Why Do We Have To Restart Routers?

jaypaulw writes "I've owned a WRT54G, some cheap D-Link home Wi-Fi/firewall/routers, and now an Apple Airport Extreme (100/10 ethernet ports). In the context of the discussion about the worst uses of Windows — installation in places where an embedded device is superior — I've gotten to wondering why it's necessary to reboot these devices so frequently, like every few days. It seems like routers, purpose-built with an embedded OS, should be the most stable devices on my network."

Comments

Good question.

[TW Atwater]

Why DO you have to reboot your routers? Mine, including a WR54GT almost never require rebooting. Occasionally, after a power outage, it's necessary, but not very often. Maybe once or twice a year, and I live in Panama, where power interruptions come fairly frequently.

Re:The most likely reason

[flewp]

What I've noticed sometimes is that I need to reboot my Cablemodem to get a new ip address, and then MIGHT have to kick the router, but I NEVER have to reboot my router without also rebooting the cablemodem. Sometimes comcast flips my IP and the modem can't keep up with it.

WRT54G here, and I rarely am able to just reboot the router. Usually I have to first cycle the modem, then the power the router back up. I frequently have to do so when I've got some torrents going, and it can be quite annoying to be interrupted in the middle of browsing a site, uploading a work file, or other such things to get up, go to the next room, and do the whole power cycle thing. (Especially since I have to allow the cable modem to fully boot and establish a connection which takes a good 30 seconds or more)