Question:
I have a Netgear 108Mbps Wireless ADSL Router.
As a family, we are trying to save money (and do our bit for the environment) by turning off all our appliances at the power point where possible.
My question is - is it a good idea, or not, to switch the router off at the wall when we turn off the computer, or is there some reason that it would be better to leave it switched on. Also, would it save much electricity?
A recent visit from our local Fire Safety Officer also highlighted the importance of turning off as many appliances as possible at the mains overnight as electrical faults are the most common source of night-time fires in the home.
Thanks in advance for helping me answer this.
Answers:
It's fine to turn it off, but bear in mind it might take two or three minutes to re-initialise itself and to sync the ADSL signal.
The power saved will be minimal, but I suppose every bit helps!
Answers:
what is the power comsumption of the router and how much do you pay per KW/h, if you tell me these I cxan work out for you how much it is costing you
Answers:
I have a Netgear 108Mbps Wireless ADSL Router.
As a family, we are trying to save money (and do our bit for the environment) by turning off all our appliances at the power point where possible.
My question is - is it a good idea, or not, to switch the router off at the wall when we turn off the computer, or is there some reason that it would be better to leave it switched on. Also, would it save much electricity?
A recent visit from our local Fire Safety Officer also highlighted the importance of turning off as many appliances as possible at the mains overnight as electrical faults are the most common source of night-time fires in the home.
Thanks in advance for helping me answer this.
I think the energy saving would be tiny to be honest - it probably runs on about 12V and the transformer will be using a tiny, tiny current. While it all adds up, and each time you start it up you are having to go through the handshaking process with your ISP, which is the flakey part. Sometimes things go wrong, and one phone call to your ISP will wipe out possibly weeks of saving. Seriously. Isn't one of the nice things about broadband that its always on? I think you're also doing your part by having an ADSL router - one box, not two.
As to fire safety, that's true and I wouldn't second-guess an expert. But I suspect this is going to be things with a lot more current going through them, and you'd be better off doing the things they doubtless talked about like not using three-way adapters plugged into the wall (always use fused power strips), and making sure all your electrical items are relatively new. Doesn't it tend to be things like older lamps, heaters, and TVs that die? You can rewire antique lamps for a few quid; turn off heaters (turn up the central heating even to tropical heat first - it is far, far more efficient); and get a new TV! Old TVs are also amongst those that eat power when on stand by so you could be ding some money-saving there too.
Answers:
Yes it is okay to turn the wireless router off, besides saving a lil electricity - as said above it will stop "neighbours" borrowing your connection and it will also lessen the risk of your router being comprimised via the internet port (adsl)
As you, mentioned turn your pc off from the wall not just the PC's power switch, as the PC's PSU will still be live and powering the USB devices etc
Answers:
better to turn off router when not in use in my opinion... prevents overheateing and possible damadge, changes IP address (if you have a dynamic one) if you need to change it frequently and reduces risk of a neighbour cracking into your wireless because the router wont be on all the time.
i usualy turn mine off when not in use
Answers:
Erm, your router should already be WEP enabled as a minimum and also have SSID broadcasts turned off. If you're not already doing this then you're quite quite mad.
Not broadcasting the SSID (which should be changed from the factory default) doesn't prevent a sniffer from obtaining it entirely. When your wireless device connects to it, the connection is sent in plain text which a sniffer can pick up.
Answers:
Erm, your router should already be WEP enabled as a minimum and also have SSID broadcasts turned off. If you're not already doing this then you're quite quite mad. Also your ADSL-side router should be locked down and properly configured via a telnet session to stealth it to the outside world.
Anyone who has an open network needs to deal with it before wasting £££ on yet another gizmo to spend hours trying to install until it sort-of-works, much like the router.
Sorry - this is another language to me. I am a Medical Writer, and can happily converse in technical language about nasty diseases, but don't undertand this sort of 'computer techi- speak'. I guess you are referring to firewalls and other security issues here.
Answers:
Sorry - this is another language to me. I am a Medical Writer, and can happily converse in technical language about nasty diseases, but don't undertand this sort of 'computer techi- speak'. I guess you are referring to firewalls and other security issues here.
In short, read the manual that comes with it (it's an electronic document on the CD, and can be found at netgear.com if you've lost it), and set a password BOTH for the network AND the box it came with. By default when you plug it in it says "netgear" and anyone with a wireless card can select it, and get on line using your connection. Posters are suggesting you should password protect this. Now that it is set up, you will have to connect to the box itself to add a password. The interface is not intuitive (you go to a special web page at which is in fact your own router, not away off in the internet at all). You will need the name and password - I think it is "netgear" and "admin" but it's in the manual. See below on this! Not to alarm you, but at the crucial point - adding the network password - it will disconnect you (from the wireless network, not ADSL) and you will need to find the network and reconnect, this time adding and saving the password. Again, if you have the manual to hand this will be expected. (You can avoid this connection hassle by physically connecting your PC to the router using an ethernet cable, like a fat phone cable, but this isn't absolutely necessary.)
You do not need to hide the network name. As jnd says anyone who wants to can find it anyway, and it makes your network slower. In fact, you don't really need to restrict access if you live in an ordinary residential street. I keep thinking of removing my password actually as a neighbourly courtesy as it annoys me that I can't check my email when I visit relatives by borrowing a neighbours connection for a few minutes, and I would like to set up remote access but can't test it as all my neighbours lock their connections, too. Could someone hack your computer? With considerable difficulty, possibly. Is said hacker likely to be your next door neighbour? You'd kick yourself if they did, but really, it's not likely. If you live in a dense urban area, or are a student living near other students, then the risk rises quite considerably. On Acacia Avenue where every second car is a Volvo, I don't think so.
But you absolutely positively do need to password protect your router - access to the box itself, not the network. That is because it can be accessed from anyone on the internet and this really is a security issue. If you have a Netgear router for example the name and password of that are in the manual so EVERYONE has it. See above! Again, read the manual. It's not rocket science especially for a medical writer; it's just fiddly and obscure. The risk of being hacked is small - really, very small - but the consequences are much more severe than your next door neighbour's teenager using peer to peer or whatever, so for the sake of 10 tedious minutes with the manual, I would do it.
Of course, with a password on, it will be an even bigger pain to keep turning it on...! And I wouldn't recommend turning your PC off at the wall - mine certainly do not power the USB ports. Also, power supplies are not bullet proof, and if there is a trickle going through, I'd be concerned about giving the power supply the equivalent of the crash team resuscitation every time I wanted to use it!