Windows 7: 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?

First, do you have wireless security enabled with a passcode?
Could a neighbor be using your router unintentionally? (disable wireless and hard wire your PC to it)

Are other machines connected to your router?
They could they be infected and generating large amounts of traffic? (turn them off)

Might try holding the router reset button in and changing it back to factory defaults.

yes, wpa2

other machines, yes. 3 laptops and one desktop and a printer.
nothing using the internet on them unless someone is on it. no p2p ativity etc either.

neighbors aren't using my connection unless they cracked my passkey. I monitor my modem since it sits right next to me on the desk. no activity unless it's me using the internet.

it's just recently with 9 other homes in wireless range of me I sometimes experience a lag in connections and every now and then a ip conflict which forces a restart of one of the computers.

this has me wondering if my router is just outdated.

Also, I was having issues with my ISP a few weeks ago. I was having trouble with my internet randomly dropping out. but they came out and found a bad line going to the street. so that seems fixed.

I wouldn't say a router goes bad over time - it's not like they wear out or anything. It is possible that some component has failed or is near failure but that's difficult to say with any certainty.

As far as going to the new router, do any of the wireless clients you use support N? If so, that might be worth the cost of the upgrade right there.

I've recently changed my wireless-G router to a wireless-N router.

My main reasons for doing so were two-fold: my connection kept dropping every so often and our area is being upgraded to fibre-optic broadband in the near future.

Since I upgraded, my connection hasn't dropped once, so I'm happy I made the change.

I had a netgear router that went bad, my transfer and load speeds dropped dramatically, and no amount of tinkering had an effect, I went out and bought the latest dual band version and everything went back to normal, but a little quicker lol

seavixen your just up the road from me :P im just outside huntingdon lol

what do you mean by wireless clients? my wireless adapters?
I know for sure one does but the router I'm looking at will allow the older adapters to connect also.
that was my first concern.

after reading some of the reviews about my router on newegg etc people are reporting the same issues once they get a few things accessing it. I guess it's just the model issue.

A wireless client would be any device that accesses your router wirelessly.

Hello badger906. I'm just outside Peterborough (living in Hampton) where we have a retirement apartment. Very nice it is, too.

It's doesn't got bad over time but it might fail. My old Linksys hasn't missed a bear for 8 years. I feel the only thing that can stop it is electrical faults.