Don’t throw away! 7 Ways to Breathe New Life into Your Old Wi-Fi Router

Francis Fernandez

Changing your home router is usually a common practice. if you discover that the phone provided by the telephone company is defective or is due to some technical improvement. When this happens, there is usually a tendency to throw away your old Wi-Fi router, thinking you don’t need it anymore.

However, this is not quite true. If you wish, you will have the opportunity Get more out of your old Wi-Fi router than you think. For this reason, we are going to show you some options for using your old router or modem before throwing it away, and it might be interesting.

7 Uses for Your Old Wi-Fi Router

As we mentioned, in addition to being able to throw away your old Wi-Fi router, it’s worth considering what it can be used for. For this reason, we have collected some of the best ideas that can be very helpful give a second life to this device, which is increasingly present among us.

Expand your current Wi-Fi network

One of the biggest problems with current Wi-Fi networks is usually their range. In many cases, and especially in those with large houses, it is common have connection problems. If this is your case, your old Wi-Fi router can help you a lot.

As we discussed in the article on how to improve your home Wi-Fi with an old router, if you connect the old model to the new one with an ethernet cable, you will be able to set up the old one as a repeater this will help you improve the range of your internet connection.

Depending on parameters such as the extension of the specified cable, you will be able to place each router in a separate room and start using it as a Wi-Fi repeater, something useful and cheaper than, for example, buying a Wi-Fi Mesh repeater. Plus, depending on the type of router, you can even set it up as a traditional Wi-Fi booster without having to cable it to another.

Use your old router as a switch by expanding the Ethernet ports.

Routers usually include 2 to 4 Ethernet ports to which you can connect devices to access the Internet and local network. However, for those more demanding users who intend to connect all kinds of devices to their router and want to get the best browsing speed, it is possible that these ports are not working.

Through the old router, connecting one to the other and extension of local area network or LAN, you can have more Ethernet ports on your router. You can use them both for Internet access and for better connection management as a switch.

Alternatively, you can also use it like this play with friends or family. By connecting several computers at the same time with a cable, you can access from one device to another and play no high latency or distractions how it works in the online world. In addition, the advantage is that they are all physically together in order to be able to comment on the games.

Create an exclusive Wi-Fi network for guests

More and more Wi-Fi routers include this feature to create a guest Wi-Fi network. This is very important for the security of do not share the original password of the router with other people and prevents them from accessing the administration interface. However, in case your new Wi-Fi router does not support the Guest Wi-Fi feature, you can always rollback to your old router.

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As with the first use, you will need to connection with an Ethernet cable old router to a new one and configure it in mode bridge so that it turns the input into a wifi network. henceforth, setting another SSID and password, you will be able to create your guest Wi-Fi network using your old router. You should only share this network name and password when someone asks about your Internet connection.

Use its ports to connect devices

Chances are your old router has a built-in USB port that you can use in a variety of ways, and of course you don’t always need an internet connection to use it. For example, you can Easily connect USB storage for network sharing and access to its contents via Wi-Fi.

And, if you prefer to go further, you can combine your old router with your old printer. Together they make the perfect combination, as you can set up a Wi-Fi connection so you can print seamlessly from any device, at any time.

Use it to selectively set parental controls

If you have someone in your care and you don’t want them to be able to access certain websites or pages, you can create a second Wi-Fi network Set up parental controls on your old router, blocking access to certain domains or websites.

In the event that you provide access to an alternative Wi-Fi network only to your dependents, such as your children, and you prevent them from accessing the original network router, they will not be able to skip the controls and their internet will be shortened.

Experiment and try out more features for your router

Another variant install an alternative operating system for your router. This is not an easy operation and may damage your device if you don’t install it correctly. However, given that you already have another router, why not experiment with the old one? Many companies layer their panels and configuration options, just as some manufacturers choose to include incomplete software.

Faced with these problems, alternative operating systems for routers such as OpenWrt, Tomato Firmware or DD-WRT, which promise to expand the functionality and capabilities of some of the most popular routers on the market. If you have a compatible model, you can follow the guides for each operating system to try it out and get even more out of it.

If nothing convinces you, you can always recycle it

The previous use may be very good in certain cases, but it is true that everything depends on the ultimate interests of each person. These are just some of the ideas, and you may find others more useful to you. Nonetheless, in case this is not the case, perhaps the most correct thing to do is to remove it so that it does not take up spaceplus saving can become dangerous.

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If yes, then it is important that make sure you do it right. You can take your old router to a clean spot or any other place where it will be properly taken care of. As an option, another option donate or give away a friend or family member who might be interested in one of the above uses, or even Place an ad on a used website in case any buyers in your area are interested in your old Wi-Fi router.