What Lifespan a Router?

[onomatopoeia]

Entirely random, we've been through four different ones in the office since our exchange was ADSL enabled but at home my old Dynamode has just worked without any problems for about five years.

[bogie]

the lifespan of the hardware is about 7yrs avg

it is highly doubtful to be hardware

it is much more likely so be something changed on the network/DSLAM end.

Check to see you have the latest firmware on the router, as the DSLAM software and ADSL modem drive in the router are continually revised - every 3 months or so sometimes

[off_again]

I would have thought that 7 years is a little long, but that is not to say that something like this wont last that long. Most consumer based electronics like this tend to have a MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) of about 4-5 years, but this is for the power supply unit. In reality they should last 5 years without any problems.

If it is suffering overheating problems then this is a design or product fault. For something that is designed to be turned on all of the time, it seems odd that it should suffer this. Get a replacement unit. I have a BT Homehub at home and it is fine - other than the occasional crash.

[FlossyThePig]

Have a read of this article by Davey Winder.

[bogie]

7 years is for the router, PSUs commonly fail earlier depending on switched or linear type...9 time sout of 10 these problems are down to software and if you havnt changed anything your end, the ISP has usually changed something their end ...there is a continuous cycle of code upgrades and changes in the network, and a lot of the time the outsourced tech support people are not aware of it.

[bogie]

LOL at the whole ZEN vs Infineon thing...thats kicking up a lot of stink and theres a lot of testing going on in the background ...can you imagine how long Zen will last in court vs a giant like Infineon after slating one of the most sucessul and widely deployed ADSL chipsets in the world?

if proven wrong, then a few low level techies at Zen clutching at straws, could cause the company to go bust after paying the damages to Infineon...not good

[tfm]

Most routers seem to last 12 months to 2 years before they start playing up. We're always swapping the bloody things out. Doesn't seem to matter what make either.

[tinman0]

beano500 said:

How long should a router last?

.....

So do routers have an expected lifespan? Am I just seeing a coincidence if the second one is now failing? It's my prime suspect at the moment.

The keyword you used was "Netgear". Netgears seem to expire after a year or two, and I've had 3 so far. Damn annoying if you ask me. But they have the nicest config interface.

My other adsl router on another connection (parents) is now 6 years old and is still going strong.

[ATG]

I suppose an older router may have filled up with dust and therefore start overheating, but other than that, what the heck is there to go wrong?

[spants]

I have had loads of reliability issues with netgear (access points & powerline adaptors)... I wont touch them again.

[Jinx]

spants said:

I have had loads of reliability issues with netgear (access points & powerline adaptors)... I wont touch them again.

My Netgear wireless router has given me 4 years (almost) continuous service (one reset two years ago) . Not too bad for a box that cost £70.

[Holst]

We had a netgear router but it started dropping the connection every few hours.

Recently changed it for a Dlink and its been much better (but it was almost twice the price of the netgear)

[Chrisgr31]

My Speedtouch was exceleent until ligting hit the ground outside, and it never worked again. The Netgear replacement is nothing like as good at holding the line, although part of this could be changes in the ISP network.