Routers - leave on or turn off ?

arclight

arclight

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Should a router (ADSL) be left on when the PC is turned off or should the router be left powered up ?
Or does it make no difference ?
 
On

It keeps the line more stable iirc.

Why turn it off?
 
On. If a relearning is triggered on the line, you could end up with massively lower speeds as the equipment keeps automatically lowering line speeds to keep the line stable.
 
Never made the slightest difference to me, switched on and off, with the PC, several times a day for many years.

Strangely enough my old router went on the blink recently.

I had left it on night and day, after getting an ipad in July.
 
Generally I have been leaving it on from morning to evening, but turning it off for the remainder of the time. Did not actually know if it made any difference, but I'll try leaving it on now.

Cheers, folks.
 
On all the time. :-)
 
24/7 here.
 
It seems an appalling waste of energy top leave it powered up overnight, but many isps recommend you do leave it "always on" for the reasons already mentioned in this thread
 
arad85 said:
On. If a relearning is triggered on the line, you could end up with massively lower speeds as the equipment keeps automatically lowering line speeds to keep the line stable.
Click to expand...

Curiously, if I reboot the router it initially syncs at a higher speed before training down to something about 1Mbps slower over the next few hours.

Maybe this is a Be thing, or a consequence of Annex M or just something unexplained.
 
Organnyx said:
It seems an appalling waste of energy top leave it powered up overnight,
Click to expand...
It'll only be a few watts.

Having said that, it is probably minuscule compared to the 2 x 16 port routers, 1 x 8 port router, 2x homeplugs, small PBX, separate wireless router and 7 PCs together with 3 UPSs that are on 24/7 here :eek: ;) :D
 
onomatopoeia said:
Curiously, if I reboot the router it initially syncs at a higher speed before training down to something about 1Mbps slower over the next few hours.

Maybe this is a Be thing, or a consequence of Annex M or just something unexplained.
Click to expand...
Does it train down or does it disconnect/reconnect. I used to have terrible trouble with my ADSL connection (you might like to look into RouterStats if you have the standard Be modem BTW) and used to reboot it automatically if the speed fell.
 
Dale_d3100 said:
On

It keeps the line more stable iirc.

Why turn it off?
Click to expand...

To answer your question, Dale. Just really part of general fire safety routine, i.e. it is good practice to have as many appliances as possible turned off during sleeping hours and when the house is unoccupied.
 
Just because no one is in the house, doesn't mean the computers aren't doing stuff ;)
 
Dale_d3100 said:
Just because no one is in the house, doesn't mean the computers aren't doing stuff ;)
Click to expand...
Or asleep.... It's when the backup pixies are spreading their magic dust ;)
 
Any electronic device is going to be happier left on all the time, the switch on - heat up / off - cool down cycle does shorten component life. I think I've had this router for three years or more and during that time apart from the odd reset it's been on and connected constantly.
 
arclight said:
Generally I have been leaving it on from morning to evening, but turning it off for the remainder of the time. Did not actually know if it made any difference, but I'll try leaving it on now.

Cheers, folks.
Click to expand...

Hopefully you can come back and tell us of any differences you notice, or not:)
 
Steep said:
Any electronic device is going to be happier left on all the time, the switch on - heat up / off - cool down cycle does shorten component life. I think I've had this router for three years or more and during that time apart from the odd reset it's been on and connected constantly.
Click to expand...

Mines was back to early Tiscali times, on and off umpteen times a day without a problem.

Expired in November after being left on since July:'(
 
some of our remote sites used to have a habit of powering off and on again more times than i care to think about if they ever had the slightest hint of an internet issue, a fairly common occurrence was the router dropping its firmware.
 
I never even considered not leaving it on all the time :thinking:

So you want me to switch it off at night? Who's going to go downstairs and switch it on in the morning so I can catch up with emails, news and cricket, on the ipad in bed?
 
Mikesphotaes said:
Hopefully you can come back and tell us of any differences you notice, or not:)
Click to expand...

Left in on all last night. Never noticed any difference.

The base of the router (Netgear) has always been slightly warm to the touch and it did not get any warmer through being left on overnight.
 
Just been reading the Virgin webpage on broadband routers. Says it is designed to be an "always on" internet connection so that once the PC is switched on it has internet access.

Be getting left on 24/7 now.
 
arad85 said:
Does it train down or does it disconnect/reconnect. I used to have terrible trouble with my ADSL connection (you might like to look into RouterStats if you have the standard Be modem BTW) and used to reboot it automatically if the speed fell.
Click to expand...

It trains down, definitely does not disconnect and reconnect. I'm with A&A over a Be LLU connection on my BT line, so have the Zyxel modem that A&A supply.
 
IPv4 subnet, I have a /28 (and am running out of addresses). NAT is anathema in my home.
Also I don't like traffic shaping, port blocking, proxying and censorship. Nor do they, whereas at least 95% of UK ISPs censor the internet and many muck around with your traffic (try relaying your own mail on a lot of "consumer grade" ISPs, for example).

It costs me £40/month. I don't consider that expensive.
 
onomatopoeia said:
IPv4 subnet, I have a /28 (and am running out of addresses). NAT is anathema in my home.
Also I don't like traffic shaping, port blocking, proxying and censorship. Nor do they, whereas at least 95% of UK ISPs censor the internet and many muck around with your traffic (try relaying your own mail on a lot of "consumer grade" ISPs, for example).

It costs me £40/month. I don't consider that expensive.
Click to expand...
I'm with Clara.Net (have a block of 8 IPs which I've not started using) and on an unmanaged 80/20 connection (I pay more than you though at £55 - again, I don't consider that expensive). All the A&A are metered usage plans as far as I can see - I hate that. I'm just uploading my first online backup - the router has been on 11 days - 540GBytes up, 90GBytes down. I'm reckoning on being close to moving 1TB this month.... As far as I can see, that would cost me £megaloads.....
 
Yep, it would, although it depends whether your downloads are daytime or off peak (upload is not metered). The most I've ever moved in a month was 100GB down, of which ~97GB was off peak. Still fell within my useage allowance as my peak useage is low.

They work on the basis that they pay per byte for transit, so that's how they charge. It suits me as my download usage is outside of office hours when the cost is high, it won't suit you - life would be boring if we were all the same though.
 
Ahh.. download only and outside office hours - makes more sense - but yes, unlimited (I was with Be before Clara) is #1 on my priority list...
 
I leave mine on (bt home hub) but it does have a power save option for wireless

BT Power Save

You can save energy when you are not using your wireless network, for example, when you are asleep.

When Power Save Mode is enabled, your wireless network will be switched off. Computers and devices using wireless to access the internet or your home network will not be connected during the times you choose below. Devices connected by cable to your BT Home Hub will keep working.
 
I turn mine off every night since during the weekdays, I don't use it for 18 hours each day when I'm at work. I'm saving 90 hours worth of electricity per week. I've not had any issues with dropping of the connection.
 
I used to turn mine off but after a spell of ever decreasing download speeds I discovered that BT were regarding the switch offs as disconnections and accordingly increasing the line attenuation and noise settings. Result a drop in connection speed to less than 1 Mbps. After leaving it switched on, getting BT to reset the line and a period of training I have now had a download speed of around 8 Mbps for the last 18 months. Using a program to view WiFi signals I can see that my connection speed is much higher than that of my neighbour who I can also see switches his router off when he is not using it.
 
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