Hello guys!

I feel like getting into a "Myth Buster" mood. There are always so many myths and things surrounding computers/the Internet/science technology. My uncle leaves his router on 24/7 and my mum suggests we let our router "rest" when it's not in use. Because I am unsure of who is right, I'll ask you guys.

Is there any harm in leaving the router on 24/7 or at least when it's not in use?

Thanks in advance.

I leave my router, as well as my broadband modem on 24/7, and so far, no problems! It shouldn't cause any problems with the hardware it's self, as long as it wont get hot and die! (So make sure its not covered, nor tucked away somewhere clustered) My modem and router both sit out with nothing crowding them, and they are fine!

The only other thing would be power. Having them on 24/7 will use more power then if you only have it on for a few hours each day! Not that it would be much, not as much as leaving your computer on all the time! Another benefit with not having the modem off is, if you have a dynamic ip address, its going to be the same until you power off and power the modem!

So, in conclusion, i see no reason why leaving your router on 24/7 will cause it harm!
-jimmy

Ah thanks Jimmy. (Oh and I see you're from Australia too!) I like how you concluded haha.

Hmm you're very good reassurance, but don't you think the "lifespan" of the router might get shortened? I'm not sure myself.

Thanks again.

Yeah I agree that as long as it stays at a reasonable temperature, that it should be ok. So, if you give it enough ventilation and it doesn't get clogged with dust, then it should continue to work.
I don't know if it would really effect the lifespan as long as you take care of it. If it stays dry and cool and clean then there isn't much that is going to effect it's life span.

Hey Vue:

I leave my router 24/7 same goes with my modem and my wireless access point.

My computer also is on 24/7 and only gets a reboot when windows crash while the other computer where only shutdown when I need to patch the kernel system.

*******

The windows system is for games and programming windows base programs while the *nix box is for something serious and for server purposes. So far in 3 years of operation, nothing goes bad except when my windows box got pretty wet when a storm pass and made a nice hole on our roof. It fried my motherboard and one memory card.

Hope this helps.

I leave mine on 24/7/365 along with cable modem. I do have to reset my router (and sometimes the modem) every few weeks, but never have any problems.

I leave my router on 24/7 too. Mine's Prolink, china made brand. So far so good. Only need to manually reset it if i run a lot of download from torrent and emule. It tends to hang on high connection usage.

From electronic's point of view, leaving it on 24/7 is a good way to keep it alive. When you leave it long enough, it will reach an equilibrium temperature where the temperature will stay put. The electronics works better at a stable temperature. Frequent on and off of electronic devices will cause dry joint on the circuit board. This is due to continuous heating and cooling of those solder joint. After a prolong period of time, those solder will get brittle, then with a little vibration, it breaks, that's when your device goes down. Some time with a bit of pat, it might works.

I leave my PC and Router on 24/7, only resetting my PC rarely.

Why turn the router off? It makes no sense. Only reset it after a storm or something when its screwed up.

On my part, when something gets fried due to shortcircuit..

By the way, there was also one time where you need to reset it. when your cooling system got busted.

Or the cockroaches clogged up the circuits too much.