Thanks, Hforman.
We've looked into surge protection for the whole house, but it seems even with GOOD stuff it is an uphill battle around here. Fortunately, the power line, being underground, is not hit quite that often. Our exposure seems to be the phone line, which is copper on poles. And the telco is not keen to do much about it because eventually it will give way to fiber and/or wireless technology, such as LTE or 5G - cable theft being another problem ...
So, our entertainment center, the computers, the alarm system and the irrigation system for the garden are all on inverters sporting between 100 Ah and 160 Ah calcium batteries. That will give us between six and 20 hours off the grid as far as power is concerned. All network equipment is also on these batteries, so that I can post to CNET during a thunderstorm or other power outages ![]()
Surge protection for the phone line is something I could still add - it is just awkward to do at the right place, the way the wires are run through this old house. The placement of the ADSL splitter and filters is probably less than optimal, but since 4Mb/s is all I get - and I am getting that - there is not much of an incentive to fine tune that - especially considering that everything but the ADSL router seems to survive. Sometimes just the ADSL function goes, other times the whole unit dies. And sometimes the phone line itself survives and sometimes it does not. Go figure ... (as you can see, I am getting somewhat fatalistic about the whole thing ...
(Signal lines, of course, are another story. Gate intercoms survive for much longer if they are wireless, as do outdoor security sensors, CCTV cameras, etc.)
But - to get back to the thread's topic - The WiFi router, which in my case is also the ADSL router, gets replaced after electrocution 99.9% of the time and very rarely for other reasons. And for as long as WiFI speed is much greater than WAN speed there is no upgrade pressure.
If your internet connection is on a fast cable it may be a different story, depending on how fast your WiFi capable devices are. Obviously, if you use LTE or (soon?) 5G your WiFi may need to be top notch to keep up, but then your router would be quite a recent model anyway that supports the higher WoFo speeds.
If your WiFi router links to a fast cable it is
or to a mobile phone network via UMTS, LTE or in future 5G instead, the speed
When should someone consider replacing their Wi-Fi router? Is it around the 4- or 5-year mark or only if it is starting to act up? What do you all do? And are there any added security benefits to having newer hardware? Thanks.
--Submitted by Dan P.

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