How Often Should You Replace Your Router? Signs It’s Time to Upgrade

How Often Should You Replace Your Router? Signs It’s Time to Upgrade

Most routers should be replaced every three to five years, and sooner if yours predates the Wi-Fi 6 standard or your household has added several new devices since you bought it. If you’ve been Googling how often should you replace your router because your Wi-Fi has started acting up, age is part of the story, but it isn’t the whole story.

Below is how to tell how long routers last, the concrete signs you need a new router, and when the real fix is a new internet plan instead of new hardware.

How Long Do Routers Last?

Router lifespan depends more on what the hardware can still do than on whether it still powers on.

Consumer Reports surveyed manufacturers directly on this question. A Netgear representative told the outlet that three years was a reasonable replacement point, while Google and Linksys representatives put the window at three to five years, and Amazon (which owns Eero) at three to four years [1]. That range lines up with what most networking manufacturers now recommend as a general router lifespan for consumer hardware.

The reason isn’t usually that the router breaks. It’s that the chipset inside stops getting firmware updates, which means new security patches and performance improvements stop arriving even though the box still blinks and connects. Consumer Reports’ own survey data found that roughly one in five people hold onto a router for more than four years—comfortably past the point most manufacturers stop actively supporting a given model.

Signs You Need a New Router

Age is a good starting point, but it’s not the only consideration. These are the router replacement signs worth checking before you decide whether it’s time to upgrade:

• Devices drop connection even though they work fine elsewhere. If your laptop holds a strong signal at a coffee shop, but keeps disconnecting at home, that’s a router problem, not a device problem.
• You’re not hitting your plan’s speeds, even on Ethernet. If a wired connection to the router still comes in well under what you’re paying for, the router itself is often the bottleneck.
• It’s missing security updates. Check the manufacturer’s support page for your exact model. If it’s no longer receiving firmware updates, that’s one of the clearest signs you need a new router regardless of its age.
• It doesn’t support WPA3. This is the current Wi-Fi security standard, and hardware that predates it is running on older, weaker protections by default.
• The network bogs down with everyday device counts. If four or five phones, laptops, and smart-home devices connecting at once is enough to cause noticeable congestion, the router’s capacity (not your internet plan) may be the ceiling.

If your router is showing old router/slow internet symptoms like these, it’s worth troubleshooting the hardware directly. A router causing slow WiFi throughout the house often gets blamed on the internet plan when the box itself is the actual problem.

Is It Time for a Wi-Fi 6 Router Upgrade?

Wi-Fi standards move faster than most people replace their hardware, and that gap is a major reason routers become outdated well before they stop working. The Wi-Fi Alliance certifies each new generation, and the pace has picked up:

A Wi-Fi 6 router upgrade matters for more than raw speed. Wi-Fi 6 introduced OFDMA, a scheduling technology that lets a router serve multiple devices at once with far less interference, which is exactly the kind of congestion a lot of multi-device households run into. It also arrived alongside WPA3, the security protocol the Wi-Fi Alliance introduced in 2018 and later made mandatory for new certified devices [3]. A router that predates both isn’t just slower. It’s also working with a weaker security baseline than anything sold today.

Wi-Fi 6E added the 6 GHz band for less-congested short-range connections, and Wi-Fi 7—certified in January 2024—pushed further with wider channels and lower latency for the households and devices that can use them. None of this means last generation’s hardware is unusable. It just means that a router built before Wi-Fi 6 is missing efficiency and security features that current routers include by default.

When to Replace Your Router: A Practical Checklist

Instead of tracking your router’s exact age, treat four to five years as a checkpoint to review it, not an automatic replacement date [4]. Then:

1. Look up your router’s model on the manufacturer’s support page and confirm it’s still receiving firmware updates.
2. Compare your actual wired speeds to your internet plan’s advertised speeds.
3. Count how many devices regularly connect at once, and whether that number has grown since you bought the router.
4. Check whether it supports WPA3 and Wi-Fi 6 or newer.

If it fails more than one of those checks, that’s a stronger case than age alone.

Could Your Internet Plan Be the Real Problem?

A new router can’t outrun a slow internet plan. The FCC’s current benchmark for broadband is 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload [5]. If your plan doesn’t clear that regardless of router, no amount of new hardware will close the gap.

Before buying anything, it’s worth running a fresh internet comparison for your address. Compare internet providers, compare internet plans, and check internet prices side by side to confirm you’re not simply paying for less speed than your household now needs, or overpaying for more than an old router could ever deliver anyway.

CompareInternet’s availability tool shows the best internet in your area by zip code, which is a faster way to rule out your plan than guessing. If your provider checks out and the plan is fast enough, our mesh Wi-Fi vs. extenders comparison guide can help you land on the right upgrade.

Use the zip code tool below to see what’s available to you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I upgrade my router in 2026?

If your router predates Wi-Fi 6, doesn’t support WPA3, or is past the four-to-five-year mark without firmware updates, 2026 is a reasonable time to upgrade—not because of the calendar year itself, but because most routers from before 2019 are now missing both security and performance features that are standard on current hardware.

Is my router too old if it’s still working?

Yes, it can be. Routers rarely fail outright; they become outdated because the manufacturer stops shipping firmware updates or the hardware can’t keep up with newer Wi-Fi standards, even while it continues to power on and connect devices.

Will a new router fix slow internet speeds?

Only if the router was the bottleneck. If your wired speeds already match what your internet plan promises, a new router won’t add speed your plan doesn’t provide—in that case, comparing internet plans for your address is the more useful next step.

How do I know if my router supports Wi-Fi 6?

Check the model number printed on the router against the manufacturer’s product page, or look in the router’s admin settings for a listed wireless standard. Most routers sold since 2020 support Wi-Fi 6 or newer, while anything bought before 2019 almost certainly doesn’t.

Sources

[1] Consumer Reports. “How to Tell When It’s Time to Replace Your Router."

[2] Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi Alliance® introduces Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7™."

[3] Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi Alliance® introduces Wi-Fi CERTIFIED WPA3™ security."

[4] NETGEAR. “When To Replace Your WiFi Router Checklist."

[5] Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. “How the FCC Got to 100/20."