Is It Bad to Restart Ur Router Again and Again

How Often Should You Reboot Your Router?

Know when to reboot your router and then y'all can maintain a healthy, speedy internet connection.

April 15, 2021 Share
Equipment Guides, How-To

A proficient rule of thumb is to reboot your router or wireless gateway once a month to clear out its memory and refresh your wired and wireless connections. All the same, at that place's no definitive rule for how often you should reboot either unit.

Merely don't confuse the term "reboot" with "reset"—they're not the same. A "reboot" simply restarts your wireless router, while a "reset" restores your router to its default factory settings. You'll want to perform a reset just if y'all're troubleshooting and reboots don't work.

We'll explain how to reboot your router and why you should. We'll too explain how to perform a factory reset if your troubleshooting comes to that point.

Are you rebooting your router to improve your speed?

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How to reboot your router

Rebooting your router or wireless gateway (a router/modem combo) is easy and often necessary if you're experiencing net slowdowns, specially on Wi-Fi connections. There are three options for rebooting your router: power cycling your router, using a compatible app for your router, or using the router'due south spider web interface.

Option 1: Power bicycle your router

One way to reboot your router is to pull the plug. You lot won't hurt it—in fact, power cycling is a ameliorate, faster solution than using the app or web-based backend. Why? Because you're assuasive the router's motherboard to drain any remaining electricity and release data stored in the arrangement memory. This method more often than not solves your connection issue.

Step 1: Unplug the power cord from the electrical socket.

Step 2: Look 30 seconds.

Step three: Plug the power cord back into the electrical socket.

Option 2: Utilize a compatible app

Many modernistic routers and wireless gateways now provide mobile apps to manage your wireless network, create a guest Wi-Fi network , and change a few settings. These apps also typically include a button somewhere within the settings that you can tap to reset the device.

Case: Utilise the Linksys app

From the home screen, practice the following:

Stride ane: Tap the Internet Tiresome button located in the bottom right corner.

Pace two: Tap the Restart Your Router link.

Yous can also reboot the router using the menu. Here's how:

Step one: Tap the "hamburger" icon located in the top left corner.

Step 2: Tap Network Administration .

Step 3: Tap the Restart Router button.

Do you take a wireless gateway?

You'll likely see a button that reads Restart Equipment or something similar. For example, you'll find this push button in Spectrum'due south My Spectrum app when you tap Services followed by Modem.

Option 3: Use the spider web interface

Most standalone routers and wireless gateways provide a backend interface yous can access using a web browser . Once you enter the username and password, y'all tin reboot the device somewhere from within the settings.

However, the interface provided by each manufacturer is different, so our Linksys instructions might not friction match what you meet on units supplied by other manufacturers.

Instance: Reboot a Linksys router

Step 1: Open a web browser, and enter the router'southward web or IP address. Linksys prints the web address on a characterization stuck to the bottom of its routers.

Step ii: Enter the username and countersign to log in.

Step 3: Click Troubleshooting listed nether Router Settings displayed on the left.

Step four: Click the Diagnostics tab.

Step 5: Click the Restart Router link displayed under Restart.

7 reasons why you should reboot your router

A router is a miniature calculator with a processor, system memory, and enough storage to house the operating system. Its job is to assign addresses to all devices and route cyberspace traffic to those addresses. It's the only public-facing device in your home network while all your computers, tablets, consoles, and other internet-capable devices "hide" behind it.

That said, in that location are many reasons why you should reboot your router from time to fourth dimension.

Your router is low on system memory

When your router boots, the processor throws everything that it needs into the system memory. Call back of organization memory as a temporary holding prison cell and scratch pad. At some betoken, all that data juggling not only wears down the processor but as well fills the memory's capacity.

With no working room, the processor slows, as do your wired and wireless connections. A reboot clears the memory so the processor can work optimally.

Perhaps you demand a new router!

Like a desktop, laptop, or smartphone, routers get sluggish over time due to age. Consult our lists for the best gigabit routers or the best long-range routers if you lot believe information technology'south time for an upgrade.

Your modem and router aren't communicating properly

Your modem is nothing more than than a translator. It takes signals sent by your internet provider and converts them into signals the router can understand and distribute. Miscommunication tin can happen over time, requiring you to reboot both devices to clear up the confusion.

This requirement is especially relevant when the modem desynchronizes with your internet provider's operator—a device that communicates with multiple consumer-side modems.

You have an IP address conflict

Your router has a public IP address assigned past your net provider. It likewise has a private IP address not assigned by your provider that interfaces with your devices. Information technology uses this individual IP accost to assign an individual address to each device so information technology knows where to route net traffic.

An IP address conflict happens when two devices have the same address. Conflicts should never occur, as the router assigns addresses based on each device'southward wired and wireless networking hardware.

However, conflicts can eventually appear, especially if yous assigned a static IP accost—one that never changes—to a device. In this scenario, the router assigned the same address to some other device. Restarting the router and the devices with alien addresses will clear the issue.

Does a modem have an address?

Your modem has an address, merely only for hardware direction. It's not used for internet connectivity— just to run into and troubleshoot the device from the provider's side.

Your router is overheating

Components like processors, system memory, and transistors generate heat and need ventilation to dissipate that heat. These components can't function optimally when hot, and excessive rut can cause damage and device failure over time. Overheating translates to tiresome speeds and dropped signals.

Ability cycling your router for a few moments allows these components to absurd down, so they return to optimal functioning. Nonetheless, if you have an old router and more connected devices than it can handle, the high traffic can stress the processor to the point that it grows as well hot to function normally. A new router may be in order or moving it to a location with meliorate ventilation.

Thwart hackers

Your internet provider assigns a public, dynamic IP address to your router or wireless gateway. When y'all reboot either device, it receives a new IP accost from your net provider.

With that in mind, you lot tin reduce your chances of a cyber attack by acquiring a new public IP address each time y'all reboot. That way, a hacker can't use one of your old public IP addresses to gain control of your router.

What'south the deviation betwixt a dynamic and a static IP address?

A dynamic IP accost is a random public address assigned past your internet provider that changes every fourteen days or so, depending on the provider. Your router or wireless gateway also "leases" new private addresses to your devices every 7 days. A static IP address, all the same, never changes, whether it's public or private.

Change the frequency channel

The 2.iv GHz and five GHz frequency bands divide into numerous channels, nigh of which overlap. Your router or wireless gateway automatically selects the best channel. Still, those channels tin can become crowded over fourth dimension from other networks using the same airwaves and the devices you and everyone else use.

While you can open the router'south settings and manually switch channels, you'll demand to know which channels to use earlier making the change. Rebooting your router or wireless gateway allows the device to rescan the area and select the channels you demand for the best wireless performance.

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How to schedule a reboot

Some modern routers and wireless gateways provide the ways to schedule a reboot from within a uniform app or spider web-based interface.

For example, TP-Link routers have a tool that allows you to prepare the day, time, and interval. You could then schedule a monthly reboot at 3:00 a.m. every Lord's day, so you're non disrupting everyone's connexion during regular hours.

If you can't schedule a reboot, you can purchase a smart plug that cuts power to the router on a specific solar day, time, and duration. Xiaomi's Mi Smart Plug is a good example, as you can create a schedule within the Mi Home app ( Android / iOS ) using the Set Time characteristic (not the Schedule component).

Case: Set a schedule on a Mi Smart Plug

Step 1: With Mi Habitation open, tap on a smart plug that's already connected to your wireless network and paired with your Mi Home account.

Step 2: Tap Set Time .

Step 3: Tap Start Fourth dimension and select a time when you want the plug to cutting ability.

Step 4: Tap Repeat followed by Custom on the popular-upward menu to set up a specific day.

Step 5: Tap the bank check marker in the meridian right corner to relieve your settings.

Step half-dozen: Tap End Time and select a time and day when the plug resumes ability to the router.

Want to run across if a reboot stock-still your cyberspace slowdown?

Be sure to run our speed test to find out if at that place'due south whatever improvement. Nosotros propose that you run the test from a wired device get-go.

Run the Speed Test

Should y'all reboot or reset your router?

A router reboot or reset depends on the situation. These terms take different meanings, although they're used synonymously when referring to network troubleshooting.

A router reboot does the post-obit:

Clears out the memory
Resolves conflicts with the modem
Resolves conflicts with IP addresses
Changes your public IP address
Rediscovers the best channels

A router reset does the following:

Reverts all settings back to their manufacturing plant defaults

A router reset is similar to resetting a PC or a mobile device to its factory defaults. It restores the operating arrangement, reverts all settings to their out-of-the-box country, and deletes everything you downloaded to the device.

When you should reset your router

Resets are ideal for fixing bad software installations, immigration out unseen junk, and removing malware. It's your last-ditch pick before tossing your router out the window and purchasing a new model.

You should reset your router when no other options are available. However, this method resets everything: the firmware, the network'due south name, the login credentials, the Wi-Fi password, and any customizations you fabricated before the reset, like port forrad and static IP addresses.

Rebooting and resetting became a hot topic in 2018 when the VPNFilter malware infected 500,000 routers fabricated by Linksys, MikroTik, NETGEAR, and TP-Link. The Federal Agency of Investigation (FBI) brash owners to reboot their routers to disrupt the botnet temporarily. ¹ The U.s. Section of Justice followed up with a warning that owners should reset their infected routers. 2

That said, you lot should reset your router to the mill default settings if you experience ane of these scenarios:

Information technology's infected with malware.
It refuses a password yous can't recover.
Information technology stops functioning correctly later a firmware update.
You want to sell it, give it abroad, or toss it in the trash.

Don't reset your cyberspace provider'southward router or gateway!

The equipment is non yours to change, so any unintentional damage caused by a reset comes out of your pocket. If you lot feel one of the scenarios above with rented equipment, call your provider to take a technician visit or supply a new unit of measurement.

How to reset your router or wireless gateway

Most routers and wireless gateways provide a push on the back that you press to revert them to their out-of-the-box state. Manufacturers provide this button in two ways:

Surface-mounted: Only printing and agree for 10 seconds.
Recessed-mounted: The button is inside a pigsty. Use a paper clip to reach in and press and hold the button for ten seconds.

Once you release the button, you should come across LEDs on the device indicating that information technology's performing a hard reset and booting up with the refreshed settings.

Are you experiencing speed problems with your electric current program?

If a reboot or reset doesn't help, yous may demand an internet upgrade. Enter your zip lawmaking below to find a better plan that'southward bachelor in your area.

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Author - Kevin Parrish

Kevin Parrish has more than a decade of experience working equally a writer, editor, and product tester. He began writing about computer hardware and before long branched out to other devices and services such as networking equipment, phones and tablets, game consoles, and other net-continued devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others. At HighSpeedInternet.com, he focuses on internet security.

Editor - Cara Haynes

Cara Haynes has been editing and writing in the digital infinite for seven years, and she's edited all things internet for HighSpeedInternet.com for v years. She graduated with a BA in English and a small in editing from Brigham Young Academy. When she'south not editing, she makes tech accessible through her freelance writing for brands like Pluralsight. She believes no 1 should feel lost in internet country and that a good net connectedness significantly extends your life bridge.

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