With EVDO / CDMA networks winding down, Cradlepoint is offering an incentive for users
of older routers to upgrade to the latest technology.
Once you've decided on your screen capture method, log into the administrative control panel
of your old router and snap screenshots of every relevant configuration page.
One of the best ways to ensure your transition from the old router to the new router is pain free is to screenshot the settings
of your old router before you decommission it.
Proper documentation completed, the best practice is to outright clone the settings
of your old router onto your new router (with a few minor exceptions we'll highlight).
Start by unboxing the Google WiFi units and grab one to use as your main unit that you'll connect to your modem (or router, if you're looking to keep the advanced features
of your old router).
Not exact matches
So, if your
router is more than a couple years
old or you are using the
router provided by your internet service provider, you will experience an improvement in your quality
of life when you buy a new model.
There seem to be an infinite number
of reasons as to why someone's Wi - Fi
router can become
old and ignored, but it happens.
Rather than deal with the logistics and wasted energy
of running two
routers, you can simply remove the
old router to banish the double NAT.
As always, before you dive into setting up a new
router it's wise to write down the settings on your
old router to reduce the amount
of time you spend fiddling with connected devices (changing the Wi - Fi SSID and password to your
old one, for example, saves you from resetting every Wi - Fi device in your house).
Even with the advances in Wi - Fi
routers it's still possible you have a dead spot or two in your house (and if you have an
older router it's likely you have entire portions
of your home with a poor or non-existent signal).
Much like you can back up the configuration settings
of other devices in your home (like the configuration
of many
routers, including those running the popular open source DD - WRT), you can also back up the configuration
of your Synology NAS, so in the event
of a restoration or upgrade, you can easily import most
of the
old settings.
This isn't as great
of an inconvenience as it sounds, however, as all things considered it was just as fast to tell the
router that we wanted the same
old ISP - assigned address and DNS servers we'd been using.
In the same vein you want to match the settings
of the DHCP server on your
old router with your new
router, specifically the range
of the DHCP assignment pool.
If you already have a houseful
of devices registered to your
old router, however, switching to the new
router's SSID and password is a nightmare as you'll now need to go visit every computer, tablet, phone, game console, smarthome device, wireless printer, and so on in your home and reprogram them with the new SSID and password.
This way even after the
old router is powered off and getting the information off it would be a hassle, you can flip through the screenshots
of the relevant settings from the
old one and easily reference them.
If you're replacing a really
old router there's a good chance that you didn't have Quality
of Service (QoS) capabilities or that they went unconfigured.
If you find yourself in the same situation, all you need to do is cancel out
of the setup wizard and enter the information you previously recorded from your
old router (enter it in Basic - > Internet).
Unlike your modem, which is almost always either fully functional or totally offline,
routers can be like
old cars with a myriad
of problems and ghosts in the machine you have to hunt down.
One
of AiMesh's key advantages is its compatibility with
older ASUS
routers, which means that there is no need for people to buy a whole new set
of hardware in order to take advantage
of the new functionality.
We can't promise you'll reap every single benefit on this list from a
router upgrade, but for anyone sporting an
old or cheap ISP - supplied
router, you can expect to reap many
of them.
Now that you've gone through the process
of turning your
old router into a repeater or second access point, where should you put it?
While many new
routers are quite good at automatically recognizing types
of traffic and automatically prioritizing streaming services over other services to ensure they have enough bandwidth, not all
routers do this and most
older routers do not.
But if your
router is particularly
old, or if you have a large house with a lot
of thick walls, you might need a more powerful
router, a few extra access points, or an easy - to - use mesh network to get full coverage.
If any
of those new
routers catch your eye, you'll be able to upgrade while keeping your
old, reliable modem in place — at least assuming you're not using a hybrid modem -
router.
According to Linksys, a firmware update for the WRT32X will be delivered anytime in the first half
of 2018 that will make the
older router more optimal for gaming on all platforms — PC, Xbox, and mobile devices.
Through the end
of 2018, customers purchasing one
of the below new NetCloud Solutions packages as a replacement for an
older router can receive a mail - in rebate
of up to $ 100:
The
old Echo hides behind a
router, but the Echo Show, like the Google Home, is one
of those digital home assistants I don't mind taking up a prominent place in the living room or bedroom — even if its super sharp black edges give it a distinct «90s Sharper Image vibe.