If you're still running 802.11g, please make damn sure you've turned down the transmit power as much as possible. It's a big waste of airtime compared to 802.11n, so please do everything you can to make sure your low-speed broadcasts aren't getting in the way of other wireless networks that have to share the 2.4GHz band with you.

How is the security patch situation with that router, though? One reason a router upgrade is necessary so soon is just that the manufacturer abandoned it that soon. And then you're part of a botnet before you know it.

The latest Airport Extreme was released June 2013 and the most recent firmware update for it was Dec 20 2016. That's a longer lifespan than most consumer routers, and I expect the Airport will continue getting firmware updates for quite a while.

I just finally got an AirPort Extreme like a year ago, it's a fantastic router. What new features am I missing out on?

The old airport utility for example could send the syslogs to a remote server, set the level of information to be logged and configure SNMP.

It's not a matter of 2-3 years. That product dates from 2004. It's very very very old. He's talking about the original Airport Express.

>Is it really reasonable to expect users to buy a new router every 2-3 years?

For the affluent Apple's end of the market, yes.