How Often Should You Reboot Your Router?

Erin KayataUpdated: Sep. 26, 2022

Giving your router a break can do more than just speed up your Internet connection.

The Internet: Can’t live with it, can’t live without it. Whether you’re using it to pay your bills online, watch your favorite streaming service or connect with friends via social media, a strong Internet connection is crucial in many households. You might already know that shutting down your computer every so often can improve its performance. But did you know that rebooting your router does the same for your connection?

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How Often Should You Reboot Your Router?

“There is no perfect or scientific answer to this question,” says Rob Rohrman, head of IT at CompTIA. “In general, it’s a great idea to reboot the main internet router every couple of months.

A router reboot can fix certain Internet connectivity issues, from no Internet connectivity to slow wireless connections, and should be one of your first troubleshooting steps in a home or consumer environment. It’s also a good security practice to reboot the router every once in a while.”

While you may not need to restart your router daily, having a regular routine will help keep you and your family safe.

The Benefits of Rebooting Your Router

There are many benefits to rebooting your router. If you want a faster connection, you should be regularly turning your router on and off. According to Consumer Reports, your Internet provider assigns a temporary IP address to each of your devices. These temporary addresses can change at any time. If your router doesn’t catch the change, your connection may slow.

“From a performance perspective, restarting your router every so often (once every one or two months) can help maintain the reliability of your home network,” explains Nick Merrill, founder of cybersecurity consultancy Broad Daylight.

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Rebooting and Hacking

But restarting your router isn’t only to help your online shopping. It also prevents hacking.

The FBI recommended all home and small business routers were rebooted in 2018 after foreign hackers compromised thousands of networks worldwide. Using malware called VPNFilter, the hackers collected information and blocked network traffic, rendering the routers inoperable. Shutting off the device would temporarily disrupt the malware.

Merrill also recommends updating your firmware, which provides network protocols, security and administrative controls, regularly. Then, restart the router after every update to prevent further security threats. Watch out for clear signs you’re about to be hacked.

“In the vast landscape of strategies for improving one’s relationship with technology, restarting or resetting one’s router is really not the first thing on my mind,” Merrill said. “That said, if you’re really paranoid type, it’s worth patching the firmware on your router and doing a factory reset on it. As they say, an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. Adware and malware blockers on your computers and your network gateway will make it much less likely that you’ll need to reset your router.”

While rebooting your router may not be the solution to every internet problem, it’s a great first step. Not only can it fix slow connections, it can also keep you and your family safe.

Originally Published: February 12, 2021

Originally Published on Reader's Digest

Erin Kayata

Erin Kayata joined Reader’s Digest as an assistant staff writer in March 2019, coming from the Stamford Advocate where she covered education. Prior to this, she was part of a two-year Hearst fellowship program where she covered crime and education in suburban Connecticut. She graduated from Emerson College and spent part of her undergraduate career writing for the Boston Globe. When she’s not writing articles about useful facts and pop culture, you can find Erin enjoying the local theater scene and working toward her goal of reading 50 books a year.