I have a 3 year old Surfboard/TP-Link set up and find myself having to restart a little more often which got me thinking what the "useful life" on these things are?

I only upgrade when it breaks. If I had to restart it enough where it became a hassle then I’d probably consider that broken.

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:
I only upgrade when it breaks. If I had to restart it enough where it became a hassle then I’d probably consider that broken.

Same for me.

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:
I only upgrade when it breaks. If I had to restart it enough where it became a hassle then I’d probably consider that broken.

That is usually what I do and the restarts are not nearly often enough to be annoying

When it becomes too outdated for what you need. I finally upgraded my n900 router after 7 years. My signal strength was down, not unusable but lower than it was before. It was very nice to upgrade to AC, plan on keeping this setup for just as long.

We've been having lots of issues with our Netgear routers. It seems like at least once a month it has to be restarted and some times it just stops working for a few minutes then works. I just had to redo it an hour ago.
I'm wondering if there is some way to set up a Verizon mini tower and just use it for my house?

If the router manufacturer continues to provide firmware updates, eg for security, I'll keep it.

Unless ... there are too many restarts.

If your router doesn't have full duplex DOCSIS 3.1 features, then maybe it's time to update.

NFrame - do you have Alexa or Google Home on your wifi? As these devices 'wake-up', that can cause the wifi to briefly stop functioning. Firmware updates should resolve that. Well, most of the time.

I'm with Pale Horse and the others. I generally don't upgrade routers unless it breaks or there is some function/feature that I absolutely need.

I'm still using a five-year old Apple Airport Extreme and it does a great job- I do have a repeater set up due to the house layout. The only restarts I've needed to do were related to setting up for some of the game hosting the kids do occasionally.

And trust me, our two boys put this router through it's paces. One time they had four kids over for a League of Legends team game and I had to put a fan blowing on the computers and router area-

Just for the sake of discussion, if you are in the market to upgrade, consider going a slightly different direction. Instead of buying another consumer WiFi router, consider buying and installing...

One of these... Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X

And one of these... Ubiquiti Unifi Ap-AC Lite WAP

This setup will provide you with real gigabit capabilities and all kinds of management functionality, while allowing the WAP to be installed in the most appropriate location in your home to offer the best through put possible. The end result should be faster, more stable speeds, and much broader more reliable coverage. I was amazed at the improvement I found after installing a very similar setup in my home. My WiFi speeds in the core of our home are now virtually identical to my wired Ethernet connections, and I now have WiFi over virtually all of my 1/3 acre lot.

When I notice a lot of disconnects or restarts are needed often. These seem to degrade due to heat over time rather than just break. I have been considering a new cable modem though as my provider says I can get faster speeds. Not sure I really need more than the 100Mbps though.

Interesting that you mention that, as I have been running into issues. I recently got some wireless security type cameras. They were connecting fine, and I had no problems accessing the feeds from my phone. Updated their firmware and all of a sudden I have intermittent connection issues. Going through their customer service, and they are blaming the fact that I dont have an AC router. I have an N600 router that I have had for several years. The only things I have that are connected to it wirelessly are the cameras and two cellphones. Never had an issue with it, but it is getting up there in age. I do not believe the issue is actually my router but rather the cameras firmware.

So, to answer the question in the original post, when my current one stops working or becomes incompatible with a device that I want to connect to it.

Haven't upgraded for years with DSL. Getting new fiber service tomorrow so I guess that counts.

quote:

Originally posted by cjevans:
If the router manufacturer continues to provide firmware updates, eg for security, I'll keep it.

Unless ... there are too many restarts.

If your router doesn't have full duplex DOCSIS 3.1 features, then maybe it's time to update.

NFrame - do you have Alexa or Google Home on your wifi? As these devices 'wake-up', that can cause the wifi to briefly stop functioning. Firmware updates should resolve that. Well, most of the time.

Mostly apple products. One HP250 printer also.

quote:

Originally posted by Nframe:
Mostly apple products. One HP250 printer also.

Good things!

If you are noticing that your modem/router is getting really hot under normal usage, it's good to check and make sure that the airflow isn't blocked. I found that one of my kids kept putting papers and folders on the router (which is flat). It didn't have good airflow so I moved it further back and away from other objects. It solved that issue. Even sometimes dust bunnies can block the cooling slots. A good vacuuming occasionally doesn't hurt.

quote:

Originally posted by Kevmo:
I have a 3 year old Surfboard/TP-Link set up and find myself having to restart a little more often which got me thinking what the "useful life" on these things are?

Rebooting the modem or the router? Either way you truly should never have to reboot either. I had an SB6141 modem recently that I found myself unplugging all the time and then decided to open it up and look inside - most of the capacitors were swollen/bursting at the tops (bad). Got a new modem (SB6183) and it's been rock solid. Haven't had to power cycle it yet.

Upgraded my router recently too - previous one was still working ok but just felt it was time. It was probably 3-4 years old. Went from an Asus RT-N66R to an RT-AC1900P. Wasn't that noticeable of a difference in my case, but on paper the improvements seemed worth it.

 
Since I separate the modem and routing functions to different devices, I replace the modem when the ISP requires it. My router is 15 years old and going strong (Mikrotik). The modem was replaced just this week to support bonded VDSL2.
 
I also take Wi-Fi and DHCP functions off the modem-do-everthing device, leaving the modem being only a modem. My belief has always been that a device is designed primarily for one function, and anything else is just an add-on and usually a compromise. I use devices that are designed specifically for what they do.
 

quote:

Originally posted by molachi:

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:
I only upgrade when it breaks. If I had to restart it enough where it became a hassle then I’d probably consider that broken.

Same for me.

Same here.

CNET and other tech sites do recommend that people reboot their routers once a week, clearing out dead memory spaces due to mem leaks and other issues building up with bugs in firmware.

I am on AT&T gigabit fiber and the fiber connection itself never goes down, except in major power outages.

One of two times. 1) when one breaks 2) when the internet company offers faster speeds or new features that requires a newer type modem/router.