Home WiFi router- do they go bad?

No. They are the one item built to last forever

They don't go bad. If they're exposed to extreme heat, or have no ventilation, maybe. If the software isn't kept up to date, it may be exposed to a security vulnerability. If you have it plugged into the ups where it's up all the time and its software has a memory leak, it may need to be rebooted.

Basically, there's no moving parts, the hardware will stay good as long as it's kept up to date. I know a few Linksys WRT54G's are still out there with 3'd party firmware humming along years later.

If you're having issues, it's likely a firmware thing, not a hardware thing.

Disagree, its electronics like any other item. They go bad, capacitors, ports, etc can all go out from surges or just being plain old.

I've had a Netgear wireless side of the router fail. All wired ports worked fine, but wifi failed.

I also had a Linksys wifi router fail. Different symptoms but same result.

Neither router was exposed to environments outside their specified operating temperatures/conditions. From my time as a reliability engineer...eventually all COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) electronics will fail. It's not an if, but a when. Some have better quality control than others but some don't.

quote:

---

i have had the same router since 2010. I am actually looking to change the modem and router but i have no idea what to buy

---

Google wifi is solid

quote:

---

They don't go bad.

---

They do, all the time.

quote:

---

Basically, there's no moving parts, the hardware will stay good as long as it's kept up to date.

---

All metals expand when heated, and the components that make up a router are no exception. So the parts do move. Heat sinks (if there are any) will eventually loosen and chips will overheat. As someone else mentioned, caps and other components eventually go bad too. And the fact that consumer routers typically have zero fans (so they can be silent) means that they are basically designed to fail. Every single off the shelf router begins killing itself the second it is turned on.

Anything electronic has a chance of failure over time.

What model of Netgear?

quote:

---

Had the same router for about two or three years. Do they get old and worn out quickly? How often do they need to be replaced?

---

Routers aren't any more special than a microwave, coffee pot or refrigerator (those made within the past 10-20 years) in that sometimes you will get one that works for damned near ever and sometimes you get one that fails right out of the box. Generally speaking an off-the-shelf Linksys should run fine for 3-5 years depending on environment (as long as it has good ventilation, runs off a UPS and is kept up-to-date on firmware).

The time to consider replacing a router is when you encounter issues like slow and/or choppy (or even non-existant) performance across your network (phones, tablets, computers, etc) and a reboot doesn't fix it (or the fix doesn't last but maybe a few days or so). Another time to consider replacing is if you need to upgrade to keep up with technology (for example moving from 802.11g to 802.11n or AC).

quote:

---

Always good to unplug your router and Modem from power every week or so for about 5 minutes.

---

I used to have to do this, but then I got Google WiFi.