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I've been happily using my ADSL wireless router for five years, only switching it on when I use it which is typically in the evenings and at weekends. Over the past fews weeks I had a dramatic drop in speed and logged a fault with my ISP.
They said that there was an (IP) profile mismatch on my account which they have rectified and early indications are that the performance has been returned to normal.
However, they have advised me that the router should be constantly plugged in to the telephone socket (it is) and left switched on. I'm not keen on leaving it on all of the time, mainly from an environmental point of view (every little helps, right?), but also to stop it getting too hot.
Can turning a router off when not in use degrade the performance of the broadband connection?
@alfplayer have you never had a device that you thought was running too hot for its own good? devices have ventilation to reduce it.. but sometimes there can be issues with it. e.g. I had a router whose ventilation was on the bottom. I would turn it upside down 'cos maybe it cools better that way. – barlop – 2015-04-04T08:43:37.210
As far as I am aware - only Fibre routers need to be left running 24/7 due to DML - ADSL routers do not use DML - So can be turned off and on at will, without it affecting the connection speed.. – None – 2015-04-04T08:25:08.607
Routers are certainly designed to be left on 24/7, so it shouldn't get too hot if it's properly ventilated. I don't leave mine on (partly to force the kids off their iPods from time to time!) 24/7 and haven't experienced significant speed problems. I have noticed a few occasions where I've had to do a hard reset (turn it off and back on again) on the router to fix domain name resolution issues etc. This isn't just on mine either. – ChrisF – 2010-07-15T20:58:59.603
Most electronic equipment get hot and use maximum power when it's actively working, so it shouldn't make much of a difference to turn it off when it's not being used. Anyway, I don't understand why you care about the device getting hot. – alfplayer – 2010-07-15T21:23:05.000