Home Broadband Router Life Span

[jackiehn]

I have had my fibre broadband contract for approximately 8 years. I still have the original router that came with the contract. For the past few weeks our internet connection has been dropping out and we have to turn the router off to reconnect it. I have tested the internet speed and it appears to be working ok. Could it be the router? How long do the last? Thank you. Jackie

[Chris_B]

@jackiehn  Are you in contract or out of contract because no contract lasts 8 years.      Have you upgraded within this time frame ?  If you haven’t upgraded you’ll probably get a better deal if you do so you’ll pay less as you’ll be in contract.  It’s cheaper when in contract.

  The router should last the only time it could fail would be if it had a hardware issue and then it wouldn’t work at all. 

[XRaySpeX]

Welcome to EE's Home Broadband Forum.

Which router do you have?

Is it the BB as a whole dropping or just the WiFi connections? Do Ethernet connected devices stay working? What colours are the light sequence when it happens?

If you would like help with your BB speed or connection issues, please would you carry out the following steps for starters, which will enable us to diagnose the problem and advise you further. Do not restart your router to do these tests:

1. Post your full router stats:

• For a BrightBox: login and go to Advanced Settings/ System/ DSL Status. Also post 'System Uptime' from top of System Log page.
• For a SmartHub: login and go to Advanced Settings/ Technical Log/ Information. Obscure your names & any numbers in the BB Username & also the SSIDs.

Full router stats are key to any speed & connection issues.

2. Try a wired speedtest, using an Ethernet cable supplied with the router, here http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html . Click on the "Results Page" button at the bottom of the graph you first see and then copy to here just the "Link to this result:" link that you see below the next main graph.

3. What does BT Wholesale Broadband Availability Checker estimate for your phone number? Post just the whole table and the line above it, blanking out your phone number. If it doesn't recognise your phone number or you don't have one, use the Address Checker, not the Postcode Checker.

@Chris_B : These contracts last indefinitely for as long as you & EE let it. As do routers.

[IT-4BusyPeople]

This sounds similar to the problems I had with my ancient Brightbox 2. I found doing a full reset helped.

I 'replaced' my Brightbox 2 by simply calling EE Customer Services and they sent out a replacement. Unfortunately, I've found the replacement Smart Hub to be less functional than the Brightbox 2, so splashed out on a Draytek router...

[XRaySpeX]

My old Brightbox 2 has never exhibited a significant fault other than the rare reboot (never reset) needed when it gets its knickers in a twist (as do most other routers). I am still using it on VDSL as, as you noticed, it is functionally far richer than the EE SH. I maintain a Guest Network (multiple SSIDs/VLANs) & Bandwidth Control.