi-Fi side of things starts showing its age, I wouldn’t keep expecting that router to flawlessly carry the wireless connection across your entire home (and a possible plethora of various devices). Instead, move it to a wired-first role.
Even when the wireless performance fails, the Ethernet ports can still be plenty useful for devices that don’t need cutting-edge networking. A desktop PC, console, TV, printer, or a NAS can all benefit more from a stable wired link than from fighting in an overcrowded Wi-Fi network.
An easy way to repurpose an old router is to use it as a basic switch to add more Ethernet ports in a room that has only one wall connection. You can also set it up as a wired access point if you want to bring Wi-Fi to a dead zone without relying on a wireless extender. Both of those use cases are some of the cheapest networking upgrades you can make.
Use it to improve the rest of your network
Wired backhaul and separation beat chasing perfect bars
Let’s say you’re giving your Wi-Fi router the much-needed retirement it’s been asking you for, but you don’t want it to retire fully. You can still use it to make your network better from the sidelines, and one of the best ways to do that is through wired backhaul.
If you can connect a secondary access point or mesh node over Ethernet instead of wirelessly, you take a huge amount of strain off the airwaves and give that extra node a far more stable link to work with.
That matters more than you’d think. A lot of bad Wi-Fi is not so much about the signal reaching your device as much as it is about traffic bouncing around inefficiently between nodes, extenders, and congested bands. But a wired connection cuts through all that with ease, which is why a modest setup with Ethernet can (and usually does) feel a lot more stable.
An older router can also help by taking less important devices off your main network. Depending on the model, you may be able to use it for guest access or to park smart home devices on their own connection, which can be a better fit for things like bulbs, plugs, and cameras.
Know when to stop being sentimental
I love old hardware, but with routers, one thing can change the whole equation
Bottom line: an older router can absolutely still be useful. But there’s one place where I draw the line, and that’s outdated firmware.
Once your router stops getting security updates, it’s usually time to let it go. Routers sit at the edge of your network, constantly exposed. Keeping one around once support ends can quickly become a cybersecurity nightmare, and I tend to steer clear of those. You can still use yours, but be aware of possible dangers.
A new router doesn’t have to cost a fortune
Routers range in price from really, really cheap to absolutely overpriced. For most households, I recommend shopping on the lower end of that scale. You probably don’t need an expensive router; you just need one that’s up-to-date with all the latest standards, and that doesn’t necessarily mean Wi-Fi 7 (which would be one of the pricey ones). Shop smart, and it’ll definitely last you for years.
- Wi-Fi Bands
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Tri-Band
- Supported standards
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802.11ax
TP-Link’s AXE5400 is a great router that will be more than sufficient for most users. It’s fast, tri-band, and offers Wi-Fi 6E. It doesn’t hurt that it’s currently $87 off.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
