Broadband wireless routers - leave them on or switch them off?

geordieracer

Leave my home hub on all the time.. no real need to turn it off.

paulwellerfan

yeah another one who leaves it on 24/7
365 days a year.

closed

Just like any other device, it only needs to be on if it's being used. The plusnet advice probably relates to the first week after the connection as their equipment gets a feel for the line speed and sets an appropriate profile

Turning it off overnight will shave a few pounds off an annual electricity bill, and may improve sync speed

GunJack

closed wrote: »

Turning it off overnight..may improve sync speed

the only time it will improve sync speed is if line/weather/daylight/time conditions are favourable when you power it up compared to when you last re-synced it, and it negotiates a better speed with the exchange DSLAM.

For anybody on an IPStream (i.e. non-LLU, through BT kit) broadband service, you should really re-sync around the middle of the day and then not turn off the router unless you really have to, or BT's Dynamic Line Management system can (and has done on many occasions) srewed their sync speed

AirCooledHeaven

esuhl wrote: »

"Watts" is the unit of power - i.e. 1 joule per second. If a device uses 10W of power, it uses 10W of power whatever the time period - you can't multiply that by 24 to get a "power per day" figure.

It's like saying that the top speed of my car is 100mph, so it's top speed is 2400mph a day. You might be able to travel a distance of 2400 miles at that top speed, but the speed of 2400mph doesn't actually refer to anything - nothing is travelling at a speed of 2400mph just like nothing is using 240W of power in your example...

If the router is using 10W, that's 10J/s or 864,000J (10 x 60 x 60 x 24) per day.

Hope that makes sense! :-)

I think penrhyn meant to say 240 watt/hours

The_Blade

I switch mine off at night. Not necessarily to save money but for safety reasons. Our router is on the 2nd floor of our home, just above the bedrooms. Is it safe to be constantly exposed to wireless signals? Some experts say not, others say there may be a risk. We are the guinea pig generation with these things. Who knows what the long term health effects of these signals are going to be?? So I'm edging my bets and switching it off between 11pm and 9am, when the family are all tucked up in bed asleep.

I use a timer switch to control this so its no hassle. ( a couple of quid from Wickes).

Alter_ego

The_Blade wrote: »

Is it safe to be constantly exposed to wireless signals?

I've been exposed to wireless signals since birth without any problems. The Light programme, Home service, later radios 1,2, 3 &4.

asbokid

esuhl wrote: »

"Watts" is the unit of power - i.e. 1 joule per second. If a device uses 10W of power, it uses 10W of power whatever the time period - you can't multiply that by 24 to get a "power per day" figure.
[...]
If the router is using 10W, that's 10J/s or 864,000J (10 x 60 x 60 x 24) per day.

Hope that makes sense! :-)

And by way of a comparison:

One food Calorie equals 4,184 joules [1]

A Big Mac (with gherkins) and Medium Fries contain 480 and 330 Calories, respectively [2]

So a Big Mac and Fries provide a total of 3,389 kiloJoules of energy.

In those 100% beef patties with lettuce, onions, pickles, cheese and the unbeatable Big Mac sauce, all in a sesame seed bun, coupled with those famous French Fries - fluffy on the inside, golden brown and crispy on the outside -- there is enough energy to power Penryn's router for 3 days 22 hours and 8 minutes.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie
[2] http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/food/beef/big-mac.mcdj

RobertoMoir

The_Blade wrote: »

Is it safe to be constantly exposed to wireless signals? Some experts say not, others say there may be a risk. We are the guinea pig generation with these things. Who knows what the long term health effects of these signals are going to be??

Wireless signals. In other words, radio waves.

How long term do you mean when you talk "long term health effects" because radio and TV have been pumping these signals out for quite a while now.

MarkBargain

BunShopBandit wrote: »

That said, there is a train of thought that switching one off regularly can appear to the provider equipment as a fault condition. It's a bit of a mix between an old wives tale and advice offered during the initial 10 or so day training period on rate adaptive _dsl services. In normal conditions where your broadband is mostly stable (speeds not up and down like a hookers pants) then switching it off at night should not be an issue.

Yes, there seems to be about a 50/50 split between those who switch off and those who don't, and I can't believe ISPs are sitting there thinking half of their customers have fault conditions.