Recently, more and more disputes have surfaced on the Internet over whether to turn off the router at night when you are not using the Internet. The opinions of many ordinary users and even computer experts are clearly divided, since no one can really give a definite answer to this question. Well, based on their opinion, we will try to weigh the pros and cons, after which we will try to draw the appropriate conclusions.
Is it necessary to turn off the router at night: general questions and doubts
To begin, let's dwell on some doubts expressed by the owners of such devices. Mostly they relate only to energy consumption, because of which the payment for electricity can increase, supposedly the negative impact of radio emission on human health and the possible unauthorized use of your home Internet by neighbors or attackers for their own selfish purposes, say, to download large files or to steal some then personal data. Of course, there is a share of common sense in all of this. However, how much does all this look true and how justified is turning off the router at night?
Power consumption
Naturally, financial issues are one of the most important, and many users complain that at night when no one uses the Internet, energy is wasted, but you still have to pay for it.
Let's start from the characteristics of most devices that are used at home, without taking into account the powerful routers used in large enterprises, where it is necessary to achieve coverage of a sufficiently large production area. Usually, a middle-class router consumes about 4 to 15 watts of electricity, which in average gives us an indicator of 9.5 watts / hour. Relatively speaking, for 8 hours, while you sleep, 76 watts rises.
In terms of the monthly rate (for convenience we take 30 days) comes out 2280 W or 2.28 kW. A lot of? Not! Yes, the most ordinary microwave or electric water heater consumes about the same per hour! Of course, if you carefully monitor your expenses and think that a penny saves a ruble, disconnecting the router at night may be worthwhile. Otherwise, there will be nothing wrong with leaving the device running.
Light source
Another aspect related to questions about whether to turn off the router at night may be due to the fact that such a device can turn out to be a source of unwanted light at night (some argue that noise, which generally looks absurd).
Yes, indeed, constantly lit and blinking LEDs can cause some inconvenience during sleep. But do I need to turn off the router at night? Isn’t it easier to initially place it not in the bedroom, but in another room where there is nobody at night? Even if guests come to you, and they are going to spend the night in the very room where the router is installed, you can simply put the device on the windowsill, sliding it with a curtain.
Radiation Exposure
Another controversial issue is the negative impact of radio and electromagnetic radiation on the human body.
Some seriously believe that such radiation can have a serious negative effect on health. To dispel all myths about this, just read the documentation on the acceptable standards that your device must fully comply with. By and large, the harm from the router is no more than from the most ordinary mobile phone. But many phones do not turn off at night and sleep next to them. So do I need to turn off the router at night? As already clear, there is absolutely no sense in this.
In addition, if you live in an apartment building, just open the list of available Wi-Fi networks and see how many devices are currently active! But neighbors may not disconnect their routers, so you are still exposed to radiation, whether you want it or not. In addition, you can simply rotate the antenna in the opposite direction from the bedroom, thereby reducing the damage caused by radiation to the body.
Hacking protection
Some users object to all reasonable arguments that their home network could be exploited by neighbors or attackers. Let's try to figure this out. Firstly, at night you don’t use the Internet anyway, so why not give your neighbors the opportunity to download some large files like music or video?
Another thing is if you do not have unlimited traffic, and the provider charges for the downloaded megabytes. In this case, of course, it is better to disconnect the device.
As for the penetration of intruders, it is unlikely that you have any kind of archival information stored on your home computers or mobile devices, which they may be interested in. Theoretically, through hacking Wi-Fi, you can gain control over computer devices, but it looks absolutely illogical if, in terms of information, there is nothing to steal from them. And just nobody will do such things, because if you don’t know what actions you need to perform, nothing will work (not to mention the selection of passwords for both the wireless network and the protected computer using the same brute force).
The effect of frequent outages on the device
Now let's see if we need to turn off the router at night, from a slightly different point of view.
On some models, there are buttons for quickly disconnecting the device from the mains without disconnecting the main plug. It would seem that you can use this option. But do not forget that routers, like any other equipment, are relatively short-lived, and often pressing the power button can cause it to loose over time or simply fail. In addition, a constant reboot of the router (and it will really happen when it is turned off and then turned on again) can at one “fine” moment lead to the fact that all parameters will be reset to factory defaults, and you will have to configure your connection again. Accordingly, if the necessary settings are not at hand, you will have to contact the provider.
How to turn off the router at night: expert opinion
If you still decide to turn off your device for the night, you need to do this, as they say, wisely. Let's see what experts think about this. First of all, it is noted that it is not necessary to completely de-energize the router, because on some models it is only possible to disable broadcasting over the network, which will protect your connection and get rid of radio emission.
Typically, routers have a special button for this. It is located between the WAN and LAN connectors or on the main panel of the device.
If this option does not suit you, you can disable broadcasting directly in the settings that are present in the router’s web interface by opening it through any browser you have on your computer. The power will not be turned off, but get rid of the radio emission, at the same time restricting access to your connection.
So you need to turn off the router or not: all the pros and cons
Based on the foregoing, the conclusion can be made unequivocal: disconnecting the router at night does not make much sense, especially if you live in an apartment building. Another thing is if you really store important information on a computer that could theoretically interest intruders. However, if you think carefully, they can in any case use other, equally effective methods to get to it at all costs.
As for caring for your health or the estimated increase in financial costs, all this looks so far-fetched that I don’t want to say. Naturally, this is just not a biased look at the described problem, but the decision to turn off the router at night is in any case yours.