The Wi-Fi router doesn't get nearly as much attention in the house as your other devices. Unlike your smartphone, PC, laptop, and TV, which you love to keep up-to-date, your router fades into the background like an appliance. As long as your devices are online, you probably don't care about the software our router is running, or whether it's even getting firmware updates anymore. This ignorance isn't affecting the performance of your network alone; it's also putting its security at risk. Most people keep using their ISP-provided router for years without thinking about the risks of an outdated router. Your ISP will seldom replace EOL routers proactively — you need to act to secure your network. A modern router will not only patch the most common security vulnerabilities, but also ensure your Wi-Fi isn't struggling with avoidable performance issues.

Your Wi-Fi performance is suffering

Even if the download speeds are great

You might not have noticed it, but your outdated router has been silently throttling your Wi-Fi performance for years. The download or upload speeds might be just fine, but the baggage of old networking hardware goes much deeper. For instance, Wi-Fi 5 routers are still common in many parts of the world. All your devices may support Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7, but your Wi-Fi 5 router forces them onto the older protocol, with all the downsides that come with it. Features like OFDMA and bidirectional MU-MIMO were introduced only in Wi-Fi 6, so your old router is probably struggling to handle multiple devices simultaneously. If your Wi-Fi becomes sluggish at random times of the day, it's most likely that your router is trying to cope with simultaneous traffic from your phone, PC, TV, and home automation devices. Without the 6GHz band supported by Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 routers, you're deprived of a relatively free spectrum that others are enjoying.

Even basics like airtime fairness might not be as fleshed out on your outdated ISP router. Most ISPs don't even allow consumers to modify anything other than the most superficial router settings. Without airtime fairness and other QoS settings, your router is left on its own to manage slow traffic from smart devices and high-priority traffic from your PC, smartphone, and laptop. It's probably doing a poor job of it, and you might be blaming your devices or the ISP for years.

Outdated routers can also suffer from subpar internals that add to your network woes. With multiple devices connected simultaneously and tons of traffic shuttling back and forth, your router can overheat and bring everything to a crawl. The biggest issue with keeping an old router on your network isn't the maximum download speed — even Wi-Fi 5 can handle Gigabit networks. The problem is that your network "feels" way more limited and crippled than it needs to. Without features that many people take for granted today, your router is artificially keeping your Wi-Fi stuck in the past. And your ISP doesn't care about that.

Your outdated router is the easiest way in for intruders

The invisible backdoor

The bigger concern here is the gaping security loophole that is your old router. Modern routers use a variety of features to keep your traffic encrypted and your network secure, such as WPA3 encryption, built-in firewalls, network segmentation, and automated firmware updates. Your outdated router might have reached EOL status, and your ISP did nothing to remedy that. Most consumer routers don't get updates after 3–5 years, leaving them exposed to security exploits. Many Wi-Fi 5 routers don't support WPA3 — it depends entirely on the manufacturer. WPA2 encryption is prone to brute-force attacks, making your router a sitting duck for bad actors.

ISPs are known to keep outdated models in circulation until you complain. If you don't even know your router is outdated, you won't bother asking for an upgrade. Without firmware updates, your router becomes a prime target for intruders who want to make it part of a botnet and use it as an unwitting proxy server. Thousands of EOL Asus routers were infected last year, mostly in Taiwan, Russia, and the U.S., with attackers exploiting multiple known vulnerabilities to gain high privileges.

Attackers can even change the DNS settings of your router to redirect you to fake banking websites or target flaws in the WPA2 protocol to insert ransomware into your network. Even the unpatched vulnerabilities in your router's remote management features can give attackers full root access, allowing them to alter firewall settings or run arbitrary commands. The older your router, the greater the risk that it will get attacked sooner or later. While you may have switched to Windows 11 after Windows 10 entered EOL status last year, your router remains the single biggest security loophole in your home network.

Buying a new router might be the simplest way out

It doesn't even cost that much

Once you confirm that your router is no longer receiving firmware and security updates (the model number at the back will help), you should immediately replace it with a modern model. Imploring the ISP to do it doesn't always work out, so the simplest solution is to buy an aftermarket router yourself. A Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 router doesn't cost more than $100, and you can easily connect it to your existing ISP router after enabling bridge mode on the latter. This prevents double NAT issues, effectively turning your ISP router into a modem, with all the Wi-Fi responsibilities being handled by your new router.

With a modern aftermarket router, you will have complete control over the firmware updates, security patches, and router settings. Your router manufacturer will routinely release security patches to address known vulnerabilities, and with a recent model, your network will be protected for the near future. You'll not only make your network more secure, but also enjoy better performance, improved range, and fewer hardware-linked issues. You can change your router settings to switch your DNS server, tweak QoS rules, set up VLANs, and do so much more than what's possible on an ISP router.

Replace your aging router already

It's high time you switched from your outdated router, not just for performance reasons, but also to protect your network against security exploits. Intruders can easily take control of EOL routers and compromise your data in more ways than one. Instead of asking your ISP to do it, it's better to buy an aftermarket router yourself. It will be miles better than whatever junk your ISP gives you, and you'll be in control of your own network.