Finally patched that old router I forgot about

Was at my parents' house in Phoenix last weekend helping with their wifi. Found an ancient Linksys router in the closet still plugged in. Checked the admin panel - firmware from 2016. Logged in and updated it in 10 minutes. Now their whole network feels faster. Has anyone else found old hardware running somewhere you'd least expect?

2 comments

2 Comments

stellaperry6d ago

Oh man, that's always a great feeling finding and fixing something like that, right? I bet updating that old router was like giving their whole network a new lease on life.

susanb346d ago

Actually I have to disagree a bit about the "new lease on life" part. Sometimes updating an old router can totally backfire if the hardware can't handle the new firmware right. I've seen cases where people update a router that's like 8 years old and it ends up locking up constantly or losing signal strength because the processor just can't keep up anymore. Not every fix is an automatic win, you know? Plus a lot of those older routers have security holes that no update can fully patch because the hardware itself is outdated.