Can Routers Be Switched Off When Not In Use ?

I am on dialup paying £10 a month. Sky would like me to have their base plan
at no cost, although with a hefty connection fee.

I have no experience of broadband, routers etc apart from what I have read
on this forum

I use the Internet for 5 hours max a day and wouldn't want a router
connected when not required. Would there be problems with this ?

M

>I am on dialup paying £10 a month. Sky would like me to have their base
>plan
> at no cost, although with a hefty connection fee.
>
> I have no experience of broadband, routers etc apart from what I have read
> on this forum
>
> I use the Internet for 5 hours max a day and wouldn't want a router
> connected when not required. Would there be problems with this ?

Your usage pattern will likely change when you get broadband,
for one thing you wont be concerned that your internet is tying
up your phone line.
Routers are best kept on 24/7 especially with rate-adaptive
(up to 8 Mbs) products because of the continuous way
the line conditions are monitored and optimised. That said
if you must unplug the router a couple of times a day
you will be in exactly the same position as the many users that
use a USB modem that loses power when the host computer
is closed down.

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

Graham. wrote:
>> I am on dialup paying £10 a month. Sky would like me to have their base
>> plan
>> at no cost, although with a hefty connection fee.
>>
>> I have no experience of broadband, routers etc apart from what I have read
>> on this forum
>>
>> I use the Internet for 5 hours max a day and wouldn't want a router
>> connected when not required. Would there be problems with this ?
>
> Your usage pattern will likely change when you get broadband,
> for one thing you wont be concerned that your internet is tying
> up your phone line.
> Routers are best kept on 24/7 especially with rate-adaptive
> (up to 8 Mbs) products because of the continuous way
> the line conditions are monitored and optimised. That said
> if you must unplug the router a couple of times a day
> you will be in exactly the same position as the many users that
> use a USB modem that loses power when the host computer
> is closed down.
>

If you take the 2Mb/s base service then there should not be a problem
(with the service) if you switch the router off. That's the way I work
as it's not rate adaptive AFAIK - I always get 2Mb/s with a relatively
poor 63.9dB attenuation and 13dB SNR on a LLU exchange.

--
PeeGee

"Nothing should be able to load itself onto a computer without the
knowledge or consent of the computer user. Software should also be able
to be removed from a computer easily."
Peter Cullen, Microsoft Chief Privacy Strategist (Computing 18 Aug 05)

Michael wrote:

> I am on dialup paying £10 a month. Sky would like me to have their base plan
> at no cost, although with a hefty connection fee.
>
> I have no experience of broadband, routers etc apart from what I have read
> on this forum
>
> I use the Internet for 5 hours max a day and wouldn't want a router
> connected when not required. Would there be problems with this ?

Not as such but you might want to leave it on 24/7 for the fist 2 weeks so it
and the exchange equipment 'learn' your line quality or your speed may be
restricted. Most people leave them on though. Note that wireless routers consume
more power.

Graham

Michael wrote:
> I am on dialup paying £10 a month. Sky would like me to have their base plan
> at no cost, although with a hefty connection fee.
>
> I have no experience of broadband, routers etc apart from what I have read
> on this forum
>
> I use the Internet for 5 hours max a day and wouldn't want a router
> connected when not required. Would there be problems with this ?
>
> M
>
>
Not really, no.

Graham. wrote:
>> I am on dialup paying £10 a month. Sky would like me to have their base
>> plan
>> at no cost, although with a hefty connection fee.
>>
>> I have no experience of broadband, routers etc apart from what I have read
>> on this forum
>>
>> I use the Internet for 5 hours max a day and wouldn't want a router
>> connected when not required. Would there be problems with this ?
>
> Your usage pattern will likely change when you get broadband,
> for one thing you wont be concerned that your internet is tying
> up your phone line.
> Routers are best kept on 24/7 especially with rate-adaptive
> (up to 8 Mbs) products because of the continuous way
> the line conditions are monitored and optimised. That said
> if you must unplug the router a couple of times a day
> you will be in exactly the same position as the many users that
> use a USB modem that loses power when the host computer
> is closed down.
>
The only problems i get on rebooting, is a period of instability when
the thing connects a bit faster than normal, and takes time to resynch
back to a more stable setting.

On 17 Sep, 10:13, "Retired" wrote:

>I switch my modem router off each night, no problems - it takes no longer
>than the computer to boot up.
>In fact if I leave it on, I often seem to have problems in getting a
>connection the next day and am forced to switch it off to make it reboot.
>B.

I likewise turn mine off.
When I leave it on, I often come
back to only three green lights.
(On plusnet cheapest tier)

OP here.
Thanks for the input regarding my question..

I was concerned that switching off the router each evening would in some way
temporarily affect the reconnection the next day resulting in a telephone
call (in my case to Sky) to get reconnected, but from your messages the
general answer is that no lasting problems would be caused by switching off.

Speed of broadband is unimportant to me as I don't download music, movies
just occasional software downloads but an improvement on dialup speed would
be good, and saving the £10 a month I pay at present to my ISP.

M

In news:(E-Mail Removed),
Michael <not@this address.com> typed, for some strange, unexplained
reason:
: I am on dialup paying £10 a month. Sky would like me to have their
: base plan at no cost, although with a hefty connection fee.
:
: I have no experience of broadband, routers etc apart from what I have
: read on this forum

Erm this is a newsgroup not a forum but I'll let it pass this time ;-)
:
: I use the Internet for 5 hours max a day and wouldn't want a router
: connected when not required. Would there be problems with this ?

No, but why do you want to switch it off..? The power consumption is
minimal and it poses no security risks if a connected computer isn't on.

Ivor

On 17 Sep, 23:38, "Ivor Jones" <wrote:

> No, but why do you want to switch it off..? The power consumption is
> minimal and it poses no security risks if a connected computer isn't on.
> Ivor

Lightning is one reason. You may think it
unlikely but I have lost a computer which
was switched off, but with the dial up
modem still connected.
Besides electricity prices are now
such that no small saving should
be sniffed at, IMHO