questions on router upgrade

harleynut97 · 29 Apr 2015

I'm planning on upgrading a friends router this weekend. She currently has a Netgear wireless G router and security enabled. She will be getting a new router (Netgear N450). I've found some tutorials on installing a new wireless router, but nothing on just swapping (upgrading )routers.

So here are some questions I have...

1) Can I use the same security password on the new router (so she doesn't have to reprogram all her wireless devices?

2) Do I need to uninstall current routers software first?

3) If anyone can give me a basic workflow rundown on swapping out the hardware, or point me to a tutorial, that would be great.

AddRAM · 29 Apr 2015

All routers come with their own password usually written on it, or it has a generic password, which you can change by connecting to it.

Usually 192.168.1.0 or 1.1

What router software ? You shouldn`t have any router software installed on any PC, not sure what you`re talking about.

The page you see is just what pops up when you connect to the router.

Lady Fitzgerald · 29 Apr 2015

AddRAM said:

...What router software ? You shouldn`t have any router software installed on any PC, not sure what you`re talking about...

My Netgear router and Wi-Fi adapter both have software I installed on my PC (most brands do, nowadays). The software simplifies and speeds up installation and setup (including changing passwords) of the router and adapter. The router software also has additional utilities that can come in handy, such as monitoring bandwidth usage, signal strength, both graphed on a timeline, device prioritization, etc. Once I had the hardware set up, I didn't need anything else (including most of the added bells and whistles) so I never run the software except on rare occasions I want to check something or tweak a setting.

To answer the OP's original question, it should be possible to set up the new router to have the same password as the original one did, using the software that comes with the router (it may be necessary to download a newer one than what is on the CD that comes with the router). However, if the original router had been using the factory password, it would be wise to use a new password on the new router, even though it would mean changing it on all the other devices, since most hackers know what the factory passwords are or can look them up on the "interwebz".

DavidE · 29 Apr 2015

To further clarify, there should be 2 passwords for the router.

1) A password to allow the user to configure the router, make setting changes, etc.
This is kinda like a Windows login password, and i don't save it on any device.
I manually enter this password when i want to change router settings.

2) Then there is the wifi Security password that is stored on every device that is authorized to use the router with a wireless connection.
This might be called encryption key, or something else, depending on the router.

With the new router you may have newer better security options such as WPA-PSK that aren't available on the current router.
Maybe the current router is using WEP (not WPA-PSK).

I think if you change the security type you will need to tweak every device to use the new security type even if you keep the wifi password the same.
I may be wrong, someone may correct me on that.

If the new router has newer security types, i would make the change to have better protected wireless access.