Routers are among those pieces of tech that hardly ever go up in flames and completely stop working. At least, it’s never happened to me before, although I’ve dealt with my share of various router issues.
Due to their long-lasting nature, routers often sit around without being replaced for years and years. Technically, that should be fine, just as long as their subpar performance doesn’t bother you (after all, a 10-year-old router faces a lot of competition from newer models). But reality is quite different: your router isn’t forever, and there comes a time when it needs to be replaced.
Your router gets old faster than you think
It can work and still be past its best
Since routers rarely go out with a bang, it’s sometimes hard to know when it’s time to part ways and buy a better router. This sets them apart from a lot of different consumer tech. A phone with a weak battery is a total nuisance; an old laptop chokes every time you open too many tabs; not even Lossless Scaling can replace a truly dying GPU. But a router will often just keep on keepin’ on until you let it stop.
That doesn’t mean that an old router doesn’t quietly hold your whole setup back, though. That’s because “old” isn’t just the number of years that passed since you bought it.
It can mean outdated Wi-Fi standards, slower Ethernet ports, weaker hardware, limited device handling, or a total lack of firmware updates. A router that made sense when you had a few devices and a slower internet plan might start struggling once it has to deal with a robust network.
This doesn’t mean that every older router should just be disposed of immediately the moment a new Wi-Fi standard arrives, though. Far from it. If it still gets updates, handles your devices well, supports modern security, and doesn’t bottleneck your connection, you may be fine for now. But once it starts falling behind in more than one of those areas, it’s time to let it go.
9/10
- Brand
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Unifi
- Range
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1,750 square feet
When the time comes to replace your old router, the UniFi Dream Router 7 is a great pick.
The real deadline is when security updates stop
This is the line you shouldn’t ignore
Hannah Stryker / How-To Geek
Performance problems are annoying, but security support is where an old router escalates to “time to go.”
Your router sits between your home network and the wider internet, which means it’s not just another dusty gadget. If the manufacturer no longer releases firmware updates for it, any newly discovered vulnerabilities may simply stay there, waiting around with no fix coming.
To figure out whether your router’s of retirement age yet, check its app, web interface, or the manufacturer’s support page. If the last firmware update was released years ago and the model is listed as end-of-life or end-of-service, the time to upgrade is basically as soon as possible.
Don’t trash your old router: Turn it into a wired workhorse instead
Wi-Fi standards moved on, but your old router can still do something useful
Bad Wi-Fi can also be a sign
But do your due diligence and diagnose it first
The idea of “bad Wi-Fi” is a broad one, but yes, bad Wi-Fi can absolutely be a sign that your router is past its prime. However, don’t make it the only evidence. Diagnosing Wi-Fi issues goes from trying Ethernet to mapping out dead zones.
So, test your connection over Ethernet first if you can, then compare that with Wi-Fi speeds close to the router and then farther away from it. If the wired connection is fine but wireless performance isn’t, especially when multiple devices are online, your router may be struggling with coverage, congestion, or just the realities of modern home networking.
Still, placement, interference, dead zones, and your ISP can all play a role here, so it’s worth ruling those out before you spend money on a replacement.
Throw it away if this happens
Some warning signs shouldn’t be ignored
Some router problems are worth troubleshooting, but others are your cue to stop trying to squeeze more life out of the thing.
If your router reboots randomly, drops all connected devices, runs hot, forgets its settings, or needs constant factory resets just to hold on for a few more days, it’s time to give the poor thing a break. It’s unreliable at that point, and when the box responsible for the entirety of your home network is unreliable, everything connected to it suffers the consequences.
The more obvious physical warnings matter even more. A damaged power cable, buzzing power adapter, burning smell, cracked casing, or heat that feels excessive are not something I’d just put up with.
The same goes for a router that’s stuck with outdated security options, especially if it can’t offer WPA2 or WPA3. At that point, keeping it around as your main router becomes a genuine security risk.
Repurpose the old router instead of throwing it away
There’s still a lot it can do
Even when an old router no longer deserves to be your main router, it can still be a useful sidekick for other stuff.
Depending on the model, you might be able to turn it into a wired access point. You could also use it as a basic switch, or keep it around for a test network. It can even extend wired connectivity without being in charge of your whole connection.
Just don’t treat repurposing as an excuse to ignore security. Update the router as far as it goes, reset the settings, change the admin password, disable anything risky like remote management, and only reuse it if it still supports decent security options.
Don’t let your router live forever
Routers are easy to forget because they’re just … there. It’s not something most people think to upgrade every cycle, it’s not like a GPU in that sense. But don’t let yours grow too old without you noticing. At some point, it’s best to replace it before it becomes a threat or a nuisance, and let it live on as a secondary router instead.
- Brand
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ASUS
- Wi-Fi Bands
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6 GHz, 5 GHz, 2.4 GHz
The Asus RT-BE92U is another router that’ll bring your network back to super-fast speeds and modern standards.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
