IN trying to lower your energy bills this year, the first place you might look is the living room.
But there’s one energy saving trick that could be the reason behind your lagging internet.
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The 21st Century living room is an obvious energy drain, with most decked out with a TV, gaming console, computer and Wi-Fi router.
Turning off electronics at the wall has always been best practice – and has become a regular habit for most as we try to whittle down energy bills.
But according to BT and Sky, switching off your Wi-Fi router could lead to slower download speeds and cyber safety issues.
When your router is switched on, it helps improve the speeds you receive because your internet service provider is confident that the connection is strong.
Whereas if you constantly switch off your hub, your provider might be led to believe that the line has become unstable.
To combat this, your broadband company will automatically reduce the speeds you receive in order to improve the reliability of your broadband connection.
If this happens, you’ll notice that your internet becomes much slower and anything you try do online – such as stream shows on Netflix – will take longer.
Beyond slower speeds, continually turning your router off at the mains could leave the device open to malware.
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Malware is software that is specifically designed to disrupt or damage your device, or gain unauthorised access into the network.
BT and Sky, two of the largest broadband providers in the UK, have both issued warnings as to why you should keep your Wi-Fi hub switched – especially overnight when you’re less likely to be using it.
Most internet service providers push out software updates overnight, when there is much less internet traffic.
This is to minimise any disruption to your browsing.
But if your router misses new software patches because it’s turned off, then you can quickly become exposed malware and other cyber bugs.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
