Should I get a new router??

Bradfield

Hi Folks,

I have a Sar 715 router (wired). I have had it around ten years and it has given excellent service. According to the specs it is capable of 8Mps and my broadband speed from the exchange is 5.5Mb. It would appear to be fully capable of handling the line speed.

If it aint broke; dont fix it! I understand that: but I am wondering if I may be missing something.

Ten years is quite old in terms of technology development and I am wondering if a more up to date router might have some sort of advantage that I am not aware of.

Although it has been a brilliant router it has always been difficult to upgrade the firmware and now the model is no longer supported by Solwise. So that is a definite negative.

Also, I have always been convinced that a wired router is more reliable and gives better consistent speeds than a wireless router. However, when I look at some of the speeds quoted for wireless (54Mps) I wonder whether wireless may actually be a better option.

Would be grateful for your advice.

macman

There is no point in using a wireless router if ethernet is available, However it would enable you to connect other wireless peripherals.
54MBps is the theoretical wireless speed. But your connection will only run as fast as the slowest link in the chain, which is your line speed of 5.5MBps. And the actual speed you would get by wireless (if your line could support it) would be barely half that-around 28MBps.
As long as the router supports the fastest speed your line can provide, there's no real reason to change it.
If your connection is upgraded to ADSL2+, then you will need a router that supports it (up to 24MBps).

Bradfield

Thanks macman. In that case I wont think about changing it. I have recently bought a Netgear Wireless Access Point which I have attached to one of the ports on the Sar 715 router and this now gives me wireless capability for laptops and tablets.

Well done to Solwise for making such a solid and enduring router. And thanks to you macman for explaining the issues so concisely.

LucianH

I had similar thoughts about an ageing Netgear router. I found this thread very informative and helpful.

tombruton87

there are other advantages to having a newer router, such as additional services. such as dchp reservation, usefull for network printers and having a more reliable network stops ip conflicts. dynamic dns if you want to host a site or remote access to files. Arguably better security however there are very few routers with known security issues.

macman

Security is not really an issue with a older wired router. Certainly any wireless router should be replaced if it does not support one of the WPA variants (i.e. if WEP only).

tombruton87

why on earth would it make any differnce if it is wired or wireless when thinking about security. OK local attacks but that is limited by travel.

tombruton87

macman have you not got a response what differnce does it being a wired only box make

GunJack

tombruton87 wrote: »

macman have you not got a response what differnce does it being a wired only box make

'coz wifi can and has been hacked, and whatever such people could use your bb connection for, it'll be on your head as the account-holder. Can't happen with a wired-only router

tombruton87

wifi only affects the local area yes it is an easy attack even with the latest standards. But its a local attack so in all honestly is very uncommon and most the time if there is security it just doesn't happen. You also have to force a handshake in most cases!

However there is a whole world of other attacks that can be performed from anywhere in the world. telnet attacks for example. Most new routers wont let an external connection to be established, however some old routers are weak to this attack.

your router isnt really a router as such thats just a consumer term so its doing all these jobs but often not doing them very well. The firewalls are setup in a certain way on them that basically says any connection established from within the network is ok. So an attacker would utilize somthing like a reverse tcp connection.

PS sorry if I came over a bit strong somtimes I forget to actually think about what forum I am in

macman

I was (as I thought was obvious) talking about wireless security...