New
#1
do wireless routers go bad over time?
wondering if a router goes bad after a while from use.
I have a netgear router wgt624 v2. I've had it since 2003 or 04. when I got it my network seemed to be fast and connections to it quick.
now sometimes my wireless seems to have a moment or two where it searches for a connection. I figured that was due to all of the neighbors who now have wireless too. and sometimes now devices are having ip conflicts. for example my printer is set to use a static ip and the router will often give that ip to my laptop. so then the printer will not work unless I restart the laptop.
I heard a few people saying that over time a wireless router can lose some of it's signal strength and the older ones have trouble with interference from other routers, bluetooth devices, phones, etc etc.
right now the store has a newer netgear router on sale for $20 and wondering if I should replace my old one. since it's only a b/g and the new one is N with b/g, if that might improve my network performance and stop the ip conficts with the printer. which I have to have static because the software installed on all my computers for it has trouble finding the printer on the network unless I assign it a static ip.
thoughts?