Ray T

Been looking around for a device that will switch on electrical stuff at home via the landline, I came across this http://www.c-p-p.co.uk/product/asp/P...37/af/page.htm , anyone got any experience of this or similar?

Thinking of using it to switch on the router and NAS only when needed .

Coffin Dodger

Pretty sure that switching your router on and off is a bad thing to do, especially if you are on ADSL max as the exchange sees router restarts as some sort of fault and will start lowering you ADSL speed to give a better signal to noise ratio (SNR).

jowl

I wouldn't be switching the router off - IMO leaving it on allows better stability and the ability to do more stuff remotely over your network.

There's lots you can do with Wake On Lan - (and wake over internet). For example, I can remotely wake my main computer or Mac Mini Media computer over the network or from over the internet. My new NAS will do the same - although not all NAS boxes have WoL functionality.

There's also many ways to power on non-computer type electrical items. The ByeBye standby things work out as one of the cheapest. There's also X10 and a host of other ways.

I'll try and provide some more links when I'm not so busy but you could google

Wake On Lan (and Wake on WAN)
X10
ByeByeStandby

Coffin Dodger

HomeEasy stuff (sold in B&Q), very good for home automation and good prices too. Seem to be a few PC interfaces for it appearing now too.

Ray T

Thanks for the replies, the thought was to be energy eficient, as I think the router draws about 8 watts, i'd only need the access for a few hours a week at most (don't get to the flat that often).