Should I switch off my modem?

momum

Use BTInternet homehub and switch it (and computer) off every night. My question is - should I leave it on at all times? Also should I switch off computer?

Thanks

z3phyr04

The computer is your decision - obviously if it's not doing anything there's probably no point wasting energy and money keeping it powered overnight. I personally keep mine on 24/7 but have a use for doing so. Perhaps if you prefer, you could put the PC on standby when it isn't used after a certain amount of time so it wakes up quicker whenever you do return to it. Of course it depends on your usage etc.

Routers such as the BT Home Hub I always prefer to keep on and synchronized with the local exchange, if it gets turned off and on regularly speeds could fluctuate for a variety of factors and a stable, always on connection is the idea behind ADSL after the dial up days.

momum

Thanks for your information. Work 12 hour shifts so tend to switch lots of things off when going out.
Don't know why I thought about router, must have read something, somewhere, that made me start thinking about connection etc.
Will leave it on and see if I can notice any difference in speeds

Again, Thanks

ruthber

I have been told by Bt Engineer to always leave the router on. we switched it off for our holidays and when we came back it did not work anymore.

z3phyr04

Well to give you an idea although I am with another provider (Sky) and happen to be lucky enough to recieve very good speeds from my connection I started out on 15Mb after the first week. It's months later now and it has steadily risen every so often when the router resyncs on it's own that I now sync at 20Mb every time it does so. Of course it really does depend on your line, I can't stress that to people enough. The thing is a lot of people forget the whole 'upto' word. If a line appears stable and connected as it's designed to be, things should run at their optimum for the length of the line providing there aren't any problems on the line or with the provider etc.

momum

Do you know how I can check speed?
When I had dial up I could check by putting cursor over icon but don't know what to do with BT

donnajunkie

i always turn off my pc and the virgin media modem when they are not being used.

z3phyr04

I think on the Home Hub you need to put the below into your browser's address bar. It will usually ask for a username and password, these are usually written on a label underneath the Hub.
http://bthomehub.home

Somebody with a Hub should hopefully be along soon to tell you where the sync speed is listed at (I don't know anybody on BT sorry).

LeeSouthEast

Doesn't matter much for cable modems. ADSL is quite sensitive to being turned on/off/on/off.

closed

You don't need to leave it on, it's a waste of electricity (not much, 60p/month maybe, but still a waste), if you're using wep a slight security risk, the speed will sync depending on the line conditions at the time.

z3phyr04

For longer periods such as if you go on holiday or if you're not planning on using it for some days but switching it on and off every day is pointless. They barely use any electricity.