Do I Really Need a New Router?

Sweetbay magnolia · ‎04-14-2013

I know this has been discussed before. However, my ISP has sent me a new one. Yes, I am one of the fools that lets them charge me for that every month. I live in an older home and well . . . you don't need all the details.

I am hesitant to unscrew the old one, which is working fine, BTW. I have an old analog TV (aiong with some newer). It's never easy as they say, in my experience. I have two macs, one that runs wirelessly and on that sits next to the router, so I plug it in. Of course, we have cell phones as well.

Apparently my speed has been increased. Fine. Then, the ISP notified me that my "old" equipment had been received, returned, and acknowledged as such. I have not unpacked the new router, nor plugged it in. What does this signal, and is it really worth screwing around with a new device, if I don't really need it?

We have underground cable to the house, though there are some people in my neighborhood who rely on overhead, if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Cogito ergo sum

Mz iMac · ‎07-26-2014

I am confused by your following statements:

"I am hesitant to unscrew the old one, which is working fine, BTW."

"the ISP notified me that my "old" equipment had been received, returned, and acknowledged as such. I have not unpacked the new router, nor plugged it in."

Either you still have the old router or you don't? If you are still using the old router, which router is your cable co claiming that you returned?

"Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."

Sweetbay magnolia · ‎04-14-2013

I still have the old router plugged in, @Mz iMac. I am confused, as well - they sent new equip and told me I had 30 days to return the old device, but then notified me that they had received a return, even though I have not sent it back. Nor even opened the box.

And the company said I had to do nothing else, in the e-mail I received.

I guess, ethically, I should call to find out what is going on, but considering the time it took me to get through the last time I called . . . why bother?

Seriously, I am a good paying customer and I just hate jumping through these hoops. And I have not "attached" the new one, for fear that something will run amuck. Now, consider that I worked on computers in the DOS age, and before the mouse, and before a modem worked independently of a telephone line, but this has me confused.

I must be making a mountain of a molehill. I'll just hook the darn thing up (unscrew the co-ax and hope for the best).

Cogito ergo sum

hckynutjohn · ‎06-15-2015

@Sweetbay magnolia wrote:
I know this has been discussed before. However, my ISP has sent me a new one. Yes, I am one of the fools that lets them charge me for that every month. I live in an older home and well . . . you don't need all the details.

I am hesitant to unscrew the old one, which is working fine, BTW. I have an old analog TV (aiong with some newer). It's never easy as they say, in my experience. I have two macs, one that runs wirelessly and on that sits next to the router, so I plug it in. Of course, we have cell phones as well.

Apparently my speed has been increased. Fine. Then, the ISP notified me that my "old" equipment had been received, returned, and acknowledged as such. I have not unpacked the new router, nor plugged it in. What does this signal, and is it really worth screwing around with a new device, if I don't really need it?

We have underground cable to the house, though there are some people in my neighborhood who rely on overhead, if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

@Sweetbay magnolia

You lost me with the above "bolded/underlined" comments. Not sure if you have a router hooked up or what is what by your statements.

Don't say what your ISP is: Cable:/Satellite/Phone Company. I have Centurylink which is our telephone service, thus have have DSL. Like you, some of our cables run underground and some above about 30' off the ground.

When they upped our Internet speed from 1.5mbps to 15mbps, I had to install a new router to be able to handle this speed. It is still an 802.11N, but evidently it has different internals than the old one. Beats me.

I plan on buying an 802.11AC router when I learn more about if they work "backward compatible" or not. My new TV set has the AC built inside of it. I am thinking that most new devices that work wirelessly will also be of the AC variety.

Once I am sure that any new cell phone/tablet and so on have an AC, or AC is "backwards compatible" with 802.11N devices, I plan on shopping around.

If someone here knows the answers to my above, please speak up, and I thank you.

hckynut(john)

hckynut(john)

Sweetbay magnolia · ‎04-14-2013

Thanks. I didn't even know how to phrase that question because I didin't know where to begin! I'll forge ahead.

Thank you kindly for responding. I guess I don't have to be a technical genius to proceed. We shall see. It's Verizon, BTW. And I still do not know why there has been acknowledgement of a return that I have, presumably, not done - of the old router. Probably just a "clerical error". I'll hook it up and send the old one back.

Cogito ergo sum

gardenman · ‎03-09-2010

@hckynutjohn wrote:
@Sweetbay magnolia wrote:
I know this has been discussed before. However, my ISP has sent me a new one. Yes, I am one of the fools that lets them charge me for that every month. I live in an older home and well . . . you don't need all the details.

I am hesitant to unscrew the old one, which is working fine, BTW. I have an old analog TV (aiong with some newer). It's never easy as they say, in my experience. I have two macs, one that runs wirelessly and on that sits next to the router, so I plug it in. Of course, we have cell phones as well.

Apparently my speed has been increased. Fine. Then, the ISP notified me that my "old" equipment had been received, returned, and acknowledged as such. I have not unpacked the new router, nor plugged it in. What does this signal, and is it really worth screwing around with a new device, if I don't really need it?

We have underground cable to the house, though there are some people in my neighborhood who rely on overhead, if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

@Sweetbay magnolia

You lost me with the above "bolded/underlined" comments. Not sure if you have a router hooked up or what is what by your statements.

Don't say what your ISP is: Cable:/Satellite/Phone Company. I have Centurylink which is our telephone service, thus have have DSL. Like you, some of our cables run underground and some above about 30' off the ground.

When they upped our Internet speed from 1.5mbps to 15mbps, I had to install a new router to be able to handle this speed. It is still an 802.11N, but evidently it has different internals than the old one. Beats me.

I plan on buying an 802.11AC router when I learn more about if they work "backward compatible" or not. My new TV set has the AC built inside of it. I am thinking that most new devices that work wirelessly will also be of the AC variety.

Once I am sure that any new cell phone/tablet and so on have an AC, or AC is "backwards compatible" with 802.11N devices, I plan on shopping around.

If someone here knows the answers to my above, please speak up, and I thank you.

hckynut(john)

All of the AC routers I've seen are backwards compatible all the way back to a/b/g/n tech. With a top speed of 15 mbps I'm not sure you'll see a big difference using an AC router. The AC routers are designed to work with some of the quicker connections (100 mbps+) and for households with multiple devices accessing the Internet at the same time. Pretty much any old router can handle 15 mbps to just one device. Now if you've got two adults, a couple of kids and a visitor all trying to stream video on a really fast Internet connection, an AC router would be a good investment.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!

glb613 · ‎03-09-2010

A new router needs the security enabled. Otherwise the wireless signal will be broadcasted and anyone within range will be able to use your internet. It's a reall security threat to your computers and home network. Are you willing to learn how to do this?

Nuttmeg · ‎03-09-2010

@Sweetbay magnolia

You should call Verizon and have a tech come to your home and install the new router.

ValuSkr · ‎03-15-2014

I have Verizon FIOS. This summer I was experiencing problems - often losing the internet connection in the middle of a session and having to reboot the router. I spoke with Verizon and they noted my router was old and offered to send a new one. They said I didn't need to return the old one, that it was essentially worthless. I received the new one a day or two later and things did seem to improve after that. And, by the way, I don't pay a monthly rental fee for the router.

Sweetbay magnolia · ‎04-14-2013

Thanks for all the advice. I have opened the box, so far. Still mulling this over. @glb613, the security issue is a concern and I find treading those waters to be a little murky.

@Nuttmeg, back in the "good old days", the company would automatically send a tech to do stuff like this. I would rather have someone with skill make sure the thing works correctly.

I have bad memories of the "digital conversion" days - I had old tvs and it took one very long day to get the new set top boxes to work (prior to that, we only needed a coax connected to the set). When we moved here, I hadn't yet brought one of my new tvs to the "new" house, and even though I did have a tech come set us up, when I did get everything moved, setting up the new connection on the tv by myself took several hours on the phone with Verizon.

Thanks again. I appreciate the responses. Our internet response time is perfectly fine and I just may bag this whole thing. I'm having some problems with my iPhone (probably user error) and I hate to throw this new device into the mix. Nuances, nuances. I am a plant person, not a computer person.

@ValuSkr: I felt like the fact that notified me they had "received" my return (which has not happened in actuality) meant that really, they do not care about getting the old equipment back. Good insight - thanks. AND WHAT THE HECK? I have no idea why my font size just got dramatically smaller and I can not fix it. All things pointing to my distrust of current technology.

Cogito ergo sum