We all have an old router in our house. It is very common, since when we change operators, it is normal for them to give us a new device. We must also take into account the change in technology that many have made in recent years when moving from ADSL to fiber optics. All this makes it frequent to have at least one router that we do not use. Many even choose to throw it away, since the economic value is really not very high, unless it is a powerful terminal. Now, we can use our old router and take advantage of it. We will talk about it in this article.
The router, the main piece for our connections
Today we saw in a very connected society. We have at our disposal a wide range of possibilities for this. Especially the use of wireless networks has increased, for which it is necessary to have a competent router that offers us a good speed, quality and signal stability.
It should be noted that the router is a fundamental piece for our day to day. We can connect our computer by cable, but also a wide variety of devices through Wi-Fi.
Sometimes this device may fall short. Perhaps due to seniority, it gives us problems that generally result in a weak signal and, therefore, a bad Internet speed. We already know that having good wireless connections is something that users value very much.
This can push users to change the router . We have a wide range of possibilities at our disposal and some may even be specially designed for the game. But of course, if we buy a new router, what do we do with the old one? We can give it a second life.
What uses can we give to our old router
An old router , although it no longer serves us because it does not have certain features that we may need, such as having certain ports, Wi-Fi technology 6 or any other reason that makes us choose to change it, is still useful. We can give certain uses in our day to day, as we will see below.
We are going to mention interesting functions that we can have thanks to such an apparatus. The objective is to be able to take advantage of a router before throwing it away or selling it for a very low price online.
Have a repeater
One of the most common and useful uses is to have a Wi-Fi repeater or even to connect devices via cable. It is certainly a very interesting way to take advantage of our old router as long as it is compatible with what we want to do.
If we have a cable installation in our home, the better. We simply have to connect the router to another place in our home and although it is quite a distance from the main router, the one that is really connected to the Internet, we can offer connection to other points of the house.
In this way we can connect via Wi-Fi through this secondary router . Something very interesting if a certain room does not reach the coverage properly and that equipment can not be connected by cable, such as mobile phones, for example.
But we can also connect equipment through a network cable. In this way we will even better maintain the speed and stability of the connection. We can connect a television, a computer or any compatible device, directly to this old router that we have become a repeater.
Use it as a switch
Our old router can be used as a switch without having to buy one. In this way we can connect more devices by cable. Typically, a router has four available Ethernet ports. We may need to connect more equipment and no longer have free ports.
An old router can be connected by cable to the main router and thus be able to connect three other devices to its three free ports. An economic switch and, in short, another utility that we can give a router before throwing it away.
Create a server
Another highlight is the possibility of creating a NAS server thanks to an old router. We could do this as long as it has a USB port and we can connect a hard drive. In this way we could access those files from anywhere in a simple and fast way.
It is, once again, a way to save money. We do not need to buy a NAS server, since we will simply have to have a hard disk that we can connect via USB cable and thus connect it to the old router.
Guest Network
Our router allows you to create a guest network for other people to connect. However, we can also use another router that we have unused to have precisely that function.
We can use an old router to create an alternative network with another name, for example. So we can use it for guests.
Try alternative systems
Do you want to install different operating systems on the router and perform tests? What better than using an old router that we do not want before putting the main at risk and staying offline.
Basically it is as if we had another computer on which we want to perform different tests without compromising our files, but in this case we are talking about a router. Of course, the interesting thing is that this device allows alternative operating systems, since some are not compatible.
Take advantage of compatibility with older devices
Some older devices may have trouble connecting to more modern routers. This is undoubtedly something that can greatly ballast all those computers that we want to use but cannot connect to the Internet.
If we have an old router, we can use it so that those older devices can connect to the Internet and receive updates or simply enjoy their functionalities.
Create a virtual private network
One more feature that allows us to consider when having an old router is to create a virtual private network (VPN). We already know that this is something that allows us to improve our privacy and security when surfing the web. We can create one for the connection to pass through this router.
Network printer
If we have a compatible printer we can connect it to the router and thus have a network printer. An economical way to print from other devices connected to the network. It is, in short, one of the features that an old router allows us before throwing it away or selling it.
Therefore we can say that our old router has many features. Before throwing a device of this type that we believe is useless, it is worth considering some of the functions that we have indicated. In this way we will take advantage of a device that can be quite useful.
What do you think of these uses that we can give to our old router?
