How often should you replace your home network equipment? I arranged the replacement order for the seven categories in the whole house; the one in the most urgent case doesn't cost anything

Last month,

came across the door, Lao Sun, holding his router, and knocked, asking, "You've been using it for five years—is it the end of the year?" "I didn't answer directly. Whether to trade or not, judging by the calendar alone is the most unreliable way to judge things. Let me first ask him three questions.

to change or not, ask three questions first

first question: How many megawatts have you dealt? Old Sun said the gigabit upgrade at the beginning of the year was still the 129 fusion package. The second question about the test posture: Have you tested by plugging in a network cable? He said never; his home relied entirely on WiFi. The third question is the light modem: When did you install the computer? He said that in 2018, the installer had installed it and never touched it.

I brought my laptop over, plugged the network cable directly into the optical modem, and tested it: 94 Mbps. A gigabit plan ran 94 Mbps, and as soon as this number appeared, the router was immediately cleared of suspicion—the problem lay with the optical modem in front of it. Looking at the sticker on the body, it's the old model. All four network ports are 100Mbps. How do you recognize these ports? In my article on how to distinguish between gigabit and hundred-megabit ports on modem, 93 to 95 Mbps is the signature number for 100Mbps. When he built up his PC in 2018, he still had 100 Mbps broadband, which was just enough for 100 Mbps ports. After upgrading to Gigabit, the bottleneck became apparent.

So you see, the question "Should you replace after five years?" is asking the wrong person. The machines that Old Sun really had reached their age were not the ones he was holding.

the aging accounts of seven types of equipment in the entire house

took this opportunity to review all the equipment in the house. Network devices are different from people; each has its own lifespan and its own way of dying. Here's a table to explain clearly:

optical modem and main router are two things that truly age over the years, and 5 to 8 years is a hurdle. The switch almost never fails. My 8-port gigabit unit was used for six years. The reason for discarding it wasn't that it broke, but because there weren't enough ports. Later, I switched to the larger ports I chose and connected home switches. The NAS itself is also sturdy. My N100 runs every day, and the first to break is usually the internal drive, not the machine itself.

the most urgent one usually doesn't cost a cent

How did

Sun replace his optical modem? Calling 10,000, the only thing you can say is: "I upgraded to the Gigabit package, but the modem is still a hundred-megabit port." "That afternoon, the technician came and replaced the cat with a 2.5G port for free. I've written about how to upgrade your gear and upgrade your device as a side upgrade, in my on how to change your Telecom broadband plan to make it more cost-effective. Many people don't know that upgrading to Gigabit Time-mode is something you can easily get without paying a cent. After switching, I tested on the spot: cable 941 Mbps, the numbers are right there.

similarly, there are two other free items. One is fault reporting and replacing the modem. The optical modem is an asset of the operator, and replacing it with a fault is free. Lightning damage or excessive light degradation count. The technician will even come to the site to test the optical power meter on site. Even low light readings hovering below -27 are considered faults, so they replace them along the way. The other is an old router found at home, which you can switch to AP mode and continue using with zero-cost expansion. Before these three non-costly tasks are done, don't touch your wallet yet.

five years of routers is a hurdle, but don't judge by years alone

back to Old Sun's original question. Routers are indeed the most obvious of the seven types of devices showing signs of aging. I that routers generally last a few years In that article, I wrote about the retirement age of my three units, which is 5 to 8 years. Half of the aging is in the capacitor. After being powered day and night for seven or eight years, the electrolytic capacitor becomes bulging and leaking. If the power supply is unstable, the whole machine starts to bleed, so the symptoms fluctuate, not just slow down. The signals to replace are these: restarts are becoming more frequent, from once every six months to once a week; 5G signals are getting weaker; bedrooms that used to be full now have only two bars; New phones can't negotiate speeds, WiFi 6 phones still use the old speed; Even the backend page started spinning.

But on the flip side, if you have no symptoms, don't mess around with the calendar. My cousin's family used the one for six years. Except for remotely restarting it once, it was as stable as a brick. Old Sun's router was replaced only in the second step: after replacing the optical modem, the WiFi was still only 200 to 300 Mbps. Upon checking, it turned out to be that old machine from five years ago, with severe 5G degradation. I switched to a 129-yuan AX3000T, the same I've used for two years, WiFi costs back to 500 or 600 yuan. On the day of the replacement, remember to copy the WiFi name and password exactly as the old device. No need to reconfigure all family devices. This detail was specifically written in the on how to set up internet access after switching to a new router .

NAS and smart devices: don't look at the years, look at SMART and firmware

storage line has a completely different replacement logic from the previous two types. Checking the calendar on a mechanical disc is useless. My 4T Cool Wolf has been used for four years, and all SMART cards are green, still in service. My cousin owns a second-hand enterprise property with 40,000 kWh of electricity. The numbers are shocking, but the specs are normal, and it still runs as usual. There is only one rule: SMART red card indicators—such as the pending mapping sector and remapping count—once they appear, they must prepare for the consequences. I wrote in the on how to read SMART data on hard drives. NAS the five signals in the are more direct when a hard drive fails. When you hear a click, don't hesitate.

smart devices are another set of rules. Their aging is not in performance, but in the battery and firmware. Battery degradation is a chronic disease; it's still manageable to go from charging every six months to charging once a month; Firmware updates are the real penalty; once cloud services stop, no matter how new the machine is, it's still half a brick. I dug out the old cameras and old Kindles I had at home and reassigned them. The idea was written in What can old cameras still do and what old Kindles can do —stopping updates doesn't mean scrapping; if you can still work locally without the cloud, there's still hope.

payment order: finish the free tasks, then queue according to the impact area

the entire house is completed, the replacement order follows one principle: the largest affected area is placed in front. One device on the outlet floor manages the entire house, the overlay manages one unit, and the terminal layer only manages itself.

the summary of this trip to Old Sun's home: I replaced the fiber modem for free, paid 129 yuan to replace the router, and my internet speed went from 94Mbps back to 941. I told him to keep his old 100Mbps switch for now. Now all the devices are running gigabits, and if the ports run out, I'll replace them as planned.

the old light modem user adds my simple trick: keep an eye on the light decay reading. If it climbs up year after year, and even after straightening, it won't be pushed back. That's when the laser reaches its age. The judgment is in the article about how many years the optical modem can last. If you're more diligent, follow the home online checkup schedule scan the status page each quarter, and the signals that need to be replaced will appear automatically—no need to guess, let alone count the calendar.