Wi Fi Turn Off Or Not ,

[HeHasRisen 3,372]

12 minutes ago, pattricia said:

All very technical posts for me to read but all I want to ask is : I have an Apple IPad with a switch on the side for “ on and off” . I’ve always kept it on all the time but would I save battery usage if I switched it off ? 

Depends when you are planning on switching it back on again. The power used to turn on and off would likely negate the power you save by keeping it off for an hour. 

Overnight: no issue at all, although these devices use so little energy relatively speaking.

[RollingJ 1,999]

6 minutes ago, pattricia said:

All very technical posts for me to read but all I want to ask is : I have an Apple IPad with a switch on the side for “ on and off” . I’ve always kept it on all the time but would I save battery usage if I switched it off ? 

To answer that one, @pattricia- which iPad, and what do you mean? I use an iPad mini4 and there is a switch on the top which sends it 'to sleep' - to totally turn it off you have to hold down the switch and slide. Personally, I never bother, the battery usage to turn it back on probably exceeds that saved, plus you have to wait a while for it to come back to life.

[Waldo 96]

It's a whole set of other issues with turning on/off battery powered devices; generally, I think the concern is to preserve the life and capacity of the battery.

 

With the wifi (router) on/off issue; I don't understand why there's so much conflict about this kind of thing. I don't pay much heed to 'appeals to authority', but, it should be possible to debate the ins and outs, technical concerns, pros and cons of 'wifi off at night', vs, 'wifi on 24/7', in order to get a more balanced true clear picture of things.

 

Mine's on 24/7. I just don't want to have to remember to turn the thing on or off, 365x2 times a year, in order to save a small amount of electricity. Though, from a 'save the planet' point of view; maybe wifi routers should be designed in such a way that they can be set to auto turn on/off every day etc.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Waldo

[RollingJ 1,999]

1 minute ago, Waldo said:

It's a whole set of other issues with turning on/off battery powered devices; generally, I think the concern is to preserve the life and capacity of the battery.

 

With the wifi (router) on/off issue; I don't understand why there's so much conflict about this kind of thing. I don't pay much heed to 'appeals to authority' though. It should be possible to debate the ins and outs, concerns, pros and cons of 'wifi off at night', vs, 'wifi on 24/7', in order to get a more balanced true clear picture of things.

 

Mine's on 24/7. I just don't want to have to remember to turn the thing on or off, 365x2 times a year, in order to save a small amount of electricity. Though, from a 'save the planet' point of view; maybe wifi routers should be designed in such a way that they can be set to auto turn on/off every day etc.

@WaldoTurning on/off battery powered devices depends on whether you want to preserve the life/capacity of the (usually) replaceable battery or the life of the powered devices - turning them off/on could shorten the life of some components, then you have to replace the whole unit.

 

As regards the Wi-Fi on/off thing on a router/hub, the power saving is minimal, and not all units make this easy, although most do.  As to actually turning off (manually or automatically) the actual hub/router - despite the claims of a certain poster on here - will shorten its life, and also possibly restrict your speed, over time.

[Waldo 96]

41 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

@WaldoTurning on/off battery powered devices depends on whether you want to preserve the life/capacity of the (usually) replaceable battery or the life of the powered devices - turning them off/on could shorten the life of some components, then you have to replace the whole unit.

 

As regards the Wi-Fi on/off thing on a router/hub, the power saving is minimal, and not all units make this easy, although most do.  As to actually turning off (manually or automatically) the actual hub/router - despite the claims of a certain poster on here - will shorten its life, and also possibly restrict your speed, over time.

Yep, that very much echos my own understanding regarding battery powered devices.

 

On the wifi on/off thing; you are making assertions but not providing evidence to support your assertions. Can you point to any studies done, that demonstrate turning on/off a router twice a day, will impact on a routers' lifespan?

 

To my mind, actual tests and studies done on equipment and results presented in a non-misleading way; carry a lot more weight than prevailing wisdom (everyone says it's so), or appeals to authority (it's true because this qualified person says so).

 

For my personal use case, the life span of the router is not an issue. So long as it lasts as long as my contract with the ISP, as I always change ISP when fixed term contract ends (makes financial sense to do so). I don't really care about the minimal saving either (am assuming the £20 per year figure is accurate).

 

Though from an ecological point of view; I'm wondering if these things should be designed to switch on/off at nights (as a user option). £20 per year of electricity for all households in the UK, is bound to add up; and it makes a lot of sense for us all to be consuming less energy.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Waldo

[fools 447]

43 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

despite the claims of a certain poster on here - will shorten its life, and also possibly restrict your speed, over time.

Still at it? You don't switch yours off, so how could you possibly comment with any authority about what will happen, you're just guessing ... and contradicting someone who does know. The shorten it's life thing is ridiculous scaremongering too.

 

Your battery stuff is wrong too, I'll let someone else pick that apart.

Edited June 30, 2022 by fools

[RollingJ 1,999]

@Waldo, @fools - I'm clearly wasting my time here, so I'll duck out. Not running away, just saving energy.

[Waldo 96]

Okay.

 

Though, I don't think it's at all unreasonable to dispute prevailing wisdom and appeals to authority, and place more value on hard evidence.

[RabM 16]

On 25/06/2022 at 09:27, fools said:

Also, why sleep in a sea of radio waves if you don't have to.

 

What? 

[zach 234]

4 hours ago, RabM said:

What? 

I missed that pearl of wisdom! Nothing else fills our little blue planet with radio waves, just a router...great!

 

Where's my tin foil hat?

[RollingJ 1,999]

On 25/06/2022 at 09:27, fools said:

 

 

Unless you go crazy, turning it off at night or when out won't have any negative effect on the speed, and could improve it. You will be issued with a new IP address, which aids privacy. Also, why sleep in a sea of radio waves if you don't have to.

 

"They are designed to stay on" is like saying your microwave or your tv is designed to stay on, it's meaningless. If something doesn't need to be on, it doesn't need to be on.

 

 

You won't get a new IP if you have a static.

[altus 537]

43 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

You won't get a new IP if you have a static.

You might not get a new one even if you haven't.

 

As for fools's other IP address related points:

• A dynamic IP address barely aids privacy at all over a static one.
• A dynamic IP address does nothing to protect you from hackers over a static one.