How Much Does It Cost to Run a Wi-Fi Router?

Home routers draw little power, but they never switch off. Manufacturer figures put typical routers at about 5–16 W on average. AVM lists 5–7 W for its FRITZ!Box 4050 Wi-Fi 6 router, 12.5–13.5 W for the Wi-Fi 7 FRITZ!Box 5690 Pro and 14–16 W for the FRITZ!Box 7590 AX modem-router. We use 10 W as a typical figure.

At 10 W around the clock, a router uses 0.24 kWh a day, about 7.3 kWh a month and about 88 kWh a year. That's about $0.04 a day or $1.32 a month in the US, £1.92 a month in the UK, €2.64 in Germany and Rs 241 in Pakistan.

Peaks are higher: the 7590 AX can draw up to 30 W and the 5690 Pro up to 38 W when busy. The average is what drives the bill.

Many homes run more than one box. A separate cable modem, a fibre box (ONT), mesh points or a Wi-Fi extender each draw power of their own, so add them all up, or measure them together with a plug-in meter.

Features matter. A modem-router with a built-in DSL modem, phone base and several Wi-Fi radios uses more than a simple router: in AVM's range, the 7590 AX averages over twice the 4050.

Newer isn't always hungrier. The Wi-Fi 7 FRITZ!Box 5690 Pro averages slightly less than the older Wi-Fi 6 FRITZ!Box 7590 AX.

Routers run on low-voltage power adapters, so the supply voltage, 120 V or 230 V, makes no real difference to the cost.

Switching a 10 W router off for 8 hours a night saves about 0.08 kWh a day, or about 29 kWh a year: a third of its use.

The saving is small, and there are trade-offs. Smart-home devices, alarms, internet phone lines and overnight updates stop working, and some broadband providers advise against switching DSL routers off often, because frequent restarts can affect line speed.

A middle way is to let the router switch Wi-Fi off on a schedule, a setting many routers offer, while the connection itself stays up.

Where power cuts or load-shedding are common, as in Pakistan and South Africa, a router's low draw makes it easy to keep online: a small 100 Wh battery or DC UPS can run a 10 W router for about 8 hours.

Averages and maximums are the manufacturer's own figures. ISP routers, separate modems, fibre boxes and mesh points vary; a plug-in power meter shows your real total. Use that number in the calculator.

• Unplug old routers, extenders and modems you no longer use; a forgotten box still draws power all day.
• Use only as many mesh points or extenders as you need to cover your home.
• If nothing depends on the connection overnight, schedule Wi-Fi off at night in the router's settings.
• When your provider offers a combined modem-router, it can replace two separate boxes.
• If you rely on the router for phones, alarms or smart-home devices, leave it on: the saving from switching it off is small.

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