How long should a router last?

Interesting point been touched on in another thread of the expected life of a router and how they show they are failing.

My Technicolor TG582N has lasted three ISPs, in fact four if you include the name change on one. Anyone beat this?

I did notice it wasn't too happy being switched off and back on again when I swapped it back into use after giving up on the one Sky supplied this month though.

Edited by hk11 (Tue 13-Dec-16 21:06:51)

I have a 582n which dates from Feb 2012. One of the ports has failed and it did get a rest for a few months.
I also have a Netgear DGN2200 which I use as a wireless access point. It dates from Feb 2011.
Both supplied FOC by Plusnet.

Before that, I did buy a DGN2000. It was replaced a couple of times because the ports kept failing. I never used the final replacement.

I would have thought that depends on the quality of the components and design. Budget routers may not last as long as routers designed for business use. High end routers will have better attention paid to cooling so there is less heat stress on components - so they last longer. My current router even has a fan.

I've known a Thomson Speedtouch (now Technicolor) router that died fairly quickly (about 18 months) but I've never had a Cisco router die, and I've run those at home since 1998. My Cisco 857 ADSL router ran continuously for about seven years and I only took it out of service in 2014 to upgrade to FTTC using another Cisco.

I think it was me who mentioned that? (can't find the thread!)

I forever swapped routers when they started to fail, would ever get what you describe or the red power light, which meant RIP motherboard :/

I have a old TP-Link I bought for my dad in 2007 and he used it on PLusnet, I believe it was in use right up until he got FTTC in April 2015. Still has it but dosen't work with the HG612.

Neighbour is still running the NETGEAR DG834 from around 2004. She's never touched it and it's continued to run her ~500Kbps badly cabled line for years. Think its days are numbered though as she's threatened to upgrade to FTTC.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/hardware/reviews/33-ne...

A lot of it is down to the grade of components used, the processes used, testing and the quality control applied. Ten seconds saved on each of several process, one mg of solder less, no conformal coating, a 5% resistor rather than a selected 0.5% all cut a little of the costs.

Consumers want everything as cheap as possible and part of that is achieved by cutting a few pence from each process - however longevity will suffer. Business grade equipment is built to a higher standard and in general lasts longer. Consumers also switch their equipment on and off more often - that can also add to the early failure especially where the build is borderline.

I have two routers in operation here that have been on almost permanently since around 2006 - now operating as just switch and WAP and a router that was installed in 2010 - all woking fine.

I had a Netgear DG834G some five years ago which lasted a few weeks longer than its two year warranty.

It was "reasonably" reliable, but when I went away for three weeks leaving it turned off it was completely dead when turned on again.

I replaced it with a Draytek which has been rock solid.

I stripped the old Netgear DG834G and there was evidence of overheating, bulging capacitors, "sticky" motherboard etc..

NJSS

My HG612 and Billion 6300 are still going strong. The HG612 dates back to April 2012, the Billion to June or July of the same year.

But they are both being replaced at the moment. I decided that it might be worth doing that after nearly four years in service. At least that way I can keep them as a backup.

Got a D-Link DIR-615 since 2010 - supplied by Virgin before they introduced their Hubs. Replaced original software with dd-wrt, works with no issues. Still has original film on in fact

Hi

It's usually the capacitors that go, these are the weak point. They are essentially tiny cans of wet paper spirals, sat with their legs into copper that conducts heat directly into them, where they bake in the warmth given off by the processors and other components.

Their life span is measured in thousands of hours, and the warmer they are, the quicker they dry out and break down, with their quality varying depending on the what the manufacturer is wanting to spend or what was cheaper at the time of making a particular batch.

ASDL/VDSL modems seem to fair worse, for a start the degrading capacitors raise the noise floor which isn't good when it needs to listen to a distant signal.

Often turning off a modem/router that is running 24/7, and it not wanting to turn back on again is a sure sign of capacitor failure, along with unreliable operation.

Regards

Phil