Older devices with older Wi-Fi technology can slow down your Wi-Fi network because they use outdated, slower Wi-Fi standards that are not optimized for faster internet speeds. When these old devices are connected to your Wi-Fi, they can use up valuable bandwidth and cause network congestion, leading to slower speeds and degraded performance for ALL devices connected to the network.
Let’s look at an example, an old iPhone 4 that uses the Wi-Fi 802.11b/g standard may only be capable of connecting to your Wi-Fi network at a maximum speed of 54 Mbps. However, a router with the newest Wi-Fi 6 technology can provide speeds up to 9.6 Gbps. When the iPhone 4 is connected to the Wi-Fi network, it will only be able to use a fraction of the available bandwidth, which can cause other devices on the network to suffer from slower speeds and increased latency.
Those older Wi-Fi devices can also use outdated security protocols, which can make your Wi-Fi network more vulnerable to hacking and cyber-attacks. Not good. For example, older devices may only support the WEP or WPA security protocols, which are less secure than the modern WPA2 and WPA3 protocols found on our GigaSpire Systems and supported by your newer devices. This can put your entire Wi-Fi network at risk and compromise the security of your personal and confidential data.
It's important to remove older devices from your Wi-Fi network if they are no longer in use or are rarely used. The good news is the BTC Broadband Wi-Fi App will alert you if you have a Legacy Device on the network.
You can always see what devices are on your network from the Things tab in the BTC Broadband Wi-Fi App. If you see an old device, you can remove it from the network with a single swipe.
The app is available to download for free from the Apple Store and Google Play.
For more tips and how-to's, visit our Support Videos page.
