I set the $4 router reboot timer, and it made my internet reliably fast

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It’s a fact of life that consumer grade routers can be… rubbish. Of course, you can solve most of your internet related problems by shopping a lot top Gear then connects to a high speed internet pipelinebut most people don’t have the money or the inclination to do that. Most people just want their reels to load quickly.

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I’ve been in technology now for thirty years, and one thing I’ve known since the dawn of time — when bits of the Internet flowed at speeds that seem pretty good by today’s standards with modems attached to beige desktop PCs — is that the one guaranteed way to speed up an Internet connection is to restart the router.

But who has time to flip a switch these days? I want my change to answer me. However, now they can, because Router Rebooter.

What is Router rebooter?

It’s a small cable that sits in line with the router’s DC power cord and cuts power to the router every 24 hours.

Yes, it’s that simple.

There are no buttons, dials, knobs, or app to control the dongle. You plug the DC jack of the power cable into one end of the Router Rebooter, plug the other end into the router, and it starts counting down. Within 24 hours, the dongle will power off the router for 5 seconds.

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In terms of power, the dongle can handle voltages from 5V to 15V, so there is no problem there, since that is the range of DC voltage used by consumer electronics.

The only potential bump in the road is the size of the DC jack. This Boot Rebooter uses 5.5mm x 2.1mm DC jacks, which I found to be the most common size for routers. I tested this jack in a few different applications, and it fit perfectly.

How do I use it at home?

I have installed the Rebooter at a few local businesses that suffer from poor quality Wi-Fi infrastructure, yet rely on this connection for payment cards and other operations.

One such business uses a cheap supplier-supplied router, and rebooting the device meant climbing behind the counter and untethering the router from the wiring harness.

It’s chaos, but chaos that I can’t touch until the end of the season. Until then, Router Rebooter refreshes the Internet connection every day, and business frustration levels are greatly reduced.

So, why restarting the router speeds up the Internet connection?

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Of course, like any computer, a router has limited memory and processing power. Over time, the device can become complex and glitchy. A reboot clears its memory, terminates all operations, reloads its operating system, and forces the router to establish a new connection with the Internet service provider.

I couldn’t resist taking apart the Router Rebooter to see what was inside.

The device inside is a simple circuit board. This setup made me think that anyone with solid electronics and soldering skills could solder this device directly to their modem’s power cable, wrap it in a crimp, and remove a separate dongle altogether. A circuit board can be used within a project.

ZDNET shopping advice

For $8, you get two Router Rebooter dongles, black and white, which is a good deal because this method gives you a backup device to boot from, if you’re that way inclined. This dongle is about as basic as they get, but if you want something more sophisticated, now it’s just a matter of how much you want to spend.

I checked a “smart” dongle. with automatic Internet monitoring that restarts when the Internet goes down and can restart daily or monthly, which is a very good service. There are also IP-enabled dongles with a USB-C or DC Jack finally, including the app, cloud management features, and more, if you want more functionality.

But for absolute simplicity with high performance, it’s hard to beat Router Rebooter. I bought a few more to add to the remote cameras I use, which also benefit from daily restarts.