Every electronic device and gadget has a life expectancy and routers are no exception, every router has a life expectancy after which it does not function as it should. If you have got a router for quite some years then you may not be getting the performance that you would be hoping for.
Most businesses upgrade their other devices including their PCs, mobile devices, laptops, etc after every 3-4 years, however, when it comes to wireless routers then most businesses delay it and hold on until the function of the router has completely deteriorated.
This is a big mistake and this is something that should be avoided. Your router(s) hold the key to your network and it is also important for having ultimate performance on your laptops, PCs, and other devices that require fast internet connection function optimally. If you keep your router updated then it will ensure that all of your devices on the network are getting optimal speeds and the network’s performance doesn’t become sluggish.
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If you haven’t upgraded the wireless router of your business in a while then here are some compelling reasons why you should do so:
1. Connect Multiple Devices With Unaffected Performance
New WiFi routers come with new technology and if you want to replace your old router then one of the latest models would be a wise choice. Currently, all the latest routers come with WiFi 6 which is the latest version available and it is much faster than its predecessors.
The maximum speed of WiFi 6 is 9.6 Gbps as compared to 3.5 Gbps of WiFi 5 and if you have been upgrading your internet plans for the office then an older router that you bought a few years ago won’t be able to handle all these fast speeds.
For small and medium-sized businesses, the latest router might not be compulsory because they won’t need ultra-fast speeds to operate effectively, however, the latest technology, WiFi 6 usually focuses on improving the performance of devices when multiple devices are connected.
If your office has multiple devices then a modern-day router will be a wise choice as it will make sure that every device connected to the network is performing optimally and there is no sluggishness or bottleneck in the network.
2. Better Security
Another reason why businesses need to upgrade their router(s) and buy a new one is that the new ones have better security. Most older routers don’t get regular firmware updates and this means that these routers don’t have the latest security protection.
Along with this, some older routers don’t have WPA2 encryption protocol which was the proffered security protocol since 2006, however, even WPA2 has been replaced by the latest version, WPA3.
WPA3 encryption is currently the latest version of encryption protocols available and it has closed some of the bugs and vulnerabilities that were present in the older WPA2. With a new router, you will get the WPA3 protocol which makes it harder for anyone to crack the password of your WiFi network and also has better encryption tools in place to protect the data shared across the network.
You can find out which encryption protocol your current router has by visiting the default gateway address of the router i.e 10.0.0.1 and then finding out the encryption protocol. The default gateway address can be 192.168.100.1 or any other, depending on the router manufacturer. You can ask any employee from the IT department to tell you about the encryption protocol of the router.
3. New Performance Enhancing Features
You will also be getting the latest performance-enhancing features with the latest routers. If the aforementioned reasons might not be enough then know that manufacturers are constantly trying to make their products better and they are slowly adding new features to their routers in order to enhance the performance.
You get features like smart antennas that can assemble signals in a much better way and also beam these signals to devices in a much better way. You also get dual-band or triple-band connectivity which allows the router to transmit data over multiple frequencies. You also get guest networks, 4G support, VPN support, etc. All of these features are added to the routers to enhance the performance and these features go beyond simple WiFi connectivity.