Router longevity?

adarryladarryl No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child. Icrontian
in Hardware
I serve 6 desktop computers on hard wire and 2 notebooks through wireless at home using a DSL modem to a 4-port hard wire router -->16 port switch-->wireless router. The 16 port switch and the wireless router are both Zonet brand and have never given me any trouble, but I've been through 2 4-port hard wire routers in the past 5 years, one a Linksys, the other a D-Link. Both started losing throughput speed after a while and when I isolated the router from the DSL modem, my throughput was back to normal. So I bought a new router, Linksys again, and everything is fine once more. What has been your experience with the life expectancy of a router/switch? Since the DSL modem and hard wire router auto-sense/auto-negotiate, would it promote router longevity if I turned it off at the end of the day as opposed running it 24-7 as I have been?

Comments

  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    The only time I ever had a router die on me, it was because the cable running between buildings was hit by lightning which rode back into the router and cooked it. These devices are built to be left on 24/7/365 in my experience. It could be just that you got a bum router, or that it wasn't a well built model. Could also be a firmware bug or any number of other things. Did you try any troubleshooting at all aside from replacing it? Factory reset? Firmware updates? Alternate firmware if possible (OpenWRT, DD-WRT, Tomato, etc.)?

    Also, why do you have so many switches and routers daisy chained? Unless there is a good reason to have it set up that way, I'd say it is less than ideal. Why not just go DSL -> Wireless router -> switch?
  • adarryladarryl No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child. Icrontian
    Thanks for sharing your experience ardichoke. I just seem to have a knack for getting hold of routers that don't hold up. I have tried the reset route as well as firmware updates (if available), but once these hardwire routers go flaky on me, nothing seems to bring them back to a serviceable state. I just sort of figured they last about a year after the warranty expires and then they are done. My rotten luck I guess. Oh, on my setup, the wireless router was the last thing I added to my network which is upstairs/downstairs; everything was hard wired up to that point and I just left it that way and jumped in the wireless for the notebooks and my wife's e-readers.
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    I've had intermittent success with longevity past warranty periods. The biggest predictors of future success are available software and cooling. If the router is actually having to work and stuck behind some desk or other enclosed space, it'll definitely fail earlier than if cooled properly. I've purposefully bought routers which open source easily and that has extended the lifespan quite a bit as well. The other wireless router should be in Access Point mode if possible (and that shouldn't have much effect on it's usability, so either it works or it doesn't), but you may have already known and done that.
  • CyrixInsteadCyrixInstead Stoke-on-Trent, England Icrontian
    I had a Linksys WRT54G for years and it never gave me any problems. It lived on my desk at home.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    I have never replaced a router due to failure. I just get tired of one and upgrade to the next greatest model.
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