Can I keep the Wi-Fi name and password on a new router?

Buying a new Wi-Fi router should lead to an improvement in the connection or in any case some advantages over the previous model.

However, the replacement, at least potentially, also highlights a potential annoyance: the process of configuring a new router is not so pleasant.

In this article we will see what you need to know about reusing the old Wi-Fi line name and password.

Wi-Fi router

Why reuse the same name and password?

Historically, changing the Wi-Fi network name (SSID) and password wasn’t the absolutely daunting task it is today.

When Wi-Fi was introduced, most people only had a handful of wireless devices and peripherals available. We are talking about the first smartphones with Wi-Fi support, perhaps a laptop or at most a game console that supported this technology in the early days.

In any case, updating the password on these few devices was not such a titanic undertaking.

But the situation is now a bit different. Among all smartphones, tablets, computers, game consoles, smart TVs and a myriad of smart home devices, mass changing your name and password can be no small feat.

It’s not unusual for homes to have dozens of wireless devices, which can take a very long time for a mass replacement. In this sense, therefore, being able to keep the access data even on a new router can be useful to save time .

So it makes sense to reuse the old Wi-Fi network name and password when setting up a new router to bypass all reconfigurations.

All you need to do is follow the setup instructions for your new router, plug in the same Wi-Fi network name in the SSID slot , and set the password identical to the one you used previously with all your devices.

If you’re using the same encryption protocol as before, everything should go smoothly. If you upgrade to a better protocol (and when possible you should) some devices will simply try the SSID and password to match, while others will create problems.

This practice, therefore, can be advantageous but also hides unexpected events that should not be underestimated.

When should you not reuse your Wi-Fi credentials?

Recycling the same network name and password is, without a doubt, the simplest way to minimize the time involved in reconfiguring your home network.

Before doing so, however, consider the following situations: in fact, in some situations, this choice may not be the best.

Your old Wi-Fi network name was common or easy to guess

If you don’t have many neighbors the fact that your Wi-Fi network name has a common name or not is not something you should worry about.

In fact, the network name can only be a problem if you have very old security protocols and if you have a weak password . If you have a device that uses fairly recent encryption, however, you shouldn’t have any particular problems in this regard.

But if you live in a densely populated apartment building, having the same SSID similar or the same as your neighbors can cause you quite a headache. So if your old SSID was something extremely common like linksys , attwifi , wireless or something anonymous, you should choose a new one.

Your Wi-Fi password is weak

Recycling the same network name isn’t a big deal, but doing it with a short, weak password is a big mistake. Weak passwords always pose a security risk and if your password is less than 12 characters or contains personal and / or easy-to-guess information, you should still change it.

The recommendations, in this sense, are the same to be implemented for any type of password. In addition to the number of characters , it alternates lowercase and uppercase , uses special characters and numbers . This will make your password difficult to find and make your network more secure.

Beware of outdated encryption

If your new router supports better encryption protocols than your old router, now is the time to upgrade your security and change your network settings.

While WPA2 encryption is better than WPA (and both are certainly better than the ancient WEP encryption protocol ), WPA3 is increasingly common on newer routers and you should use it if it’s available on your device.

Also from this point of view, it can be a good idea to at least change your SSID and update your password when you switch to WPA3 to force all your devices to start over with the new network credentials.

You didn’t have a guest network with the previous router

If you hadn’t previously used a guest network for people visiting your home who needed Wi-Fi access, but instead gave them direct access to the primary Wi-Fi network , you might want to consider using this as an opportunity to upgrade your Wi-Fi.

The vast majority of modern routers support guest networks, so now is the perfect time to select a new name / password for the main network and to set up a guest network with different logins for future use. When setting up your guest network, be sure to use the above directives to secure your password again.

If you have any security concerns or if you have few wireless devices connected to the Wi-Fi network, regardless of everything, the advice is to make an effort and update the data. This way you will be much more secure than your network security.