Is it OK to turn off my wireless router to save electricity?

jap200

I have a Netgear 108Mbps Wireless ADSL Router.

As a family, we are trying to save money (and do our bit for the environment) by turning off all our appliances at the power point where possible.

My question is - is it a good idea, or not, to switch the router off at the wall when we turn off the computer, or is there some reason that it would be better to leave it switched on. Also, would it save much electricity?

A recent visit from our local Fire Safety Officer also highlighted the importance of turning off as many appliances as possible at the mains overnight as electrical faults are the most common source of night-time fires in the home.

Thanks in advance for helping me answer this.

timm_2

It's fine to turn it off, but bear in mind it might take two or three minutes to re-initialise itself and to sync the ADSL signal.

The power saved will be minimal, but I suppose every bit helps!

yelac21271

what is the power comsumption of the router and how much do you pay per KW/h, if you tell me these I cxan work out for you how much it is costing you

skiddy2k

better to turn off router when not in use in my opinion... prevents overheateing and possible damadge, changes IP address (if you have a dynamic one) if you need to change it frequently and reduces risk of a neighbour cracking into your wireless because the router wont be on all the time.
i usualy turn mine off when not in use

GreenNotM

Yes it is okay to turn the wireless router off, besides saving a lil electricity - as said above it will stop "neighbours" borrowing your connection and it will also lessen the risk of your router being comprimised via the internet port (adsl)

As you, mentioned turn your pc off from the wall not just the PC's power switch, as the PC's PSU will still be live and powering the USB devices etc

jnd

ts_aly2000 wrote:

Erm, your router should already be WEP enabled as a minimum and also have SSID broadcasts turned off. If you're not already doing this then you're quite quite mad.

Not broadcasting the SSID (which should be changed from the factory default) doesn't prevent a sniffer from obtaining it entirely. When your wireless device connects to it, the connection is sent in plain text which a sniffer can pick up.

jap200

ts_aly2000 wrote:

Erm, your router should already be WEP enabled as a minimum and also have SSID broadcasts turned off. If you're not already doing this then you're quite quite mad. Also your ADSL-side router should be locked down and properly configured via a telnet session to stealth it to the outside world.

Anyone who has an open network needs to deal with it before wasting £££ on yet another gizmo to spend hours trying to install until it sort-of-works, much like the router.

Sorry - this is another language to me. I am a Medical Writer, and can happily converse in technical language about nasty diseases, but don't undertand this sort of 'computer techi- speak'. I guess you are referring to firewalls and other security issues here.