should i switch wifi box off every night

savingjenny

I always switch the wifi box off every night and switch it on when I want it next. Most days but sometimes it isn't switched on for a few days.

My son has just said that I don't need to do do this any more as it uses very little electricity and it is better to leave the line 'open' all the time.

Is he right? I use BT for the internet if that makes a difference.

Robisere

If you switch it off, when switched on again, the router will Reset and your download and upload speeds will go through the process of resetting, which means that every time you do this, that happens. Leave it on permanently and it balances out to stable speeds. The router uses very little power when left on, but uses relatively more to reset, observe the flashing lights when restarted.

There is a technical explanation for this, but I have put it into the simplest explanation, not being patronising but I sense you are not tech-savvy.

macman

If you switch it off, it has to resynch every time you switch it on, so your speed will suffer. The power your router uses is tiny, just a few watts.

savingjenny

ok so son is right he will be chuffed to know and laugh that I checked up on his advice. Thank you both, have a good weekend

JJ_Egan

I turn WiFi router off but leave fibre modem on .
That is as they are separate with a fibre connection .
Turning off previous ADSL combined router modem overnight never ever made any difference to sync once the 10 days training was finished .On multiple ISPs and over many years that was .

WTFH

If it's to save money, let's look at the cost...
A router uses around 0.5W when running.
Electricity costs around 15p per kWh.
So, running the router for 2000 hours costs 15pence. Over the course of a year your router will cost you 65.7 pence in electricity, if left on all the time.

Let's say you switch it off for 8 hours a day, that reduces your annual cost to 44 pence. Except it doesn't, because the router uses more power in the boot up process.

So, switching it off every night probably saves you 15 pence a year. Dew itching off other things (or wearing a jumper instead of putting the central heating on for 20 minutes) will save you more money.

AHAR

WTFH wrote: »

A router uses around 0.5W when running.

Could you give an example of a router that achieves this? My power meter shows mine at 4 Watts most of the time.

WTFH wrote: »

Except it doesn't, because the router uses more power in the boot up process.

What's your source for this? Mine showed lower power consumption during start-up - 2 or 3 Watts. I suspect because the radio isn't active at this stage.

I used to have a habit of turning my old router off when I turned in for the night but that one used about double the power of my current one. The sync speed was never affected by turning it off every day. It could remain off during weekdays whilst I was at work which increased the admittedly small savings.
The main reason I leave the current one always on nowadays is that I now have a computer that can boot faster than the router and I don't want to have to wait for it.

brewerdave

My new ADSL router/modem has a button for the wireless -if I remember I just switch that off at night -more than halves the power consumption and it definitely remains cooler which will hopefully extend its life.

yangptangkipperbang

AHAR wrote: »

Could you give an example of a router that achieves this? My power meter shows mine at 4 Watts most of the time.
What's your source for this? Mine showed lower power consumption during start-up - 2 or 3 Watts. I suspect because the radio isn't active at this stage.

I do hope you have a very sophisticated (and expensive) "power meter" - if you have a bog standard domestic one they are useless when reading small (less than 100W-ish) amounts of power - they are little more than random number generating machines. If you are measuring a figure as low as 4W your meter will be heavily influenced by stray magnetic fields which would probably swamp what you are trying to measure.

If I wanted a power meter, I would buy one made by Fluke - prices are well into 4 figures - some 5 figures !

CC-Warrior

savingjenny wrote: »

I always switch the wifi box off every night and switch it on when I want it next. Most days but sometimes it isn't switched on for a few days.

My son has just said that I don't need to do do this any more as it uses very little electricity and it is better to leave the line 'open' all the time.

Is he right? I use BT for the internet if that makes a difference.

I also think that it's better to leave it on, if the router is supplied by Virgin, Sky etc then it should be replaced free of charge if develops a fault. I don't think you'll save much by turning it off, maybe the ISP/manufacturer can give you more information on running costs.

kwikbreaks

Most wireless routers use about 10w. That equates very roughly to £10pa running costs.