Turn Router off when not in use or Not?

Shrimply

joe134 wrote: »

Shake a bit more then. My three grandchildren, and children all leave everything switched on whether or not they are using it. I am constantly going round turning off. Kids today are not bothered about consumption, until they have to pay themselves.If this planet relies on our children and their childrens children then we are in trouble.I am an old miser for trying to teach mine to be economical, their world does not have OFF switches on anything.the only off the kids today know is after another word;That,s my rant for the day;Global warming my ****.No such thing."MONEY"MONEY MONEY"makes the world go round.PS. I leave my "ROUTER" on. King Herod had the right idea;

I think in general the younger generation do tend to care more, this generation is better taught about environmental issues which are better understood. Coupled with the fact that future generations are rapidly becoming their generation and their children's.

The only real way that we will save mankind and allow this planet to remain unchanged is sadly only going to happen if people do not have to in anyway change their life style. And that is only going to be possible is if Politicians start listening to Scientists instead of expecting it to be the other way around and if the big energy and oil companies stop thinking about how they are going to make money today and start worrying about how to make money in the future.

For just now I personally feel that anything we can do to extend the time for solutions to become available is worth while.

"No man has made a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he can do so little" - Edmund Burke

joe134

Shrimply wrote: »

I think in general the younger generation do tend to care more, this generation is better taught about environmental issues which are better understood. Coupled with the fact that future generations are rapidly becoming their generation and their children's.

The only real way that we will save mankind and allow this planet to remain unchanged is sadly only going to happen if people do not have to in anyway change their life style. And that is only going to be possible is if Politicians start listening to Scientists instead of expecting it to be the other way around and if the big energy and oil companies stop thinking about how they are going to make money today and start worrying about how to make money in the future.

For just now I personally feel that anything we can do to extend the time for solutions to become available is worth while.

"No man has made a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he can do so little" - Edmund Burke

Why save this one as I seem to live on a totally different one than yourself, perhaps I will join yours.utopia; Kids are the closest thing to a human being you will ever get;"We,re doomed"-Jock, Dads army. I remember when you went to a doctor for an anti-virus, not McAafee et al. How times change. I wish you well.

Shrimply

OK this is my last post, I only started reading this thread as the question interested me, but found myself further disheartened by some of the comments.

I don't live in a different world, I live in a very real one where the future of humans looks bleak. But if we don't have hope then there is nothing

Utopia suggests an impossible dream, a world where every human touches the planet lightly is not. The planet is crying out to help us, the carbon sink has increased. And the technology is there and improving. And most importantly there is money to be made from it and that means that if the right people do the right things then the human race my not die out in the next few hundred years.

And if the people who are going to be in the positions of power truly understand the risks then we can only hope that they will succeed where others are currently failing.

For just now all I can do is hope that I do the right things in the small part I play.

Leopard

lil306

Lil306 wrote: »

Possibly patronising, but it depends on how you view it, I consider myself to be a "normal home user" when it comes to my internet connection, you have to remember whilst some normal home users are becoming more savvy in IT, the majority of them are still just getting to grips with the basics. So they need something as easy as possible to get them an internet connection

I wouldn't want to go through the hassle of buying multiple pieces of equipment and building an extensive network (like yourself) merely for an internet connection. I want something I can plug in, enter a couple of settings (or better still sets itself up) and I've got internet connection.

The more viable solution in my opinion as a home user, is buying a piece of kit that gives you internet, wireless, networking and firewall all in one.

To get the setup similar to yours, you'd need 2-3 pieces of equipment to do the same job whilst being more expensive in outlay and a lot harder for someone to setup with no technical experience whatsoever.

I'm not stating your setup is rubbish, it's far from it, it's an excellent setup for IT experts who want full control of their equipment. However, I feel it's out of place for what I class as a "normal" home user (this including myself) because as stated above, they want something simple which works and requires next to no configuration. At some stage I'm looking into redesigning my own in house setup by patch panels and structured wiring but that's another story entirely :cool:

I'm not going to comment on Windows, I don't want to open up a debate on Windows or Apple from my point of view only I consider them trouble free but that's just me...

Alarm bells always begin to ring when people start talking about "normal home consumers" or "normal computer users" or "normal car owners" or "normal ....s" in general.

All too soon it can graduate to embrace things like "normal members of the Hitler Youth".

Because when people start referring to "normal", both in terms of behaviour and in affinity groups, what they usually mean is people like themselves. That, by definition, then leads them to regard people who aren't like themselves as "abnormal". And we all know what that can lead to.

There's a subtle, but very important, difference between the words "normal" and "conventional". Because the opposites of them are "unconventional" and "abnormal"; and "abnormal" is a word that carries overtones.

Enough of semantics.

I should, however, make it clear – given what you wrote – that I've never worked in IT. Perish the thought! My "areas of expertise" as you put it in one of your own threads, lie in disciplines well beyond the scope of the "Techie" sub-forum: I come here for recreation; to learn things and to help other people, when possible, by passing on things I've learned myself.

What I have done is use IT, both for work and for leisure purposes, for over 25 years. I'm totally self-taught in modern technology. I have no "IT Department" or "System Supervisor" from whom to seek advice and upon whom to fall back. When I want, and have wanted, to know how to do something or to fix something in IT, I have, and have had to, research it myself and do it myself. That makes my knowledge of IT specific only to aspects of it of which I have personal experience, rather than embracing a broad spectrum of IT in which I have been educated generally.

But at least it means that when I give advice it's usually sound, because I've actually done it myself and found out how to make it work. From me you don't get theoretical solutions, you get personal experience.

So, when I was confronted with the task of having to install a satisfactory computer network in a large domestic property, I had to work out for myself how best to do it. What I'd read and learned in the "Techie" sub-forum of MSE gave me a lot of pointers and advice, but, really, I just had to knuckle down and research it myself. The thing that helped me most, as so often in the past, was the commitment of Apple to make things simple for people with no backgrounding in the complexities of IT but with an intelligent mind and a reasonable education.

Most of all, in this particular endeavour, I found the document here provided me with what I needed to know – clearly and cogently explained.

So much for complex installations: let's get back to basics. What sort of premises does your "normal home consumer" live in? A house? A bungalow? A flat? If it's a house, how many floors has it got? Does it have out-buildings? A conservatory? How many rooms has it got? And how are they laid out? Is it open plan? Is it L-shaped? Are the internal walls made of brick or wood or stone?

All of those affect the kit you need to buy, to install and to configure in order to make your home network function properly and, in addition, to get a usable wireless signal and Internet access on a laptop wherever you want to use it.

Perhaps you, yourself, live in a premises wherein a single wireless modem/router can supply all your own and your family's networking and Internet needs for a Windows PC and laptop. And you call that being a "normal home consumer". And you call anything other than that "abnormal".

But it isn't, for very many people. They need a different solution if they're to get things to work. And that may indeed involve using several bits of kit, carefully selected and configured to work together harmoniously.

Most of all, you still haven't taken on board that those who buy Apple laptops would, typically, want to use it with an Apple Airport Extreme and/or an Apple Time Capsule wireless router. Those don't have a built-in modem; so, unless they're on cable, they will need to use more than one piece of equipment – namely a simple, standalone ADSL+ modem, such as a Draytek 100 (or 110 or 120). Expensive, you say. No. I bought a Draytek 100, brand new, on eBay, for £16, last year.

So, please stop assuming that all everyone needs is just a single piece of kit because they are a "normal home consumer". Look beyond your own personal domestic setup and recognise that it isn't sufficient for a great many other people who certainly don't regard themselves as "abnormal" purely because they don't live in the same type of premises as you do.



I'd like to thank you for the courtesy and friendliness with which you have (thus far!) presented your disputation of my expressed views and comments. It's all too uncommon on here (as you well know). I appreciate it and I respect you for it

Lil306

Leopard wrote: »

Alarm bells always begin to ring when people start talking about "normal home consumers" or "normal computer users" or "normal car owners" or "normal ....s" in general.

Stop psychoanalising (I think that's the word) everything I say then and assume because I'm saying "normal" that I have other intentions or regard everyone else as "abnormal" and alarm bells won't ring.... I don't regard people who use Linux or Apple as abnormal I just won't help them because I don't have knowledge in those Operating Systems.

Leopard wrote: »

Perhaps you, yourself, live in a premises wherein a single wireless modem/router can supply all your own and your family's networking and Internet needs for a Windows PC and laptop. And you call that being a "normal home consumer". And you call anything other than that "abnormal".

Yes, I do live in a small premises so a modem/router covers my needs.
Given that Windows is the most popular used operating system in the world, it's safe to assume the majority of posts here use Windows as an operating system. So any advice given can be related to Windows technologies. I also tend to find however that people who use equipment like Apples usually mention it in their first post, or it appears quite early on in the thread.

If I made a poll right now, I could make a fairly educated guess that the majority of users would put Windows down as their O/S that they use if they could only choose one.

We have to remember, this post was about a router if it could be switched on or off, and the subject seems to be broadening more and more every post made

Leopard wrote: »

So, please stop assuming that all everyone needs is just a single piece of kit because they are a "normal home consumer". Look beyond your own personal domestic setup and recognise that it isn't sufficient for a great many other people who certainly don't regard themselves as "abnormal" purely because they don't live in the same type of premises as you do.

I said nothing about abnormal,,, that's you again

As my above post, given the chance the user has Windows.... it's obviously different if they're using an Apple (which I doubt)

Wireless N technology provides up to 300ft of Wireless connection can't remember exactly how much off hand without interference.... obviously most buildings will provide interference however you can increase signal strength or get further access in the house without using more extensive setups by merely adding signal repeaters, additional receivers or one of the newer powerline adapters

....
At the end of the day, the advice I give on this forum is basically that..... advice....

It's free and only to be used as a source of information nothing more. The OP's are the ones who make the decision

Generally speaking if I know the O/S is Windows and it's on Networking I'll make a comment, if it's something specific on networking I'll have a look but most likely won't reply because my knowledge is focussed on O/S and Applications as opposed to specialist networking (such as using Cisco or VOIP setups)

As mentioned above I won't comment on Apple or Linux posts because I have absolutely no clue on the O/S but I'll most likely have a look to increase my knowledge.....

I'm going to try and reduce my quotes, this post is getting longer by the minute

Leopard

There's no psychoanalysis going on here: at least, none by me.

By simple definition, the opposite of "normal" is "abnormal"; that's in any dictionary. If something isn't normal, it's abnormal. So, if a home consumer is not a "normal" one, they are, by definition, abnormal. Not my fault; it was you who brought the word "normal" into this.


Like you, I don't want to spark off yet another Windows versus Mac OS row.

But I do want to make the point that wireless Internet is predominantly the realm of mobile devices – such as laptops – rather than desktops.

And that's relevant because Apple commands, increasingly, a much higher share of the laptop market than it does of the desktop market.

(In part, that's because the only desktop computer in Apple's range, between the dinky little Mac mini and the full-blooded Mac Pro, is the mirror-screened iMac which requires you to bin an otherwise perfectly good monitor when its computer component becomes obsolete or fails.)

What this means is that although Windows may be hugely predominant as an operating system in the total market for computers, Apple's share of the laptop market (particularly the privately-purchased, personal laptop market) is notably greater than its share of the overall computer market.

And what that means is that Apple sector of the market for domestic wireless Internet is a lot higher than your "educated guess" assumes. Everywhere you look, these days, (even on television news stories) you see people using laptops with an illuminated Apple logo on their lids.

It's also true that most Mac users don't feel guilty about it at all, let alone sufficiently guilty about it to have to declare it to the Windows bigots on MSE – early in the thread or otherwise.

If, moreover, you've spent £1,500 of your own money on your own Apple laptop, you aren't making the statement that your operating system of choice is Windows.

Yes, this thread has indeed broadened to embrace wider issues than the one nominated at its outset.

So, I'll drag it back to that by commenting that my Draytek 100 ADSL+ standalone modem has an on/off switch on it.


PS. Look! No quotes! The planet will be very relieved.

Lil306

All good and valid points made,

I'll not make a debate over it since we've both made our points and quite frankly I'm watching TV don't want to keep typing more and more replies I'll take note

Leopard

Remember to switch that off, when you've finished watching it!

Lil306

Leopard wrote: »

Remember to switch that off, when you've finished watching it!

Oops

I'm getting better, I have a 4 way wall plug with individual switches

Only thing that I leave on a lot is the PC, it's running BOINC to help find a cure for cancer etc.... using all the electricity in a good way imo

fermi

Never normally turn mine off. Never caused a problem.