Every night, many of us wonder if switching the router off is a wise choice: it saves energy or extends its lifespan, perhaps? It’s hard to know what’s fact and what’s fiction nowadays, so it’s time to debunk the most common myths surrounding nighty router shutdowns.
Why You Can Leave Your Router On Every Night
Contrary to popular belief, modern routers are built for continuous operation. Nowadays, routers are designed for nonstop performance. Turning them off and on repeatedly can cause rapid temperature fluctuations, thus, leading to thermal stress that may wear out internal components over time. Far from improving performance, it may actually shorten its lifespan.
Powering down any electronic device reduces electricity usage, but in the case of a typical home router, it consumes so little that its annual cost is negligible, around €6 per year on your electricity bill. For most households, the power saved by nightly shutdowns isn’t worth the hassle.
If you have smart light, voice assistants, or Wi-Fi enabled security cameras and alarms, they all rely on an active internet connection to function. If your turn off your router servers, you’ll defeat the purpose of a “smart” or secure home.
Nowadays, many routers and connected gadgets schedule firmware and software updates during off-peak hours, thus, at night, to avoid interrupting your usage. Keeping your router on ensures that these essential updates install seamlessly, enhancing performance and security without disturbing you.
Some devices can require manual reconfiguration if they lose their network connection. In that case, you’ll suffer a bit of a delay if you want to play casino games in the morning. By maintaining a stable, always-on router, you avoid the minor but annoying need to reconnect or troubleshoot devices that drop off the network after a shutdown.
When You Should Consider Turning Your Router Off
Even though the default is to leave your router on, there are a few situations where powering it down is practical. If you’re away on vacation for several days or weeks, shutting off your router can be a sensible security measure and a small way to cut energy use while no one is home.
Another stance where you might need to turn the router off is when you experience intermittent connectivity or odd glitches. Then, a simple reboot often clears internal errors and restores normal operation.
Occasionally, a router update process may prompt you to perform a manual restart to complete the installation. In these rare cases, you’ll need to power cycle the device as directed by your router’s management interface.
If your ISP assigns dynamic IPs and you need a new address, for privacy or troubleshooting, you can sometimes trigger an IP change by leaving the router off for a few minutes before turning it back on.
If you think that someone might be freeloading on your network or you’ve been the target of a cyberattack, powering off the router immediately kicks off any intruders. Once you power back up, you can log in to your settings to change the Wi-Fi password and tighten security measures.
