I rebooted my router, ran the numbers, and ruined a wonderfully good tech fantasy

You all know the one rule of PC possession: In case your PC glitches or isn’t working at full effectivity, reboot it. However does that trick apply to your router, too?

A complete subset of the web appears to suppose so, together with a Reddit thread on the topic. However does it? In response to my testing, there’s anecdotal proof to consider it does — and combination proof that exhibits it doesn’t do something in any respect.

Granted, I don’t personal your router, so I can’t predict the outcomes of your setup. However something that will increase your router’s throughput cuts down on obtain occasions, enhancing productiveness and easily making your complete PC expertise really feel quicker. Nobody can work successfully with an unexpectedly sluggish web connection.

Why do folks have to reboot their router, anyway?

Some folks use simply their ISP’s web gateway, which may double as a router; others would possibly join a second gaming or mesh router to enhance protection. Both method, each in all probability sit on a shelf or desk, untouched and unnoticed aside from if you substitute it. Rebooting a router — which will be performed remotely, by way of an app, or just simply by unplugging it — isn’t one thing you end up typically needing to do.

As a substitute, most router upkeep entails guaranteeing that its firmware is updated. Updating your router firmware is an train in each PC productiveness and safety: New router firmware can add new options and seal any vulnerabilities that may let in attackers. Living proof: shock vulnerabilities in older Asus routers that may emerge from out of the blue.

However your web connection is one thing of a black field. If it’s working at regular speeds, you ignore it. If it’s sluggish or uneven, you begin to marvel: Is it my ISP? My PC? The router? Do I would like to fret if my router settings are optimized, or can I simply unplug the rattling factor for a minute or two to get it again on monitor?

That’s what I got down to check.

If you happen to’re like me, you in all probability spend your tech {dollars} on telephones and PCs and wi-fi plans and streaming subscriptions, however Wi-Fi expires quicker than you suppose. My Wi-Fi 5 residence mesh community nonetheless receives firmware updates, however after Netgear knowledgeable me {that a} secondary community I’d used had moved out of help, I’ve begun replacements. (I additionally use a house gateway provided by my ISP, Comcast.)

My children will sometimes wander into my residence workplace complaining that the web is sluggish, and that’s after I want to start out troubleshooting. The best step? Merely rebooting the router.

As a result of my residence community is “reside,” with gadgets speaking to and from one another and to the web, one check wouldn’t be sufficient. I selected to run seven velocity checks within the early afternoon, sequentially, utilizing Bing’s built-in velocity check, powered by Speedtest.internet. (Utilizing Bing, merely sort in “speedtest.” You too can obtain the Speedtest by Ookla app.) I then unplugged the router and gateway, and plugged them again in after 30 seconds, and repeated the checks.

Mark Hachman / Foundry

(I selected to make use of Bing’s Speedtest website solely due to anecdotal reviews that the precise Speedtest.internet website inflates obtain speeds. I don’t know if that’s objectively true, however Speedtest did report considerably quicker speeds than Bing’s velocity check did.)

On the suggestion of my editor, who additionally struggles with poor connection speeds, I carried out the identical velocity check over Wi-Fi, from my cellphone, positioned on a desk. On this case, I used Google’s personal built-in velocity check, not Bing. However I used to be focused on testing the throughput earlier than and after rebooting the gadgets, not in evaluating the testing algorithms.

Rebooting the router: Examined!

The outcomes have been decidedly fascinating, as nothing modified…although as a person you may be tempted to suppose it did.

The one significant change within the knowledge is the uptick in knowledge throughput within the direct connection between my PC and my router, which labored out to a flat 10 %. However the knowledge itself was far more irregular after rebooting the router than it had been earlier than, with outlying outcomes of 554Mbits/s, 939Mbits/s, 561Mbits/s, and 940Mbits. Previous to rebooting, the information confirmed far much less variation: The outliers have been 724Mbits/s and 568Mbit/s.

Curiously, I’m alleged to be on a 800Mpbs Comcast Xfinity residence web plan!

Mark Hachman / Foundry

I additionally checked Speedtest.com (versus Bing’s implementation) to see if it reported quicker scores. As a result of Bing doesn’t report the server it connects to, whereas Speedtest.com does, I couldn’t make a direct comparability. However Speedtest.com did report constant throughput scores of about 930Mbps, a lot quicker than my contracted plan and what Bing’s check reported.

However utilizing Bing’s velocity check metric, there was no statistically important distinction in throughput earlier than and after rebooting my router. However anecdotally, you might definitely intuit how a person may suppose that that they had quicker throughput after rebooting the router. If I noticed a velocity check results of 940 megabits per second, I’d definitely suppose so! However once more, statistically, I’d want dozens extra velocity checks to verify that I used to be, actually, seeing a significant change.

However, , I couldn’t go away nicely sufficient alone…so I checked once more at about 6:30 PM, when folks arrive residence from work and my neighborhood’s web might need much more congestion. Would my throughput go down, lastly?

No. It went up. Once more.

Mark Hachman / Foundry

Sure, I ran one other seven checks. And once more, the outliers have been dramatic: 594Mbps and 938Mbps obtain speeds. I used to be nonetheless fairly assured that rebooting made no distinction, however those that consider in it have extra proof to level to: an 18 % distinction.

Argh!

Are either side…proper?

It’s doubtless that the entire fantasy of rebooting your router emerged from the truth that early Wi-Fi routers weren’t essentially set as much as accommodate a rising family of internet-connected gadgets. The logic, no less than then, was that too many gadgets may lavatory down the router’s obtainable reminiscence. I can guarantee you that between varied internet-connected TVs, set-top containers, laptops, consoles, telephones, and extra, I’ve as many linked gadgets as the standard family does. I haven’t had as many complaints from relations since I moved to a mesh community, with extra protection all through my residence.

Nonetheless, there could also be causes to reboot sometimes. Your router might get hold of wi-fi channels with out congestion by itself, or together with your guide help by way of an app. Nonetheless, each time you join, your router ought to hunt down an uncongested wi-fi channel. Rebooting might also ship your router off on a hunt for up to date firmware, which is at all times a plus.

However at this level, this GIF just about summed up my way of thinking:

I needed to get some readability on the matter. I requested a number of router makers if rebooting a router truly advantages customers. The reply? It doesn’t.

“MSI routers are constructed on a mature firmware structure engineered for long-term stability and environment friendly useful resource administration, so periodic reboots merely aren’t vital to take care of efficiency,” Jason Chang, an affiliate product advertising and marketing supervisor at MSI, informed PCWorld by way of e mail.

“Whereas the GUI does embody an elective scheduled reboot characteristic, it exists purely as a comfort for customers preferring it, not as a system requirement,” Chang continued. “Personally, I’ve by no means had motive to allow it. In on a regular basis use, MSI router house owners can anticipate persistently sturdy efficiency, no routine reboots required.”

Netgear’s senior vice chairman of residence networking, Jonathan Oakes, agreed.

“Rebooting a house router can assist repair occasional points like sluggish speeds or dropped connections by resetting community exercise, however it’s not one thing folks ought to should do usually on a well-performing community,” he stated in an emailed assertion. “At Netgear, our routers are designed to ship constant efficiency with out routine restarts, so if you end up rebooting typically, it’s normally an indication of different elements like interference, congestion, or older tools that must be changed.

“What issues extra is conserving the router updated,” Oakes added. “Netgear routers help computerized firmware updates that ship vital safety patches and have enhancements to assist shield your own home community and hold issues working easily over time. If it’s not already enabled, turning on computerized updates is the simplest method to preserve sturdy, dependable Wi-Fi with out having to consider it.”

But when your web nonetheless feels sluggish, there’s one other resolution: Name your ISP. Help techs can run distant checks to find out whether or not there’s work being performed in your space, an issue together with your router or cable, or another difficulty. They will additionally ship a technician to go to your own home and examine your gateway. Even older coax cable — one thing you’ll be able to’t do something about — could possibly be the issue.

Nonetheless, after some testing and session, I feel I’ve reached a conclusion: This fantasy is busted, particularly on newer gadgets. The key to higher throughput? Improve your plan, purchase a more recent router, or examine with a tech. Rebooting your router alone gained’t clear up your issues.

Even when I in all probability haven’t satisfied the conspiracy theorists on the market.