Author: Ross Ricky

When you’re having problems with your home internet, the most common advice you’ll receive is to reboot your router.

More often than not, this seems to give your internet a boost and clear up any issues you’re experiencing. What most people fail to mention, however, is that you can set your router to reboot automatically.

That’s right. Once it’s set up, you don’t to do anything. Your router will reboot on its own.

So how do you go about setting your router to reboot automatically?

Routers can be set to automatically reboot by accessing the router’s settings page. The router’s reboot schedule can normally be set in the Advanced Settings page. Parameters such as the frequency of reboot and the time the reboot occurs can usually be determined in these settings.

In this post, we’ll look at the benefits of resetting your router, and the steps you need to take to set your router to automatically reboot.

What Does It Mean to Reboot Your Router?

Before we dive into the benefits of rebooting your router, let’s cover what a reboot is.

A reboot is the cycling of power on a device. In other words, it’s turning the device off and then turning it back on after a set period of time.

What Are the Benefits of Rebooting Your Router?

We’re instructed to occasionally reboot many of our electronic devices like our phones, computers, and tablets. Routers are no different.

Why are we instructed to do this?

Rebooting your devices provides numerous benefits.

When it reboots, your router:

• Clears its memory to make sure it’s not bogged down by storing useless information
• Automatically selects the best wireless channels to use when communicating with your devices
• May be better protected from cyber attacks

Let’s discuss these benefits further to explain what each of these mean.

Memory Is Cleared When a Router Is Rebooted

Routers are basically scaled-down computers. This means they have storage, memory, and processors that allow it to function, just like your laptop does.

The difference between your laptop and router is that we ask our routers to run 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Your demands for your laptop are much more relaxed, as it gets powered on and off as you need it.

What are the consequences of this?

The biggest impact this has is on your device’s memory.

Computers (and routers) have memory that gets reset each time the device is powered off. This is called random access memory, or RAM.

While it’s operating your router stores information in RAM such as:

• Information about the devices connected to it
• The fastest ways to send data to different locations
• Any changes to the router’s configuration settings while it’s running

The longer your router is running without being powered off, the more information it will have stored in RAM. Over time, more devices will connect to your router, changes will be made to the router’s configuration, and more information about the best ways to route data will be recorded.

Why is this a bad thing?

Your router has a limited amount of memory. If it runs for a long period of time without rebooting, it can run out of memory. When this happens it won’t be able to work as quickly, which slows down your internet connections.

By rebooting your router, you give its memory a clean slate to work with. It will ensure that any unnecessary information is cleared from memory to make sure it isn’t taking up precious space.

The Best Wireless Channels Are Automatically Selected After a Reboot

We all know that your router provides wireless internet connections to your devices. What’s less known is that there are multiple channels that your router and devices can communicate over.

For example, a router that operates on a 2.4 gigahertz network and 5 gigahertz network (which is the standard for new routers) has 56 different channels it can communicate on. The 2.4 gigahertz network has 11 channels and the 5 gigahertz network has 45 channels.

WiFi channels are like the channels of a hand-held two-way radio, or walkie talkie device. There are some channels that will be congested with other people using them, while others will allow for clear communication because no one is using them. For the best communication, you need to find a channel that doesn’t have any interference.

Routers work the same way.

When your router powers on, it will scan through the available WiFi channels to find the ones that allow for the best connection. It will automatically select the best channels to use and it will use those channels to communicate with your devices.

The problem with this is that your router selects the best wireless channels to use only when it starts up. It doesn’t adjust the WiFi channels it uses while it’s operating because it could confuse your devices.

This presents a problem when other people and devices start using the same channels that your router chose when it powered on. If more people start using the same WiFi channels as your router, it will interfere with your connections. Interference will lead to a slower internet connection for your devices because the communication with your router won’t be as seamless.

By rebooting your router, you can be confident that the wireless channels being used won’t be too crowded by other devices.

Rebooting Your Router Helps Protect Against Cyber Attacks

Back in 2018, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) asked all United States citizens to reboot their routers. The FBI had information that a cyber attack from a foreign country was trying to gain access to people’s home routers. Rebooting the router prevented the attackers from maintaining access to the devices. This also bought time to update and patch the routers so they wouldn’t be vulnerable to the attack moving forward.

Although this is just one example, it shows how important rebooting your router can be. Cybersecurity has become more of an emphasis in recent years as more and more devices are connected to the internet.

We see news about cyber attacks every day, and this isn’t a trend that’s going to stop any time soon. As a result, you should be doing everything you can to protect yourself and your devices. Even if rebooting your router provides only a minimal amount of added protection, it’s definitely worth the effort.

This is why setting up your router to reboot automatically is so valuable. You can added protection against cyber attacks without having to think about it.

The tricky part about this benefit is that you probably won’t even know if you’re avoiding a cyber attack by rebooting your router. In any case, it should give you peace of mind to know that you may be more secure.

How Often Should You Reboot Your Router?

Rebooting your router is not a perfect science.

Everyone will have a different experience based upon:

• The age of their router
• How many devices they have connected to their network
• The amount of interference from other devices
• How their router is set up
• The reliability of the internet connection with the Internet Service Provider (ISP)

Because of these factors, some people will need to reboot their router more often than others.

I would suggest rebooting your router every few months to start. That is a good place to start.

From there, just monitor your internet’s performance and go from there. If you find that your internet connection is still sluggish at times, reboot it monthly (or more often).

Do some experimenting to find the right schedule for you and your network. With that said, if you find that you have to reboot your router on a daily basis, you may want to think about getting a new one.

You shouldn’t have to reboot your router every day to get it to work properly.

When Should You Reboot My Router?

Finding a good time to reboot your router is pretty easy to do. Just pick a time where you’re not using the internet.

For most people, this is in the middle of the night when they’re sleeping. How often are you awake and using the internet at 3 a.m. on a Monday?

I didn’t think so.

If you work in an office building and are away from home all day, that’s another good window where you can reboot your router.

The thing to keep in mind here is that rebooting your router should take less than 10 minutes. I’m sure there are 10 minute spans throughout the day (or on a certain day of the week) where you’re not using the internet.

Just find the day and time that works best for your internet usage pattern and daily schedule.

How to Automatically Reboot Your Router

In order to set your router to reboot automatically, you’ll need to access your router’s settings.

To do this, start by entering the default address of your router in your browser search bar. You can most likely find the default access location of your router on a sticker on the router itself. For example, the default access location for my TP-Link Archer A7 router is http://tplinkwifi.net.

You can also access your router’s settings by typing its IP address into the browser search bar. If you have a Windows system, you can find the IP address of your router by opening a command prompt window and typing “ipconfig” and pressing enter.

Your router’s IP address will be listed as the default gateway in the resulting information. As you can see, my default gateway IP address is 192.168.0.1. This is the IP address of most people’s routers.

After typing in the default address location or IP address of your router into the search bar, enter your login credentials for your router.

Once you have logged into your router, go to Advanced Settings.

In Advanced Settings, there should be an option to change the system settings for the router.

On my router, this section is called “System Tools”. In Seystem Tools there’s a section called “Reboot Schedule”.

In the reboot schedule settings, you can select the time and frequency that you want your router to reboot.

After setting your router to reboot at a time that fits your internet usage schedule, select “Save” to lock in your changes.

Your router will now reboot automatically at the scheduled time without any further action on your part.

How to Reboot Your Router Manually

If for some reason it’s not convenient to reboot your router on an automatic schedule, you can also reboot it manually.

Thankfully, it’s very easy to do. There are different steps you can take to reboot your router depending upon if it has a power button or not.

How to Reboot Your Modem if Your Router Has a Power Button

Look at the back of your router. Check to see if your router has a power button on it. It should look something like this:

If your router has a power button, press it to turn the router off.

Now wait 30-60 seconds and press the power button again. This will turn the router back on.

Once the router has powered up and finished its initial setup, the reboot will be complete.

As an important note, on the back of your router you may notice a “Reset” button. For an example, refer to the picture above. Next to the “Power On/Off” button on my router is a “Reset” button.

This button is not used to reboot your router so do not press it. It will restore your router to its original factory settings and remove any changes you have made to its configuration.

Use the power button or the following method to reboot your router.

How to Reboot Your Router if Your Router Doesn’t Have a Power Button

If your router doesn’t have a power button on the back, locate the power cord. It should be plugged into the back of your router and will look something like this:

Remove the plug from the back of the router to turn it off.

Now wait for 30-60 seconds.

After 30-60 seconds has gone by, plug the power cord back into the back of the router. This will power it back on.

Once the router has powered up and finished its initial setup, the reboot will be complete.

Wrap Up

Setting up your router to automatically reboot on a schedule has multiple benefits. You should now have all the information you need to get your router to do this, if you so choose.

If you have any questions about this information or are having trouble getting your router to reboot automatically, feel free to drop a comment below.

To learn more about your router and how it affects your internet, check out the previous posts:

Does a Router Affect Your WiFi Speed?

What Is the WAN Port for on a Router?

Can a Router Overheat? A Detailed Analysis

Why Do Routers Have Multiple Antennas?

What Do My Router Lights Mean?

I’m sure you’ve noticed that there are several ports on the back of your router. Are you unsure what the one labeled “WAN” is for?

If so, you’re not alone.

Depending how it’s labeled, the WAN (or internet) port can be confusing.

The WAN port on a router is an ethernet port that is used to provide the router with access to the internet. To get a connection to the internet, an ethernet cable is plugged into the WAN port of the router, and the other end is connected to a modem with an active internet connection.

To put it simply, if your router isn’t connected to a modem through its WAN port, it won’t have internet.

In this post I’ll perform a deep dive into the WAN port on your router and explain how it’s used. I will also be answering a few commonly asked questions about the WAN port.

What Does WAN Stand For?

Most of the confusion with the WAN port comes from the fact that people don’t know what WAN means.

WAN stands for Wide Area Network.

When it comes to your home network, when we talk about a WAN we are referring to the internet.

What Is a WAN Connection?

A Wide Area Network is a communications network that spans a large geographic area. The biggest (and most widely used) WAN in the world is the internet.

It’s easiest to think of it this way: all devices that are connected to the public internet are accessing the same WAN. This includes:

• Mobile phones
• Laptops
• Internet of Things devices (e.g. security cameras and baby monitors)
• Web servers
• Smart televisions

The list goes on and on.

Any time you connect a device to the internet, it has access to the other devices that are publicly available on the internet WAN.

Let’s look at an example.

I’m sure you access your favorite websites with your laptop or mobile device on a daily basis. You can only do this because your internet device and the web servers that host your favorite sites are connected to the same WAN. In other words, they are both connected to the internet.

What would happen if your mobile device wasn’t connected to the same WAN as the web servers that host your favorite sites?

Quite simply, you wouldn’t be able to connect to them.

This is why we need a modem and router in our home network. They allow us to connect our devices to everything else that’s connected to the largest WAN in the world.

What Is a Router’s WAN Port Used For?

Hopefully now you understand the importance of the WAN port on your router. The WAN port is used to provide your devices with access to the the internet.

Take a look at the back of your router. If you don’t see a WAN port, it’s probably because it’s labeled “Internet”. Regardless of how the port is labeled, they are one in the same.

That’s the case with my TP-Link Archer A7 router:

I’m not sure if TP-Link did this because people were getting confused about what the WAN port is for, but labeling the port “Internet” is much easier to understand.

Your router uses the WAN port to relay signals from your devices to your modem. Your modem will then forward those messages out to the desired internet location.

When sites or information are being sent to your devices from the internet, the data flows in the opposite direction. Your modem will receive the requested information from the internet and pass it along to your router via the WAN port. Your router will then send that information to the device that requested it.

Of course I’m simplifying things a bit here, but that’s essentially how the WAN port works.

What Do You Connect to a Router’s WAN port?

If your modem and router are separate devices, you’ll need to connect them. This is done through the WAN port on your router.

All you’ll need to connect your router to your modem is an RJ45 ethernet cable. RJ45 is a standard type of ethernet cable, so almost any ethernet cable you find will fit the bill here. It will be safest to go with the most common type, which is a T-568B cable.

When buying an ethernet cable to connect your modem and router, the most important consideration is the speed the cable supports. You need to make sure the speed supported by the ethernet cable is greater than or equal to the speed of your internet plan (and your WAN port). The last thing you want is for your ethernet cable to slow down your connection.

For more information on selecting the proper ethernet cable for your home network, check out our previous post: Can an Ethernet Cable Slow Your Internet Speed?

One thing to note here is if your modem and router are combined into one device, your job is really easy. They’re already connected so there is no action required on your part. In fact, you won’t even have a WAN port on your device.

What Device Does a Router’s WAN Port Connect to?

Ok, so you need an ethernet cable to connect to your router’s WAN port. Let’s do that first.

Once you’ve connected an ethernet cable to the WAN (or Internet) port, it will look like this:

What about the other end of the cable? What does that connect to?

The other end of the ethernet cable will connect to your modem. It shouldn’t be difficult to determine the port to connect the ethernet cable to.

On my router, the port is labeled “Ethernet”. To make things easy, it’s the only ethernet port on the back of my modem. Once we connect my yellow ethernet cord to the Ethernet port on my modem it will look like this:

See? It’s very hard to mess up.

Now your modem can pass your router the internet signals it receives from the internet. In other words, if your modem and router are powered on and your modem is connected to the internet, your router should be connected to the internet as well.

You can check to make sure your router has internet access by looking at the lights on it. The internet light on your router will tell you if it’s connected to the internet or not.

What Is the Speed of My Router’s WAN Port?

The speed that your WAN port supports is important to know. It will determine the internet speeds that your router can provide to your internet devices.

So how do you find out the speed that your WAN port supports?

As mentioned previously, the WAN port is an ethernet port. You can look up the specifications of this port by searching for the technical details of your router.

I have a TP-Link Archer A7 router, so with a simple Google search I was able to find what I was looking for.

As you can see, my WAN port is a 10/100/1000 megabits per second (Mbps) ethernet port.

What does this mean?

It means that the port can support speeds up to 1,000 megabits per second (or 1 gigabit per second) between my modem and router. This tells me that the fastest that my modem and router can exchange data is at a 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) rate.

In other words, I can’t expect my internet to be faster than 1 Gbps at any given time.

1 Gbps is the fastest ethernet port currently available, so you’ll want to make sure your router has a 10/100/1000 Mbps port as well. If you have a 10/100 Mbps WAN port on your router, you may experience slow internet speeds when multiple devices are using the internet.

The good news is that any newer router will have a 10/100/1000 Mbps port, so you only have to worry about this with an older router.

Is a Router’s WAN Port the Same as an Ethernet Port?

If you take another look at the back of your router, I’m sure you’ll notice it has ethernet ports in addition to the WAN port.

These ports allow your devices to connect to the internet with a wired connection.

You’ve also probably noticed that there’s no difference between these ports and the WAN port on your router. RJ45 ethernet cables will fit into both port types.

This begs the question: is the WAN port the same as a regular ethernet port?

The answer is no.

The WAN port is designed to connect to a modem to receive an internet signal. You can’t use it to connect an additional device to the router if all the ethernet ports are being used.

If you plugged a device into the WAN port on your router, the router wouldn’t have an internet signal. This is the reason why people use routers in the first place. If you just need to connect multiple devices and don’t need access to the internet, you can use an ethernet switch instead.

Wrap Up

The WAN port provides a means for your router to connect to the internet. Without it, your router wouldn’t be able to perform its main function of providing your devices with internet connections.

Do you have any additional questions about the WAN port on your router? If so, feel free to drop a comment below.

If you would like to learn more about your router and how it functions, check out our previous articles:

Can a Router Overheat? A Detailed Analysis

Why Do Routers Have Multiple Antennas?

What Do My Router Lights Mean?

Does a Router Affect Your WiFi Speed?

Your router is one of the most important internet devices in your home. Without one, you’d be stuck using the data plan on your mobile phone every time you wanted to use the internet.

With this in mind, you’d think people would take better care of their router.

In reality, quite the opposite happens.

Once a router is set up and delivering blazing WiFi speeds to your devices, it often becomes an afterthought. This is risky behavior, as it can lead to issues with your router.

One of the biggest issues you could run in to is your router overheating.

Routers can overheat if they are exposed to harsh environmental conditions or not maintained properly. If a router overheats, it can result in a slow or dropped internet connection. It is also possible that a router will need to be replaced if it gets too hot or overheats for too long.

In this post I’ll detail what to look for if you think your router is overheating. I’ll also explain what you can do to prevent it from happening in the first place.

What Does It Mean for a Router to Overheat?

Routers overheat when they operate at higher temperatures than they’re designed for.

Routers are similar to modems and other electronic products. When they are powered on, the electricity running through them generates heat. The heat will raise the temperature of the circuits in the device unless it’s released into the surrounding air.

Electronic devices don’t work well in hot conditions, and they can even malfunction if they operate at a high temperatures for too long.

This is why it’s so important to make sure your router doesn’t get too hot. I know you don’t want to pay for a new one.

Thankfully you’re not on your own to solve this problem.

The wonderful designers of your router have thought of this. If you look closely you’ll find vents on your router. These vents allow air to flow through your device to help cool it down.

For example, here is the bottom of my Tp-Link Archer A7 router:

All the holes help air flow through the router to cool it off.

There are even some vents on the top panel, but they’re harder to see.

Here’s a closer view of the top vents from the side.

With vents on the router, it makes it easier to keep it from overheating. Just follow the tips that I provide later in this article and you’ll be all set.

Now let’s dive into how to know if you’re router is overheating.

How to Tell if a Router Is Overheating

It isn’t very hard to tell if something is wrong with your router. It’s a little more difficult to tell if your router is overheating.

I view it as a two-step process.

The Internet Connection Will Slow Down or Drop Altogether

Your router serves as the director for all your internet traffic. It tells all the traffic where to go, and it coordinates the traffic being sent to and from the internet. Without a router, you wouldn’t be able to wirelessly connect to the internet.

I’m sure it comes as no surprise, then, that when something’s wrong with your router, it affects your internet connections.

If your router is having problems (e.g. overheating), you’ll notice that your internet slows down. Your connections may slow to a crawl, or you may lose your connection to the internet entirely.

Unfortunately, if you lose your internet connection, you can’t conclude that your router is overheating. There are many different reasons why you could lose your internet connection.

There could be:

• Problems with your internet service provider (ISP)
• Connection issues between your device and your router
• Issues with your modem
• Interference with your wireless signal

The list goes on and on.

In order to verify that your router is overheating, you have to go one step further.

The Router Will Be Hotter Than Normal

If your router is overheating, it will feel hotter than it usually does.

With that said, your router will always be warm when it’s powered on and working. To help troubleshoot issues with your router, it’ll be helpful for you to get a general idea of how warm it normally is.

If your router is on and in use (i.e. devices are using the internet), put your hand near it. You should be able to feel the heat it’s giving off. You should even be able to touch it because it shouldn’t be too hot.

Do this a few times over a period of a few hours. This will give you a general sense of how hot your router normally is.

Now that you know what your router “normally feels like”, you can tell when it’s overheating.

This is why this is an important check when determining if your router is overheating. You can’t be expected to periodically feel the temperature of your router every day. If your internet stops working, however, this is a useful second step.

For example, if your internet connection drops and your router feels hotter than usual, it’s likely that it’s overheating.

On the other side of the coin, if you lose your internet connection and your router isn’t hot to the touch, you probably didn’t lose your internet because of the router overheating. You will have to do more troubleshooting to find out what happened.

What Causes a Router to Overheat

There are generally two main ways a router can overheat. The router is either generating more heat than it normally does, or it isn’t cooling as quickly as it should.

In both of these cases, the router will operate at a high temperature and be at risk of overheating.

Let’s look into both cases.

The Router Is Generating More Heat Than It Normally Does

When a router is generating more heat than usual, it’s working too hard.

Routers have processors in them that serve as the brain of the device. The processor does all the coordinating of incoming and outgoing internet traffic. The more traffic the processor has to direct, the harder it has to work.

The harder it has to work, the hotter it will become. A router can become overwhelmed if there’s too much traffic on the network at once.

To account for this, manufacturers occasionally issue firmware updates for their routers. For those unfamiliar, firmware is essentially the software of the processor. Updating the firmware of your router allows the processor to direct internet traffic more efficiently.

As you may have guessed, if a processor can direct traffic more efficiently, it doesn’t have to work as hard. When it doesn’t have to work as hard, it generates less heat.

On the other hand if your router firmware is outdated, the opposite happens. Your router has to work harder than it should, and it generates more heat. This can lead to overheating if the router is working too hard for an extended period of time.

The Router Isn’t Cooling as Quickly as It Should

It’s possible for a router to overheat during normal operation even if the processor isn’t working harder than usual.

How so?

If the router isn’t removing heat from it’s electrical parts fast enough, it can still overheat.

There are multiple reasons why this may be the case.

Restricted Airflow

Proper airflow is essential for the cooling of routers. If the flow of air is blocked or restricted, your router won’t be able to maintain a normal operating temperature.

Let’s look at a few things that can result in restricted airflow through the router.

Router Placement

If your router is placed in a location that doesn’t get proper airflow, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

That means you don’t want your router in a closet or closed cabinet. If you put your router in a closed space, the hot air from your router will have nowhere to go. As a result, the hot air will linger near the router. This will cause your router to run at hotter temperatures, and increase the chances of it overheating.

If your router is in a closed space, not only will you run the risk of your router overheating, but you’ll probably have a poor internet connection too.

Dust Buildup

It’s inevitable that your router will collect dust. Too much dust, however, can have disastrous results.

Dust buildup in your router will restrict the flow of air through it. As you know by now, poor airflow will cause your router to run hot.

If your router is placed in an area that collects a lot of dust (like the floor or the corner of a room), you’re asking for trouble.

Hot Environmental Temperatures

A hot environment around your router will make it much harder for it to lower its temperature. Hot air won’t do much to cool your router when it flows through the device.

If you live in a warm climate without temperature-controlled rooms, this is something to note. My Archer A7 router is designed to operate in temperatures up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Even though routers are pretty resilient devices that can withstand some stress, you’ll want to take action if your rooms are normally over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep reading for some tips to help you keep your router cool if his is the case for you.

This also goes for other devices that generate heat (e.g. TVs and heaters). These devices will raise the temperature of the air around the router, making it harder for it to cool down.

Humidity of the Environment

You won’t have to worry about high humidity causing your router to overheat. I still have to mention it because it’s possible a humid environment can lead to overheating in extreme cases.

If the environment around your router is very humid, it will make it harder for the router to cool down. This is similar to the case of a high temperature environment in the section above. If the air running through the router is humid, it won’t have much cooling effect on the device.

With that said, routers are pretty resistant to humid environments. As an example, my Archer A7 router can operate in indoor humidity levels up to 90%. An environment with a 90% humidity level isn’t healthy for humans to be in for an extended period. The bottom line is it isn’t realistic for you to have a 90% humidity level inside your house or office.

How to Prevent a Router From Overheating

Here is a good reference guide with tips for keeping your router cool.

You don’t have to do too much to prevent your router from overheating. If you keep your router in a good location and update it’s firmware on a regular basis, you won’t have anything to worry about.

Here are some things you can do to promote a long life from your router.

Router Maintenance

Let me start by saying that routers don’t require much maintenance. The two things you can do to keep your router humming along are to:

• Update the firmware when new firmware becomes available
• Use pressurized air to clean dust from the router

Every few months or so, it’s a good idea to see if new firmware updates are available for your router. Maintaining current firmware will prevent your router’s processor from working harder than it should. As I detailed earlier, if your router’s processor is running efficiently, it won’t generate excess heat.

By removing dust from inside your router, it will improve the flow of air through it. Sufficient airflow is essential for your router to cool, so this is a worthwhile task every six months or so. On top of that, it will only take you a few minutes to complete the task.

To remove dust from your router you’ll need to buy a can of pressurized air like this one. Aim the pressurized air at the vents on your router and blow short bursts of air through it. This will remove larger particles of dust that can restrict airflow through your router.

Router Placement

When it comes to router placement, you want to keep it in an area that promotes natural airflow through it.

For best results, place your router in an open area. You’ll want it elevated and off the floor. This will not only promote good airflow, but it will also give you a stronger wireless signal in your house. A desk or shelf in an open room will do the trick here.

You’ll also want to keep the vents of your router free from obstruction. In other words, don’t stack anything on top of your router. Don’t crowd your router with other objects or devices either. They can block the vents of your router and restrict the airflow through it.

You especially don’t want to place your router near devices that generate heat. This includes TVs, heaters, or gaming systems. These devices will increase the temperature around your router, which can cause it to run hotter.

We’ll discuss this more in the next section.

Environment

The best thing you can do for your router is to place it in a climate controlled-environment. If you’re able to do this, you’re pretty much all set. You won’t have to worry about your router overheating due to the surrounding environment. Both the temperature and humidity levels will be within the operating limits of the router.

If your router will be located in a room that isn’t climate controlled, you can still take action to prevent it from getting too hot.

If the room can get really hot, you can always use a fan to circulate air around the router. Although the air around the router will be warmer, if it’s moving faster through the router it will still cool it down. I will spare you the heat transfer lesson here.

Wrap Up

There you have it. That should be all you need to know in order to prevent your router from overheating. If you have any specific questions about your router, or you would like to share your story about a router overheating, leave a comment in the comments section below.

If you liked this article, here are some related articles that may interest you as well:

Can a Modem Overheat? What to Look For

Why Do Routers Have Multiple Antennas?

What Do My Router Lights Mean?

Does a Router Affect Your WiFi Speed?

Why does a router have multiple antennas?

Would a router work the same way if it just had one antenna?

Believe it or not, your router doesn’t have multiple antennas just for looks.

A router has multiple antennas so it can:

• Send and receive multiple streams of data at a time
• Provide a wireless network that is resilient to obstruction
• Direct its WiFi signal to multiple areas where internet usage is expected

To put it simply, having more than one antenna on a router leads to a better internet experience.

Who can argue with that?

In this post we’ll dig into how router antennas function, and the benefits that multiple antennas provide.

Why Are Router Antennas Important?

Without antennas on your internet devices, WiFi wouldn’t be possible.

Antennas send out radio frequency (RF) wireless signals to your devices so they can communicate with your router. WiFi standards have established that these radio signals should be sent out on two different frequencies, either 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) or 5 gigahertz (GHz).

This is why there will be 2.4G and 5G WiFi networks in most homes. The router is able to communicate on both frequencies.

Both your router and your wireless devices have antennas that allow them to communicate over these radio frequencies. The antennas on your router may be external and easily visible, while the antennas on most of your wireless devices will be internal to the device.

Each of these antennas is able to send and receive data, so you technically only need one to establish communication between devices.

As you’ll see, however, there are benefits to having more than one on your router.

How Do Router Antennas Work?

You might notice that the antennas on your router are circular rods. Almost all routers you’ll come across with external antennas have antennas that look like this.

This isn’t an accident.

These antennas are called omnidirectional antennas. This means they send out radio signals equally in all directions.

This is an important factor when you’re deciding where to put the router in your house and how to align your antennas.

Omnidirectional antennas send out RF signals in a perpendicular direction from the antenna itself. In other words, the signal is sent straight out from the long side of the antenna.

Let’s look at some visual examples.

Looking straight down on an antenna, the signal will be sent out like this:

Looking at the antenna from the side, the router will send the signals in these directions:

You should note that the wireless signal isn’t sent out from the top of the antenna. When setting up a router, many people point the tip of the antenna in the direction they want the WiFi signal to go. This is a common mistake and won’t provide you with a better signal.

Why Do Routers Have Multiple Antennas?

Now that you know how the antennas work, let’s look at the benefits of having multiple antennas.

More Bandwidth for Your Devices

One major benefit of having multiple antennas is that a router can provide wireless devices with faster overall internet speeds.

Thanks to newer WiFi standards, each individual antenna on a router can send and receive wireless data from a device. When the bandwidth from multiple antennas is combined, faster data rates can be supported. Faster data rates means faster internet speeds.

Let’s use a 5G wireless signal for example.

One antenna giving off a 5G wireless signal can support 433 megabits per seconds (mbps) of data. If your router has two antennas, the 5G signals from each of them can be bonded together to support 866 mbps of data. Better still, if you have three antennas on your router, all three signals can be combined to support 1,300 mbps of data (or 1.3 gigabits per second).

Can you see where this is going?

One thing to keep in mind is that as of now, most of your wireless devices only have one antenna. This means that at most, your devices can transmit and receive 433 mbps of data. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because 433 mbps is more than enough to perform essentially any action on the internet.

So what is the benefit of having all these antennas and maximum bandwidth if a device can’t use it all?

The key here is that having multiple antennas on your router increases the total bandwidth of your network. If you had 10 devices on your network and only one antenna, they would all have to share the 433 mbps of available data that could be sent or received at any given time. With three antennas, those 10 devices are sharing 1,300 mbps of available bandwidth at any given time. As you can see, this allows each device to have a much faster connection because there are multiple antennas that can transmit and receive data.

More Reliable Connections With Your Devices

Not only will your router be able to provide more bandwidth to your devices, but you’ll also experience better internet connections with more than one antenna on your router.

A good example of this is a stereo system in your house.

Let’s say you have one speaker for your stereo system. If you’re sitting around the corner from your speaker, you may not be able to hear the music very well.

What if you have multiple speakers placed in different locations in your house?

With multiple speakers you’ll be able to hear the music no matter where you’re sitting. There’s a much better chance of the sound waves reaching you if there are multiple speakers. Even if you’re around the corner from one of the speakers, the sound waves from the other speakers may still be able to reach you.

This same concept can be applied to the antennas on your router.

As I mentioned before, antennas can both send and receive data. This means that the more antennas your router has, the more likely it’ll be able to receive a message from your devices. Only one of the antennas needs to receive a signal from a device in order for it to get the message. If the other antennas are partially blocked or don’t receive a clear signal, it doesn’t matter.

This can be important if your router is located in a room with a lot of items that obstruct the wireless signal. Although some of the wireless signals may get blocked, it’s unlikely that all the router antennas will be unable to pick up the signal.

With multiple antennas, you can be confident that your devices will have a strong internet connection when they are within the WiFi range of the router.

You Can Optimize the Direction of Your Wireless Signal

When you have more than one antenna on your router, you can direct the wireless signal in a way that best fits your house.

Previously I described how antennas send out RF signals. You can use this to your advantage based upon the layout of your house. If your house or office is all on one level, you will want your antennas to be aligned vertically. This will provide the strongest wireless signal in a horizontal direction.

If you live in a building with multiple floors, you may want to consider pointing an antenna in the horizontal direction. That way the radio signal will be strongest in the vertical direction.

With several antennas at your disposal, you can align them in different directions to make sure all areas of your house have the best possible signal.

To provide an example, here’s how I’ve set up the antennas on my router to maximize my wireless signal.

I live in a two story apartment, so this setup ensures that the wireless signal reaches both floors.

One important aspect about this is that putting all your antennas in the same alignment does not give you a stronger signal in that direction. The signal won’t reach any further in the horizontal direction if multiple antennas are standing vertically. You’ll have more reliable connections in that direction by doing this (as mentioned above), but the signal won’t be extended.

Wrap Up

See?

Router antennas aren’t just for looks. They help provide you with additional bandwidth to make reliable wireless connections with your devices.

If you’d like to learn more about your router and how it works, check out our previous posts:

What Do My Router Lights Mean?

Does a Router Affect Your WiFi Speed?

Why Do Routers Have Multiple Antennas?

Can I Move My WiFi Router to Another House?

How Many IP Addresses Should a Router Have?

Feel free to reach out to me in the comments section of this post or the Contact Me page if you have any questions or you’d like to share your experiences.

Have you ever walked by your router and wondered what all the lights on it mean?

I know I definitely have.

The lights on your router are meant to provide you with hints about its current status. There are lights to indicate:

• If your router has power
• What wireless frequency bands are currently active
• If the router is connected to the internet
• What ethernet ports on the router are in use
• If a USB device is connected to the router
• If Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) is active or not

The purpose of these lights is to quickly identify if something is wrong with the router. When you can easily see what the status of the router is, you can determine what actions (if any) you need to take.

What Does My Router Look Like?

Before we dig into the lights on your router, let’s make sure we’re looking at the right device.

Routers come in different shapes and sizes. In some cases, your router and modem will be the same device. This is especially true if you rent your modem and router from your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

If your router is separate from your modem, it will probably look similar to this:

Your router should have at least two antennas on it. In addition, it will have more connection ports on the back of it when compared to a modem.

If you’re still unsure if you’re looking at your modem or router, find the sticker on the bottom of the device. The sticker should identify if the device is a router or modem (or both).

For example, the sticker on the bottom of my router says that it’s a “Dual Band Gigabit Router”.

If you’re still unsure if your device is a modem or router, feel free to leave a comment below and I will try to help as best I can.

What Do the Different Lights on My Router Mean?

In this post I’ll discuss the lights on my TP-Link Archer A7 router. Most routers will have similar lights on them.

Here are the lights on the front of my router:

As you can see, not all of the lights are on. This provides me with information about the current status of my router.

Once we break down what each light represents, we’ll discuss the different states that each light can be in and what they mean.

Let’s get started.

What Does the Power Light Mean?

The power light indicates if the router has electrical power or not. The symbol for power on electronic devices is universal so it will look the same on most routers.

The power light will look something like this on your router:

What Are the Different States the Power Light Can Be In?

On

If the power light is on and it’s not flashing, it means the router is plugged in and has power.

Flashing

When the power light is flashing, it means the router is starting up. This will happen shortly after it’s plugged in and powered on.

The power light will also flash when the router’s firmware is being updated. Don’t unplug the router while the firmware is being updated. It may stop working if the update didn’t complete.

Off

If the light is off, it means the router doesn’t have power. If this is the case you should check to make sure the power cable is plugged into an outlet, and that it’s plugged into the correct port on the back of the router.

My router also has a button on the back of it to turn the router on and off. It looks like this:

Once the router is plugged into an outlet, press the power button to turn the router on.

What Does the 2.4 Gigahertz Wireless Signal Light Mean?

The 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) wireless signal light indicates if the router is operating on that frequency or not.

It looks like this:

Most routers operate on two wireless frequency signals, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. The 2.4 GHz light will tell you if the router is currently providing a wireless network on this frequency that you can connect to.

What Are the Different States the 2.4 GHz Light Can Be In?

On

If the 2.4 GHz light is on, it means the router is active on the 2.4 GHz frequency band. It indicates that your router is working properly and providing a wireless network for your devices.

Off

If the light is off, it means that you can’t connect to the router on the 2.4 GHz frequency band. This could be because this frequency was turned off in the router’s settings, or the router isn’t working properly.

What Does the 5 Gigahertz Wireless Signal Light Mean?

The 5 GHz wireless signal light indicates if the router is operating on that frequency or not.

It looks like this:

Similar to the 2.4 GHz light, the 5 GHz light will tell you if the router is currently providing a wireless network on the 5 GHz frequency.

What Are the Different States the 5 GHz Light Can Be In?

On

If the 5 GHz light is on, it means the router is active on the 5 GHz frequency band. It indicates that your router is working properly and providing a wireless network for your devices.

Off

If the light is off, it means that you can’t connect to the router on the 5 GHz frequency band. This could be because this frequency was turned off in the router’s settings, or the router is not working properly.

What Does the Internet Light Mean?

The internet light will tell you the status of the router’s internet connection.

It will look something like this:

You will want to pay attention to this light if your wireless devices aren’t able to connect to the internet.

What Are the Different States the Internet Light Can Be In?

On (green)

If the internet light is green, it means the router has an active connection to the internet. This is what you should expect the internet light to look like most of the time.

On (orange)

When the internet light is orange it means that an ethernet cable is plugged into the internet port of the router, but it still doesn’t have an internet connection.

There are a few instances when you’ll see this light.

When you’re setting up your router and you first connect the ethernet cable from the modem to the router, you’ll see this light. This is because it takes a few moments for your router to set up a connection to the internet. After a few seconds, the light will turn from orange to green once the connection is made.

You may also see this light if your router is connected to a modem, but the modem isn’t connected to the internet.

Lastly, an orange light can indicate that you’re not receiving internet from your internet service provider (ISP). This may be due to an issue with your internet plan, or your ISP may be having issues with the internet.

The first thing to do if you’re seeing this orange light is to check all your connections.

You’ll want to check the:

• Router’s internet port on the back
• Ethernet connection between the router and modem
• Connection from the modem to your ISP

For your reference, the internet port on the back of the router should be clearly marked.

Off

If the internet light is off, it most likely means that no ethernet cable is connected to the internet port on the router. You’ll want to double check your connections if this is the case.

What Do the Ethernet Connections Lights Mean?

The ethernet lights on your router will indicate if there are devices connected directly to your router. This will provide some of your devices with wired connections to the internet (as opposed to wireless connections).

My router has four ethernet lights on it, because it has four ethernet ports on the back.

Here’s what the ethernet ports on the back of the router look like:

As you can see, they’re numbered 1 through 4.

What Are the Different States the Ethernet Lights Can Be In?

On

As you may have guessed, if a device is directly connected to the router, the light for that ethernet port will be on.

Off

If an ethernet port on the back of the router is unused, the light for that port will be off.

The light will also be off if an ethernet cable is connected to one of the ports, but it’s not connected to a device.

What Does the USB Light Mean?

The USB light will show if a USB device is connected to the router. A USB port on your router can be used to provide resources to anyone on your network (like a printer or storage).

The light is the universally recognized symbol for a USB device.

Most routers will come with one USB port but there are some that come with multiple. The USB port on the back of the router should be clearly labeled.

What Are the Different States the USB Light Can Be In?

On

If there is a USB device plugged into the back of the router, the light will be on.

Flashing

When the USB light is flashing, it means a USB device was recently plugged in and it’s being identified.

Off

If the USB port on the back of the router doesn’t have anything plugged into it, the light will be off.

What Does the Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) Light Mean?

Wi-Fi Protected Setup is a feature that allows devices to quickly and easily connect to a wireless network. The WPS light on a router will indicate if a WPS connection is being set up at any given time.

The WPS light looks like this:

What Are the Different States the WPS Light Can Be In?

On

Once a WPS connection is made, the light will remain lit for five minutes. After five minutes the light will turn off automatically.

Flashing

If a WPS connection is in progress, the light will flash on and off.

As a note, WPS connections can take up to two minutes to complete.

Off

If there’s no WPS activity happening, the light will be off.

For those concerned with their internet security, WPS can be enabled and disabled in your router’s settings. It’s recommended that this feature be turned off, as it’s known to be insecure. If you decide to disable WPS on your router, the light should always be off.

Wrap Up

Now you should understand what your router lights mean and how they can help you determine the status of your router. Remember that your router may not have exactly the same lights as the one in the example provided, but they should be similar to the ones detailed.

If you have any questions about this information, please feel free to comment below or contact me via the Contact Me page.

If you’d like to learn more about routers and view other related posts, check these out:

Does a Router Affect Your WiFi Speed?

What Do the Lights on My Modem Mean?

How Many IP Addresses Should a Router Have?

How Do I Back Up My Router?

Can I Move My WiFi Router to Another House?