Hi,

I need avice about my router.

Is it best to leave it switched on all the time, or, switch it on when I want to go on the WWW and then off when I finish ?


I've heard that "electronic shock" when repeatedly switching routers on and off can cause damage eventually.


Regards, Michael

aka rockape

@rockape

I don't think mine even has an off switch. It has been on for years so my wired and wireless networks can be available to all my devices and all users in my home.

@rockape

Mine is on 24/7.

@mbrantley

Quote:

It has been on for years so my wired and wireless networks can be available to all my devices and all users in my home.

Same here. Well - it goes off when there is a power cut.

@rockape

It's best to leave them on permanently, they are designed for this.

Always ON ! My phone also uses it so I have no choice.

Never had any problems.

Cheers

Mine's on the whole time as well - it has an NAT attached and my housemates use it from time to time. A friend of mine did write a complaint to his ISP a short while back about them cutting him off for 10 mins every day for cycling IP address reasons. They said that if he switched his modem and router off every night "like most of their customers do" then he wouldn't have that problem! I personally don't know anyone who ever turns theirs off...

@thread

Be sure to remove the dust on top of it and inside when you can. Chips don't like dust

Modern routers are designed to be pretty much switched on, set up and left. You will find that your router will get warm, even hot, but this is normal. As Elwood says give it a dust and make sure any vents are left exposed. Some routers are designed to stand on their side and if yours can then do so as this will help.

Constantly swicthing the router on and off can cause wear and tear issues to occure quicker. Only really switch the router off if our having issues connecting to the net and only after trying a soft reset through the routers admin page. If you constantly switch it off and you have any kind of ISP related issues they will throw the excuse of "it's your fault" at you.

If it's an ISP issued router then if you have the money consider upgrading with a better one. Something like the Linksys routers are pretty good, they are done by Cisco, as these will be better built than the cheap ones the ISP supply.

trust me I have had some crap Netgear, and chinese unbranded, routers from ISP's. I love my Linksys.

@rockape

The potential damage you're referring to is more applicable to AC devices, and even then we're talking about minor stress, the kind that has been designed around for many decades now. The only real world damage would be happening to the on/off switch mechanism. Most of them are plastic after all.

You might on the other hand be concerned about power consumption. Assuming you're paying 16p/kWh and assuming your router draws 15W, it'll cost you £21.04 per year to keep it on all the time.

If you're concerned about the environment and in particular Global Warming, assuming you're electricity is generated by burning brown coal (the worst), having the router on all the time will dump around 131kg of CO2 into the atmosphere each year. This will contribute to a rise in average global temperature of about 0.0000000000002 degrees Celsius.

@agami

Well thats depressing but mine still wont be switched off lol. Most routers are very energy efficient these days. Also some come with power saving features like a Belkin router I had that could put it's self in a standby state if it detected no net usage over a 10 min period. While a nice idea it was twichty to say the least and I ended up turning that feature off.

@CritAnime

Mines on 24/7 only goes off during thunderstorms (lost my dialup modem that way)

@broadblues

Yup I lost a V.92 the same way. Luckily there hasnt been a thunder storm for a while round my part of the world.

@rockape
They are designed to be on 24/7, so yes you should keep it on unless.
Even computers prefers to be running 24/7 though those will affect your electricity bill.
A router will hardly use any electricity at all, so absolutely no reason to switch it off.

And it is not so much the "electronic shock" that damages it but the constant temperature fluctuations.

The only time i would plug it out is during a thunderstorm. Then you might want to disconnect both power cable, network and phone if you use *dsl.

@rockape

Our router is on 24/7 as well, however, it is also provides our television connection for two TVs.

redfox

@agami

Quote:

agami wrote: @rockape The potential damage you're referring to is more applicable to AC devices, and even then we're talking about minor stress, the kind that has been designed around for many decades now. The only real world damage would be happening to the on/off switch mechanism. Most of them are plastic after all. You might on the other hand be concerned about power consumption. Assuming you're paying 16p/kWh and assuming your router draws 15W, it'll cost you £21.04 per year to keep it on all the time. If you're concerned about the environment and in particular Global Warming, assuming you're electricity is generated by burning brown coal (the worst), having the router on all the time will dump around 131kg of CO2 into the atmosphere each year. This will contribute to a rise in average global temperature of about 0.0000000000002 degrees Celsius.

Luckily that is all propaganda that is not supported by real temperature and climate data. Human caused global warming only exist in computer models and heads of corrupted scientists and politicians.

@agami

Mine is 24/7 although I agree with Agami

You may also be worried about electromagnetic waves (emitted for wireless networking), some router have advanced setting that let's you program when you want the wireless to be on/off (without switching on/off the router in itself)...

@rockape

Mine too is on 24/7

@rockape

I don't post here much at all, but having been an ADSL broadband tech support monkey this is my department...

If you're on a UK-based ADSL connection, turning the router off every day will be detected as a "dropping connection"; the system will assume your router is dropping the connection because the connection is unstable.

If your connection is unstable (or assumed as such), the systems will limit the maximum possible speed on your line because ADSL has a bias towards stability over speed.

Leave it on! It's designed for that.

(However, if it's cable/fibre, that's out of my realm!)

@rockape

Quote:

I've heard that "electronic shock" when repeatedly switching routers on and off can cause damage eventually.

Even if you switch it on/off every night your electronics is probably outdated sooner than it breaks.