Kitz Forum
Broadband Related => Broadband Technology => Topic started by: UncleUB on July 31, 2010, 09:07:21 AM
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Hi all
I personally leave mine switched on 24/7,but others switch them off every night.Can switching them off every night cause problems.
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No, it shouldn't cause any problems. In a few cases it might be advantageous, if there's a big increase in interference during the small hours, which would otherwise cause the router to reconnect at a lower speed. But in most cases leaving it on 24/7 is the best option for stability.
There's also an argument that electronic equipment is more reliable if it's left switched on, because most failures occur as a result of the extra stresses during switch-on. But I doubt if that's a relevant argument in this case.
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There is a case for leaving them on as any electronic device that contains a board with discreet components soldered to it can suffer from the stress that is put on the soldered joints by the heating up and cooling down process. This will show up more where there may be dry joints caused by poor soldering. Not a disaster waiting to happen, but it is something to bear in mind.
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This will show up more where there may be dry joints caused by poor soldering.
So a positive side to it in this case would be it would help to show up the faulty joint/s quite quickly instead of you have constant intermittent faults giving you problems.
Obviously there can be a difference between Cable and DSL but personally I have been turning my router and Cable modem off everyday for a long time without any ill effects.
(With the exception of just recently whilst undergoing the Dehems energy saving trial)
The main benefit being the saving on energy which is quite considerable actually.
(If I remember correctly the combined power usage of the modem and router was about 30Watts)
So times that a few hour, days and weeks and it is quite a saving.
edit
30 Watts @ 12 Hrs per day x 365 days = £17.00 per year (approx)
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Hi
The main advantage of leaving it on is that if you have a good Synch rate then normally you should maintain that. When you switch off then on again say the next day you may well connect at a lower rate ,possibly lowering the IP profile .
Regards jeff
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Hi all
I personally leave mine switched on 24/7,but others switch them off every night.
I also leave my router on 24/7 and only turn it off if there are thunderstorms around.
The main advantage of leaving it on is that if you have a good Synch rate then normally you should maintain that. When you switch off then on again say the next day you may well connect at a lower rate ,possibly lowering the IP profile .
Regards jeff
That's true on ADSL MAX but I'm on O2 LLU and so I'm not affected as there's no such thing as IP profiles !
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@ Mike,
But O2 do monitor the line conditions with some form of Data Line Management and adjust your sync speed accordingly.
I don't know how they perform their calculations but it does take a minimum of 24 hours to return from a bad reading to a near full speed previous value.
See a VERY bad set of stats here:-
http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,7754.0.html
After Openretch at last repaired the line, the readings have now recovered to
Bandwidth up / Down 979/2,868
Whereas my 2Wire gave a download sync speed of 3568 in April when the service was started.
Kind regards,
Walter
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But O2 do monitor the line conditions with some form of Data Line Management and adjust your sync speed accordingly.
I don't know how they perform their calculations but it does take a minimum of 24 hours to return from a bad reading to a near full speed previous value.
Oh yes I forgot about DLM.
See a VERY bad set of stats here:-
http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,7754.0.html
After Openretch at last repaired the line, the readings have now recovered to
Bandwidth up / Down 979/2,868
Crikey that's an extremely slow speed you had there :o
Glad it's all sorted now though :thumbs:
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Sorry to be bore (or to sound like a stuck record), but remember any thermal energy radiated by the router will create a deficit if the router is switched off, which will cause the gas heating thermostat (if the heating's switched on) to trip in earlier, hence you use more gas.
I know, nobody has the heating on right now, and I agree that in summer, there's savings to be made.
But during winter, contributions to heating from such things (routers, DVDs & TVs on standby, mobile phones charging, etc etc) can be particularly beneficial as they not only relieve the burden (save fuel) from CH during the day, but they may also take the 'chill' off the house overnight when the CH is usually off, allowing the CH's morning startup time to be delayed a little.
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Now what I'm about to say is not directly related to the router situation but is to the previous post. I never turn my CH off except for when I may have the doors and windows open and a draught is blowing across the thermostat. My assumption is that by leaving the CH on I don't waste gas by warming the house up on a morning from cold. The heating does not need to be on as long because all the furniture and house contents are warm. If I let everything go cold then the heating is on more often because all the furnishings take the heat out of the air quicker until they are warmed up. Yes my heating whilst not actually on as it is not cold enough, it is not manually/timer turned off. Sorry for going off topic there, I will not take any further.
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Obviously there can be a difference between Cable and DSL but personally I have been turning my router and Cable modem off everyday for a long time without any ill effects.
(With the exception of just recently whilst undergoing the Dehems energy saving trial)
The main benefit being the saving on energy which is quite considerable actually.
(If I remember correctly the combined power usage of the modem and router was about 30Watts)
So times that a few hour, days and weeks and it is quite a saving.
edit
30 Watts @ 12 Hrs per day x 365 days = £17.00 per year (approx)
There is a difference with cable, in that it will not suffer DLM logic penalties. BTW I don't know what your kit is, but I am looking at a 2Wire router here and it says 10W maximum output power. Most of the time of course this is lower, so £3-£5 a year is not that much for holding onto a good sync once you get it. Of course, I would rather it was at zero additional cost and on a tap, but I can't get cable where I live.
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Hi
quote : 10A maximum output power ?
10Watts ?
Regards Jeff
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@ Jeff,
I don't think the power levels are quite as bad as you might have assumed. However by some standards they are still higher, possibly because of the two wireless channels. It's also possible that different PSUs have been provided over time. The spec. label I'm looking at now has an input of 230 V @ 0.3 A and an output of 5.1 V @ 3 A i.e. 69 Watts in and 5.18 Watts out. However even that efficiency rating does seem rather poor. Perhaps the input spec. covers the start-up surge presumably of the switch mode power supply?
Sorry chaps, Fin g e r s again late at night Please use Eric's figure.
Kind regards,
Walter
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Walter, I think you may need a new calculator. :) 5.1V @ 3A is 15.3W. But your point is still correct - it's not at all likely that the input power would be so high continuously. The 69W spec must (I think) refer to the startup surge.
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Hi
quote : 10A maximum output power ?
10Watts ?
Regards Jeff
Oops! Sorry I meant to write 10W! I've corrected it now.
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But O2 do monitor the line conditions with some form of Data Line Management and adjust your sync speed accordingly.
I don't know how they perform their calculations but it does take a minimum of 24 hours to return from a bad reading to a near full speed previous value.
Sorry about the tardiness of this reply but I've only just spotted the above.
O2 monitor and "tweak" the line for up to 5 days or so after the initial connection to their service to obtain the optimum connection. After that they do not use any DLM.
They will, if there are problems, adjust Target SNR upwards if they detect instability or if the line is very good they will adjust downwards but the customer must ask for the reduction from default 6dB. This is the only management carried out after the initial connection.
Sky and I believe Talk Talk do use DLM subsequent to initial connection.