I turn mine when I turn the computer off.
BT told me not to turn it off as it can cause problems, they think the line is faulty apparently, I just shut my computer down. Brenda
I never leave anything on stand-by, nor do I leave sockets in the ON position, as you’re still using a small amount of electricity which adds to your bill. It may be just a trickle, but every penny counts with electricity use.
I have a wired router which gets turned off at the socket, as well as my computer, when I’ve finished with them so the only things left plugged in are my washing machine, fridge and freezer.
Unless you have anti-surge protection, which many domestic homes do not have, there is a slim chance of fire if there’s a lightning strike, or a power surge from your sub-station, which could back up to your sockets and cause serious problems, but that would be extremely rare, and it isn’t always practicable to switch all sockets off.
Brenda, I’d be very wary if I was told by my internet provider that shutting down my router might cause problems.
I have a server running 24 hours a day every day, along with the router it is connected to. It does add to my electricity bill that is for sure 
. The router isn’t really the culprit but the electricity hogging server - full of scsi hard drives and multiple cooling fans and the like :shock:.
my router is on 24/7
Mine too, I have never turned one off in all the years I have had broadband.
I have had this router I have now (Netgear like this one) for about 6 years and haven’t once turned it off.
The only times it has been powered down has been when we’ve had power outages - I haven’t touched it.
Moral of my wee story is - it still works. So I’d leave it alone if I were you.
Items left on all the time use their little bit of electricity. It might not be much but multiply that usage by millions because many in the World are all doing the same. Must amount to an unknown but very large number of megawatts. A lot of energy that could perhaps be saved? That’s partly why I switch off at the mains where possible. It all helps I suppose.
Yes, but what if turning it off and on all the time causes them to break down quicker? Think of the cost of a new router for everybody every few years. Doesn’t work out any cheaper.
I always turned my router off after use until the piddly little switch failed. Then, being a tv engineer, I bypassed the switch. That was 2 years ago and since then its been permanently on with no noticeable increase in cost.
I never turn mine off either altho’ I do unplug it every now and then for 20 seconds or so as ‘they’ told me it refreshes the signal and helps relieve congestion … same as a mobile phone I guess … ( I know nothing …just do as I’m told 
) anyway… never had any problems with it
Always off in my house - I don’t have wifi!
I was a TV (and video recorder) engineer too. 1961 to 1995.
I was told by Manx Telecom to leave the router switched on - but I do switch it off now and again, not really sure why though.
To be honest, I don’t know if the AC power adapters supplying the voltage to routers are soft-start when they are first switched on but as with phone chargers and power adapters of this type, they rarely go wrong. The voltage coming out of the AC adapter to a router etc is low and probably even regulated. No more than about 9 to 12 volts maybe? Components don’t tend to go wrong at that sort of voltage level these days.
The only part that could give trouble is the AC adapter itself because that’s the only place where mains voltage is present. Even so, it seems these too are very reliable if the one supplied with the modem/router is used. There have been cases of these giving trouble but they do so whether they are run continuously or switched on and off.
All in all, I don’t think switching off and on will cause a breakdown to occur more frequently than it otherwise might have done.
The only concern is security. Whoever does the configuration for the router/cable modem, make sure they use WAP2 to set a security password. This password will secure your network. Never run a router without password protection. Also, I would try to put the router a distance from where you use your computer. The radiation lessens with distance.
What radiation :shock:
Didn’t you know? Routers create radiation which is bad for you, just like everything else in this world, or so “studies” would have us believe.
Ridiculous, isn’t it?
Oh nothing to really worry about (so they tell us). The router uses the same frequency range as microwave ovens. I saw a video on youtube where a person had an instrument that measured the radiation output. It is very strong right next to the router. The signal strength descreases significantly the further you get away from it.
If birds get too close to wifi towers they get cooked like they would if in a microwave oven. I’ve seen vid where a person had a laptop sitting next to a microwave. The laptop has wifi active and then started downloading a file. Turning on the microwave oven made the download slow down. They use the same frequency so when both are working they share the frequency range, evident by the download slowing. So I keep my router in the back room of my house and use my laptop elsewhere.
I’ve also watched and read other info about this. Since so many homes have wifi, the signal is overlapping all over the place when you go outside, so you can’t really get away from it. I settled for just being aware of my distance from the router in my home and don’t worry about it beyond that because there is nothing you can do about it.
I have just got a new router from Virgin media …I never turn it off or have turned off… My old system which was a separate modem and router i did turn off occasionally so the router and modem could re sync…if they are left on they can receive software updates and also your service provider can tell when your router is on line and diagnose any connection faults …