How to Give Your Old T-Mobile Router New Features
Buying a router in 2018 means you have a variety of options to choose from. High performance gaming routers, mesh routers, and Powerline networking devices are quite expensive or designed for specific use cases. However, if you are like me, you already have a fairly capable router, courtesy of T-Mobile. The company’s CellSpot router, branded Asus RT-AC68U, is available either from T-Mobile itself or from various device resellers. It is cheap and popular, but uses outdated networking software compared to its RT-AC68U cousin. The good news is that you can change this software yourself thanks to this guide from Alexander Oreshkin of Bay Area Tech Pros, which walks you through the firmware update process for your Cellspot router. This will void your warranty, but if you have a cheap refurbished Cellspot router, you probably don’t care.
You will need to download the WinSCP and Putty apps along with the file archiver (you can also use this link to download all three at once ). From there, download the appropriate firmware for your Cellspot router and proceed to download. The firmware update will install the latest Asus firmware and bring you some new networking features, including support for mesh networking and Asus apps.
Before you start unplugging your devices, tidy up your tools so that your location doesn’t get in the way of a hacked router. You will need an extra Ethernet cable and a pin, paper clip, or other pointed and thin object that you can use to press the Cellspot router’s reset button.
Why flash a router?
Flashing a router like T-Mobile’s Cellspot router is a great idea for several reasons. With Asus firmware instead of T-Mobile, you will be running the latest operating system compatible with your router. This means that you will be able to use Asus’s own smartphone app, which allows you to control the router from your phone using a simpler interface than the web interface. Updating your Cellspot Router with Asus Firmware also includes the company’s latest networking feature: AiMesh, a mesh networking software that works with existing Asus devices to increase your home coverage with your existing hardware. You can set it up using the Asus app and following the onscreen instructions.