I'm normally a believer in the "if it ain't broke....." approach. But I'm beginning to think my router is getting towards the vintage, classic and collectable category, and I'm wondering whether I need to do anything about it.
I have standard broadband (not fibre), I'm a home residential user, and don't need or use high speed for streaming or gaming. What matters to me is reliability.... Basically I have a desktop computer (ethernet or wifi dongle) various laptops (self and wife, in different rooms, normally wifi-connected) and a Canon printer-scanner (also wifi connected). Our smartphones and a tablet also use the wifi when at home.
Connecting all this, and linking to the internet, is a positively ancient (!) Netgear DG834G v3 wireless modem router which I guess I have been using for over ten years. It still works pretty well. Sometimes the wifi drops or won't connect, but most of the time it's fine.
When I renewed my Plusnet contract some years ago I was sent a Technicolor TG582n router. I didn't set it up, but kept it as a fallback in case the Netgear gave out.
Just out of interest (with time on my hands during lockdown) I thought I would unbox and connect up the TG582n, just to see what it was like. Bad move. It powered up all right, appeared to set itself up, I plugged it via Ethernet to my laptop, and it went to the "Broadband Setup" screen. I entered my account details as required, waited a while, and eventually got the display message that all was set up and good to go...green tick and all.
But not so. Lights on the TG582n all green. But no internet. Each time I opened a browser, a popup message asks me first to log in to my network account. I go to Plusnet broadband setup, put in details, wait a while (indeed eventually overnight...). Same message: all good to go, but in reality no internet access. The tablet and smartphone also find the router and can connect via wifi. But no internet.
So I abandoned the experiment, reconnected my old Netgear router, and - to my relief - all is now working again and I have internet access.
Which leaves some questions. Why did the Technicolor TG582n not work, and why couldn't I connect to my Plusnet account? Is this new and unused router in fact already redundant or obsolete, and so useless even as a reserve? Should I be thinking anyway of replacing my old Netgear? If so, with what? (I have just been browsing the forum threads about getting a BT Smart Hub from eBay!).
I'd be interested in anyone's thoughts or comments....
