Don’t throw away your old router – Do this instead

Unlike many devices in your home, you probably don’t think much about upgrading your router. Routers can work for a long time, and it’s easy to overlook if one doesn’t get firmware updates anymore or doesn’t support the latest Wi-Fi standards. This can make upgrading to a new Wi-Fi router more difficult, as throwing away a perfectly working piece of equipment feels wasteful.

Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be an issue. Old routers can easily be repurposed to be used as a secondary or tertiary device as well. While newer models offer better security, range and performance and are thus the best for your primary device, old routers can benefit from the fact that most networking fundamentals haven’t changed in decades. You have many options for repurposing an old router instead of sending it to the landfill or for recycling.

If your new Wi-Fi router is struggling to reach corners of your home, consider using your old router as a dedicated access point. With this method, you don’t need to buy a wireless extender or other single-purpose technology.

There are two approaches you can take: wired or wired. A wired connection brings stable connectivity and fast speeds, but you need an Ethernet line running back to your primary router. This may not be possible several rooms away unless you are comfortable running cables through your walls.

I recommend transmitting two Wi-Fi signals in close proximity, as this can lead to wireless interference and poorer performance. The good news is that you can disable specific frequencies on both routers to avoid congestion. A good option is to configure the old router to transmit on the 2.4GHz band, while disabling this frequency on the newer router. This is because 2.4GHz signals penetrate walls better, while most Wi-Fi improvements in the last decade have been applied to higher frequencies such as 5GHz and 6GHz.

Many routers support wireless repeater or bridge functionality, so check the admin panel or manual for these terms. On my older TP-Link router, this feature is hidden in some sub-menus under the WDS bridging label. The downside to this approach is that your router must use some of its limited cable capacity to communicate with your router. This translates to slower real-world speeds when connected to the secondary router.

A small number of routers can also double as mesh Wi-Fi nodes. Asus calls this feature AiMesh on its routers, and it allows you to mix different models to create one unified network. If you haven’t chosen a new router yet and your old one offers it, buy one in the same family to take advantage of it.

If your new router does not have enough LAN ports to connect high-bandwidth devices such as smart TVs, computers and game consoles, you can use your old router as a switch. A basic network switch usually costs between $10 and $20, and is another single device that you don’t need to buy if you have an old router lying around.

Setting up a router in switching mode is relatively easy. Simply run an Ethernet cable from your new router to the old one, using LAN ports on each, and connect your devices to the remaining ports on the old router. Make sure you don’t connect anything to the old router’s WAN port.

Many routers offer access point (AP) or switch modes in their administrative settings, which you must enable by accessing the router’s admin panel. If you do not see one of these modes, you must manually disable the router’s DHCP server, along with all other routing options such as firewall and NAT.

The same warning about wireless interference applies here. You should disable all wireless functionality on the old router if you only care about the onboard Ethernet ports.

Many routers have a USB port that is easy to overlook. But you can use this in many ways, including connecting a storage device or printer. The latter allows you to start printing jobs from any device connected to your router, even wirelessly. If you have an old printer that lacks Wi-Fi support, this can be an easy solution.

Connecting a storage device such as an external hard drive or thumb drive can turn your router into a rudimentary storage server. In other words, you can read and write to the storage device from any device on the network. Dedicated network-attached storage (NAS) machines and the drives for them cost quite a bit, so this is an inexpensive way to get started. Just remember that routers don’t include reliability or backup features, which is where actual NAS devices shine. And the USB port on your router is probably not the fastest, so performance is limited.

After connecting the device, look around in your router’s admin panel to check its USB device sharing settings for the best experience.

Many modern routers support VPN functionality, but enabling this feature means routing all traffic through the tunnel. You can install your VPN app on individual devices instead, but that could lead to long-term battery drain. This is where turning an old router into a VPN client makes a lot of sense. Having a dedicated router for the VPN that works independently of your primary network means you can connect whenever you want, without running all the traffic through it or forcing your mobile devices to handle the workload.

The exact instructions vary by VPN provider and router manufacturer, but you’ll usually start by connecting your old router to the new one and enabling access point mode. Then look for VPN settings in the administration panel of the router, turn on the feature and enter your VPN credentials.

Although we don’t always think of them this way, routers are essentially low-power computers that typically pair an efficient CPU with small amounts of RAM and memory. Accordingly, they ship with lightweight operating systems designed for their intended purpose: routing network traffic and everything else associated with that task. This creates problems if manufacturers stop providing the latest firmware for your router, or if its limited nature prevents you from doing what you want.

Lucky for us, very enterprising open-source communities have built custom firmware specifically designed for routers. Projects like OpenWRT replace router manufacturer-supplied software with a more flexible OS that gives you more control over the device, including the ability to install third-party apps like torrent clients.

These are a great option to make your old router last longer. Many of the suggestions above are also easier to set up on custom router firmware like DD-WRT or FreshTomato. I use OpenWRT because I find it less restrictive than many router standard operating systems.

The downside of custom firmware is that not all routers are supported. With the large number of models, you must read all the documentation of each project to narrow the compatibility for your specific device.