Lately I have been searching the forums for reviews on how to replace my RB951G-2HnD. I am not a network engineer. Hardware and operating system stability are critical to me. By hardware/software stability I mean a situation where in case of any errors, surprises, problems in operation I can be sure that the cause of these problems was me, my wrong actions, not fully reading the documentation, but not the hardware/software errors.
I like RB951G-2HnD because:
it does not overheat, hot case. This is evidence of good engineering and balance in hardware.
mature stable software version (6.49.18), which, as far as I understand, will not be introducing any too innovative features.
I have read many reviews here (and on other sites), but I am afraid I have not yet been able to choose something to replace my RB951G-2HnD.
Questions:
How much longer do you think I can safely use my RB951G-2HnD, updating it regularly, before the manufacturer stops updating it altogether? It turns out that this is a very new unit, which has been working for no more than 3 years.
What is the destiny of RouterOS 6? How long can I use it without updating to version 7?
If, for example, I update to version 7 today, how long can I use my RB951G-2HnD? Will such an update increase its service life?
The answer to these questions will allow me, on the one hand, to postpone the purchase of new equipment. And on the other hand, to do it in time, when it will be impossible to postpone it.
This is what I admire with MT folks, they support the device as long as they can best example is RB2011 until know it can be upgrade to ros v7 and how long does RB2011 still in the market?
Honestly, I don’t know any MikroTik router, that doesn’t accept new updates. But if you want stability and don’t need any new features from v7, just leave it as is and stay on v6.
If it does its job, there are no any reasons for replacement.
Just joking:
Do you say "it’s a very new TV/ it’s a very new mobile / it’s a very new laptom " about 3 yeras old devices? It’s almost their lifespan nowadays.
Seriously speaking, it’s not a MT devices’ problem. They last and last and last … have some RB433AH still doing their job.
PPC platform? No problem, Tilera, MMIPS, MIPSBE, SMIPS ? Still updated. Even RB333 gets updates. I would say “no worries” as they still sell these tiny hAP lite or mAP.
The only problem I see are higher speeds of connections. You have to have more pure power to process trafic so the older models could not meet expectations at this area even if funcionality reamins OK. The other problem could be that you could decide to “touch areas” where ROS6 does not offer all needed options offered by ROS7 but then you can just upgrade, test and go back to the “known enemy” v6 if you are not satisfied enough. Newer devices offer only v7.
You can wait for a long time but be aware anything newly released you purchase now, will be loaded with ROS7 out of the factory.
Even some devices which used to be ROS6 come now as ROS7 ( recently noticed on CRS 326 and 328).
ROS6 is not actively being developed anymore (or so it seems) but it does get an occassional security update. Until also that stops…
Just saying.
Either learn the differences between ROS6 and ROS7 now or foresee a purchase of an identical replacement device or used HW which can be downgraded to ROS6.
Or a ROS7 device and use that one to learn and keep it aside as plug-in backup once you have everything duplicated from the setup of your current device.
This particular model works perfectly fine with RouterOS 7 and there are no fundamental differences between v6 and v7 for home AP class of devices. There might be bigger differences for ISP class devices in ways how routing filters are done, but in your case you can easily upgrade to v7 and everything will just keep working. The only devices that are not suggested to use with v7 are SMIPS CPU devices like hAP lite, because they have just 32MB RAM
RB951G is a very reliable (and legendary/disruptive) device, but nowadays is showing its age, main reason i see to replace it can be performance, with nowadays high speed internet services you must go for fast-track config to obtain a good performance, if you need to enable resource intensive features rb951g will have a limited performance
another disadvantage/reason is the lack of a second radio for 5ghz band, a very needed feature nowadays
but if non of those are your case you can still have a good experience with it