I Used A $4 Timer To Reboot My Router, And It Actually Made My Internet Faster

1 hour ago

pros and cons

Pros

Simple, no-fuss gadget.
Reboots each 24 hours.
No apps, buttons, aliases settings.

Cons

No action to alteration reboot interval.
No denotation of really agelong until it reboots.
Only 1 DC jack size.

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It's a truth of life that consumer-grade routers can beryllium a bit… rubbish. Sure, you tin lick galore of your internet-related woes by buying a bunch of high-end gear and past connecting to a high-speed net pipe, but astir group don't person nan rate aliases inclination to do that. Most group conscionable want their reels to load faster.

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I've been successful tech now for 3 decades, and 1 point I've known since nan dawn of clip -- erstwhile net bits flowed astatine speeds that look glacial by today's standards done modems attached to beige desktop PCs -- is that 1 guaranteed measurement to velocity up an net relationship is to reboot a router.

But who has clip to flip a move nowadays? I want my switches to flip for me. Well, now they can, acknowledgment to Router Rebooter.

What is simply a Router rebooter?

The Router Rebooter uses 5.5mm x 2.1mm DC jacks.

It's a mini cablegram that sits inline pinch nan router's DC powerfulness cablegram and cuts nan powerfulness to nan router each 24 hours.

Yes, it's that simple.

There are nary buttons, dials, knobs, aliases an app to power nan dongle. You plug nan powerfulness cable's DC jack into 1 extremity of nan Router Rebooter, plug nan different extremity into nan router, and it starts counting down. Within 24 hours, nan dongle will unopen disconnected nan router's powerfulness for 5 seconds.

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As for power, nan dongle tin grip voltages from 5V to 15V, truthful there's nary problem there, since that is nan scope of DC powerfulness supplies utilized pinch user electronics.

The only imaginable bump successful nan roadworthy is nan size of nan DC jack. This Router Rebooter uses 5.5mm x 2.1mm DC jacks, which I've recovered is nan astir communal size for routers. I tested this jack connected a fewer different systems I person lying around, and it fitted perfectly.

How I'm utilizing it astatine home

I've installed nan Rebooter successful a fewer section businesses that suffer from low-quality Wi-Fi infrastructure, yet trust connected this relationship for paper payments and different operations.

One specified business uses a inexpensive provider-supplied router, and rebooting nan instrumentality meant climbing down a antagonistic and freeing nan router from a tangle of wires.

It's a mess, but it's a messiness I can't touch until nan extremity of nan season. Until then, nan Router Rebooter refreshes nan net relationship daily, and vexation levels astatine nan business person eased dramatically.

Even getting to this router requires callesthenics/gymnastics/yoga skills!

So, why does rebooting a router velocity up nan net connection?

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Well, for illustration immoderate computer, a router has constricted representation and processing power. Over time, nan instrumentality tin go bogged down and glitchy. Rebooting clears its memory, ends each tasks, reloads its operating system, and forces nan router to make a caller relationship pinch nan net work provider.

I couldn't defy taking nan Router Rebooter isolated to spot what's inside.

Perfect for incorporating successful projects!

The instrumentality wrong is simply a elemental circuit board. This setup sewage maine reasoning that anyone pinch coagulated electronics and soldering skills could solder this instrumentality straight to their modem's powerfulness cable, wrap it successful shrink wrap, and do distant pinch a abstracted dongle altogether. The circuit committee could besides beryllium utilized wrong a project.

ZDNET's buying advice

For $8, you get 2 Router Rebooter dongles, a achromatic 1 and a achromatic one, which is simply a bully woody because this attack gives you a spare instrumentality to tinker with, if you're that measurement inclined. This dongle is astir arsenic basal arsenic they get, but if you want thing much complicated, well, it's now a lawsuit of really overmuch you want to spend.

I've tested a "smart" dongle pinch automatic net monitoring that reboots erstwhile nan net goes down and tin reboot regular aliases monthly, which is beautiful bully service. There are besides IP-enabled dongles pinch a USB-C aliases DC jack connected nan end, including an app, unreality power features, and more, if you want other functionality.

But for absolute simplicity pinch maximum function, it's difficult to hit nan Router Rebooter. I've bought a mates much to adhd to nan distant cameras I use, which besides use from regular reboots.