Should I leave the system powered up?

[#1]

Hi
I have only been a plusnet customer for 3 weeks but so far everything is going well. I'm getting download speeds of 1.3M and my ip profile is set at 1500 which given where I live is very pleasing (I just got away from pipex/tiscali so the improvement is vary obvious and marked and the information in these forums and on the plusnet site is a real eye-opener, so much better than I was used to).
My setup is an imac and a netgear dg834 router (fairly straightforward system) and it seems to be a successful combination for both my work and for some gaming.
When I first set up the speed fluctuated (as expected) and my ip profile was down to 1Meg at one stage then went back up when I left my router on for a few days over Easter.  This leads me to my question about the router - my natural inclination is to power off both router and computer at the end of an evening and power back on the following evening - is this the best practice or would it be better to leave the router powered up 24/7?  Will switching off and on make the system think I have a fault and lower my profile (and therefore my speed)?
Cheers
Bob
Cheer

[#2]

yeah b.t profiling can sometimes see turning off and on as a fault but if its overnight im sure b.t isnt that stupid to think thats a fault.
it all depends on what your router syncs at when you turn on in morning my line is said to be 2.5mb and if i power my router off overnight some times on reconnect it will sync below 2800 and knocks my profile down to 2mb.
i to have just bought a dg834g due to them being good on bad snr line and have not had my profile fall below 2.5mb since. i only turn mine off if out for few days.
yet 1 more tiscali refuge.  any 1 want to take bets on when tiscali go bankrupt lol

[#3]

If you only turn it off once a day it shouldn't make any difference.  BT will see a fault if you disconnect it 10 times in the space of an hour though!
However, if you turn it off and then resync at a lower speed (which causes your IP profile to be lowered) when you turn it back on and then subsequently have another resync at your normal speed you'll need to wait 5 days for the BT profile to rise again.

[#4]

i would leave the router on 24/7 if i were you . I have a dg834g which has been on for the best part of 20months and it still works fine.. It holds the connection well and I live out in the sticks. If you use wireless though, make sure your router has the security options enabled on it to prevent people hijacking you connection when you are away.  I always use ethernet connections for piece of mind and stability reasons.
Hope this helps

[#5]

if all your devices on your network use wpa psk then use that instead of wep as i have bein playing about with backtrack(linux) to test my security and set my router up using wep and cracked the password in less then 20 mins it is all so possable to crack wpa-psk using somthing called a dictonary attack but this can take days to crack but as its called a dictonary attack the easy way to protect your self is to use a random passpharse that dosent use any words mine is just random letters and numbers 40 charcters long.

[#6]

I use a Netgear DG834 and have always switched it it off at night when I have finished, it always re-syncs at the same speed next day and is still going without any problems after nearly three years, so I guess it is all down to personal preference.

[#7]

Thanks for all the comments - it seems like a one a day switch off won't cause a problem so I'll try that during the week and leave it on all weekend.  Then I'll see what happens to the sync speed and what effect it has.
cheers
BobG

[#8]

Quote from: Hobo

I use a Netgear DG834 and have always switched it it off at night when I have finished, it always re-syncs at the same speed next day and is still going without any problems after nearly three years, so I guess it is all down to personal preference.

It's more like a matter of quality of BT line, rather than personal preference.  If your line has a strong signal, then invariably you will get the same (good) sync speed everytime you resync.  On the other hand if the quality of the line is ropy, then you could well end up with a low sync speed event, next time you resync.  In that case, you would be better off to leave it on continuously (or after you managed to get a high enough link speed).  As it has already been said, multiple resyncs will make the BT exchange think that there is a fault on the line and will reduce the link speed to achieve some stability on the connection.  It is documented that resyncing more than 10 times in a single hour will definitely end up in a lower sync speed, but I have witnessed it with as little as six or so resyncs within the hour.  What you should know is that a single re-sync event that takes place immediately (i.e. switching off and soon after switching back on your router) will engage the 'blip logic' of the BT exchange equipment and the same link speed that you had before the resync will be retained.  Switching it off for longer periods, i.e. like you want to switch it off overnight, will not engage the 'blip logic' and you will get as high a sync speed as your line can support at the time the router is switched back on again.
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Regards,
Mick

[#9]

When you say "leave it on", do you mean powered or connected?  When I turn my system off, the Power light and Sync light remain on - is that enough?

[#10]

Great, thanks.