Bloody hell.
10 years.
In my experience retail grade wifi lasts about 2 years before degradation is easily noticeable. The wired stuff keeps on going but the radio seems to degrade.
Anyone I know who has wifi issues step one is get a new router if the one they have is over 18 months old and not enterprise grade.
upgrade now? personally, i’d wait for devices with wifi 6 802.11ax later this year.
Wifi repeaters were garbage. I hear great things about mesh routers like Ubiquity. Years ago I got an older version of the mentioned Netgear and suddenly had much faster connection with way more coverage than I had house. I still recommend people try upgrading their single router unless the need for a mesh network is obvious.
1 Like
Do you have experience with routers like the one linked? Using an older version of the Netgear mentioned, in a smaller house I got signal sitting in my car across the street from it. My neighbor ended up using my wifi for his Tesla because his wifi wouldn’t reach his garage, but mine did.
I know there are often situations where this setup wouldn’t work and mesh routers shine, but even with multi-story houses with a large footprint, modern single routers are surprising.
I do find the look of the Netgear gaudy. I dont think I bothered attaching all of the antennas for some reason or another and it lived most of its life behind something.
1 Like
Yeah, I agree. I replaced an older multiple-AP setup with a single modern(ish) AP a few years ago. It got the job done. Two-story house, with basement, and work area in detached garage. Lath and plaster walls. I got decent coverage everywhere. I will say that I use wired when I can, because space-division will always win over shared-medium in the long run. But I got > 100 mbps for the most part out of my wireless setup, other than in the outbuilding.
(Past tense because it’s under renovation now and I’m in exile. But I intend to go back to a similar setup.)
Yeah, my AP wasn’t beautiful, but then again, like you I just stuck it out of sight. The nice thing about a powerful AP is it doesn’t have to be beautiful because you can hide it. I am surprised you got good coverage without attaching all the antennae, though.
Plus, most retail kit is abandonware from the start, and never gets any updates or security patches. (Granted most consumers never apply the patches even if there are any.)
I’ve lost track of the major security bugs that have been found for various manufacturers or the protocols themselves in the last ten years.
So how do you strap that to your head?
Perish the thought! I’m going to strap it to someone else’s head.
Wifi 6 stuff is coming out as we speak, and decent entry level stuff will probably be out by next year, so indeed it’s the wrong time to tell people to upgrade.
1 Like
Can someone explain how a router with no moving parts wears out? I can understand how tech progresses and older routers might not support a wider range of bandwidth, but all things being equal, how is it that a new $200 router functions better than a 2 or 10 year old one? Why do wifi repeaters seem to get flakier the older they are? Overheated solder joints? Repeatedly overflowing buffers?
Outdated protocols and/or tech, people also rarely dust their routers or modems which when combined with the heat the devices create does negatively impact their lifespan and effectiveness. It’s also not uncommon for routers/modems to be put in areas with poor air circulation, i’ve seen quite a few hacks where people install PC fans into or behind the devices to help them dissipate heat better.
I think the amount of packets the manufacturers designed to push 5-10 years ago didn’t anticipate where things went or the number of simultaneous connections your home wifi router would have to support in a household of 4 or 5.
1 Like
I am not an Electronic Engineer, but I know a few.
My understanding is that if you design something with cheap parts that are operating at close to 100% capacity for power transmission that they tend to degrade, both because the materials for construction were not fully stable (see the capacitor rot era) and that there is a difference between capacity for continuous use and peak load. Particularly if something gets hot under ‘normal’ load with electricity you will have issues. As heat increases resistance increases and generates more heat this is not the circle of life for electronics.
For example Cisco Enterprise WiFi lasts 10 years, more or less. But a single Access Point retails for around US$1400 IIRC. Quality parts, durable designs and adequate heat management of all components, but it comes with a price tag, and the kit tends to be bulky as well.
Wifi repeaters are absolute garbage, reserved for emergencies only. They halve your available bandwidth and add latency. The Right Way:tm: to do it is run some actual ethernet and install separate access points. Yes, it’s a pain in the ass. Good internet is worth it.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
