Mine is plugged in 24/7 as I was also told it should be.I used to leave it in the Lappy also when it was turned off but don’t do that now
Same here Meg, my son told me to leave mine on as well …and he works all day long with computers:-)
…so does mine 
when he was about 12 he started a computer business in his bedroom and now employs 14 people (they are in an office not in the bedroom though 
).
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I’m pleased to hear that Meg!
We switch ours off at night unless I happen to be recording something onto our Sky Planner late at night, in that case I leave it switched on that night.
(I’m having one of my slepless nights!).
My wife will not have a wireless router in the house.
Unfortunately she is very susceptible to electro magnetic fields and associated geopathic stress and so we have to make do with hard wired connections in shielded cables.
There’s no need to unplug everything, provided the sockets are switched to the off position. The only ones I don’t switch to off are the kettle, washing machine and fridge (because I can’t get to them) and my deep freeze. Can’t imagine the mess if I switched my freezer off every night. :!:
Our Sky box and router are both left on all the time, apart from when we go on holiday, at which times we will leave the router on but unplug the Sky box. Obviously, the fridge/freezer is left plugged in and so is the washing machine, again the latter being unplugged when we go away.
I used to work for a company that investigated fires on behalf of insurers and after that I would NEVER leave my TV on standby. It is always unplugged at night and at any other time that it is not actually switched on. I have seen the result of too many fires caused by TVs left on standby.
I’m with the majority here. I have a wireless and wired household and leave the modem/router on all the time partly because it has VOIP built in. From a financial point of view turning off the device at night would save me about $12 a year so definitely not worth the effort.
The wireless side of things has WPA-2 security which I am assured is pretty well uncrackable.
I’m still not sure whether to turn off the wireless broadband connection at night etc. or not. 
I have been turning it off because a while ago someone said it was important to do it so as not to be at risk of somebody nearby using my connection.
I have just changed from Norton 360 to McAfee Total Protection and my son came round yesterday to install it. He laughed at me because I had turned everything off and asked what was I worried about - alluding to men in raincoats lurking round corners and trying to get onto my computer. :shock: So I am now back to thinking I will leave it on - but I am not 100% sure 
Ours is always on, has been for 7 Years now.
One thing I am really looking forward to is getting the NBN (National Broadband Network) within the next 12 months - Fibre optic cable right into my house rendering copper obsolete and giving blindingly fast Internet speeds rather than the crappy ADSL2+ I have now.
Can’t wait!
I always turn my router off when I go to bed, seems like a waste to keep it on all night when its not being used!
I always turn ours off as well Marpaul. Does anyone know how much it costs per year if the router is left on?
I dont know who told you WPA-2 was almost uncrackable unless they were having a laugh on you.
If the Pentegon and MI16 can be hacked our small devices have no chance.
My computers set up is on a seperate filtered mains supply which can turn everything off with one switch every night.
Leaving a router swtiched on all of the time does not allow it to cool down and in summer they can get pretty hot.
It is also environmentaly friendly to turn all appliances off when not in use.
We’ve just had a new modem from Virgin Media which is supposed to treble our download speed (haven’t noticed the difference yet) and also acts as a wireless router. The unit itself is bigger but replaces two separate boxes and some of the spaghetti behind the desk. We only switch the computer auxiliary equipment off when thunder is forecast or we are away on holiday…
That is when I set the computer off processing TV shows/films I have recorded and converting them into AVI files and sending them to my WD TV Live over the network (brilliant device - if you haven’t got one well worth buying)
If I wanted to watch an ABC iView program (I know the BBC has a similar system) if the router was turned off it wouldn’t work. To me it is like turning the fridge off when you go to bed.
[URL=“http://www.abc.net.au/tv/iview/”]
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/iview/
I calculate turning the router off would save about $12 (£6) a year hardly worth worrying about I think.
You are right nothing is uncrackable but with a good password cracking the WPA-2 requires a lot of effort and is hardly worth anybody’s while (my home is hardly a target like the Pentagon). In actual fact my whole house is a wired one and the wireless is only turned on when my kids visit with their laptops.
[URL=“http://www.flickr.com/photos/psycho12/3591254096/”]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/psycho12/3591254096/
The overheating issue is a furphy. The thermal and electrical shock caused by turning an appliance on and off shortens its life far more than running at a constant temperature all the time. (I think many would be surprised at the temperatures at which some chips are designed to run, from memory Intel chips run at about 70’C which would burn the skin)
I suspect the maximum temperatures where I live are far greater than where you live yet my longest lasting computer was one that was on 24 hours a day providing a BBS service in the days before the Internet. My current router has been on for a couple of years now and hopefully will last until I get a fibre optic connection within the next year (if the NBN arrives as promised).
Whether you leave the modem/router on or turn it off, the choice is yours. It does no harm to turn it off, it simply means that it take a bit longer to connect up again when you turn it on. If speed of initial connection is not an issue and you are more comfortable turning it off, do so!
With any of these devices (Modems, set top boxes etc), any updates will be performed when they are next turned on, but they shouldn’t be turned off when in the middle of an update. I have yet to come across a modem/router that does an automatic software update, this is usually left to the user to initiate.
It should perhaps be noted that no matter what type of protection is introduced, there will always be someone trying to find a way round it. WPA 2 is currently the most advisable way to protect your wireless modem from someone else using your connection. Only someone with a considerable degree of knowledge and some sophisticated software is likely to be able to crack it, as long as the default is changed to something sensible and in any case I am sure you all follow the recommended advice and change your passwords on a regular basis?
Although a router doesn’t cost very much money per annum to leave running, I believe there is the environmental issue to take into account. It isn’t just the one router that matters but multiply that by the number of people throughout the world who leave their routers running all the time. That must amount to a huge amount of energy. Perhaps we should all try to do our bit by turning off at the mains supply when possible.
I don’t know for sure but it’s likely that most power supplies or voltage lines after the power supply incorporate soft-start circuitry to prevent surges at switch-on. Either that or components are designed to withstand it.