I rebooted my router and busted Reddit’s favorite tech myth

You all know the one rule of PC ownership: If your PC glitches or isn’t running at full efficiency, reboot it. But does that trick apply to your router, too?

A whole subset of the internet seems to think so, including several frequent Reddit threads on the subject. But does it? According to my testing, there’s anecdotal evidence to believe it does — and aggregate evidence that shows it doesn’t do anything at all.

Granted, I don’t own your router, so I can’t predict the results of your setup. But anything that increases your router’s throughput cuts down on download times, improving productivity and simply making your whole PC experience feel faster. No one can work effectively with an unexpectedly slow internet connection.

Why do people need to reboot their router, anyway?

Some people use just their ISP’s internet gateway, which can double as a router; others might connect a second gaming or mesh router to improve coverage. Either way, both probably sit on a shelf or desk, untouched and unnoticed except for when you replace it. Rebooting a router — which can be done remotely, via an app, or simply just by unplugging it — isn’t something you find yourself often needing to do.

Instead, most router maintenance involves ensuring that its firmware is up to date. Updating your router firmware is an exercise in both PC productivity and security: New router firmware can add new features and seal any vulnerabilities that can let in attackers. Case in point: surprise vulnerabilities in older Asus routers that can emerge from out of the blue.

But your internet connection is something of a black box. If it’s running at normal speeds, you ignore it. If it’s slow or choppy, you start to wonder: Is it my ISP? My PC? The router? Do I need to worry if my router settings are optimized, or can I just unplug the damn thing for a minute or two to get it back on track?

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That’s what I set out to test.

If you’re like me, you probably spend your tech dollars on phones and PCs and wireless plans and streaming subscriptions, but Wi-Fi expires faster than you think. My Wi-Fi 5 home mesh network still receives firmware updates, but after Netgear informed me that a secondary network I’d used had moved out of support, I’ve begun looking at replacements. (I also use a home gateway supplied by my ISP, Comcast.)

My kids will occasionally wander into my home office complaining that the internet is slow, and that’s when I need to start troubleshooting. The easiest step? Simply rebooting the router.

Because my home network is “live,” with devices talking to and from each other and to the internet, one test wouldn’t be enough. I chose to run seven speed tests in the early afternoon, sequentially, using Bing’s built-in speed test, powered by Speedtest.net. (Using Bing, simply type in “speedtest.” You can also download the Speedtest by Ookla app.) I then unplugged the router and gateway, and plugged them back in after 30 seconds, and repeated the tests.

Mark Hachman / Foundry

(I chose to use Bing’s Speedtest site only because of anecdotal reports that the actual Speedtest.net site inflates download speeds. I don’t know if that’s objectively true, but Speedtest did report substantially faster speeds than Bing’s speed test did.)

On the suggestion of my editor, who also struggles with poor connection speeds, I performed the same speed test over Wi-Fi, from my phone, placed on a desk. In this case, I used Google’s own built-in speed test, not Bing. But I was interested in testing the throughput before and after rebooting the devices, not in comparing the testing algorithms.

Rebooting the router: Tested!

The results were decidedly interesting, as nothing changed…though as a user you might be tempted to think it did.

The only meaningful change in the data is the uptick in data throughput in the direct connection between my PC and my router, which worked out to a flat 10 percent. But the data itself was much more irregular after rebooting the router than it had been before, with outlying results of 554Mbits/s, 939Mbits/s, 561Mbits/s, and 940Mbits. Prior to rebooting, the data showed far less variation: The outliers were 724Mbits/s and 568Mbit/s.

Interestingly, I’m supposed to be on a 800Mpbs Comcast Xfinity home internet plan!

Mark Hachman / Foundry

I also checked Speedtest.com (as opposed to Bing’s implementation) to see if it reported faster scores. Because Bing doesn’t report the server it connects to, while Speedtest.com does, I couldn’t make a direct comparison. But Speedtest.com did report consistent throughput scores of about 930Mbps, much faster than my contracted plan and what Bing’s test reported.

But using Bing’s speed test metric, there was no statistically significant difference in throughput before and after rebooting my router. But anecdotally, you could certainly intuit how a user could think that they had faster throughput after rebooting the router. If I saw a speed test result of 940 megabits per second, I’d certainly think so! But again, statistically, I’d need dozens more speed tests to confirm that I was, in fact, seeing a meaningful change.

But, you know, I couldn’t leave well enough alone…so I checked again at about 6:30 PM, when people arrive home from work and my neighborhood’s internet might have even more congestion. Would my throughput go down, finally?

No. It went up. Again.

Mark Hachman / Foundry

Yes, I ran another seven tests. And again, the outliers were dramatic: 594Mbps and 938Mbps download speeds. I was still pretty confident that rebooting made no difference, but those who believe in it have more evidence to point to: an 18 percent difference.

Argh!

Are both sides…right?

It’s likely that the whole myth of rebooting your router emerged from the fact that early Wi-Fi routers weren’t necessarily set up to accommodate a growing household of internet-connected devices. The logic, at least then, was that too many devices could bog down the router’s available memory. I can assure you that between various internet-connected TVs, set-top boxes, laptops, consoles, phones, and more, I have as many connected devices as the typical household does. I haven’t had as many complaints from family members since I moved to a mesh network, with more coverage throughout my home.

However, there may be reasons to reboot occasionally. Your router may search out wireless channels without congestion on its own, or with your manual assistance via an app. However, every time you connect, your router should seek out an uncongested wireless channel. Rebooting may also send your router off on a hunt for updated firmware, which is always a plus.

But at this point, this GIF pretty much summed up my state of mind:

I had to get some clarity on the matter. I asked several router makers if rebooting a router actually benefits users. The answer? It doesn’t.

“MSI routers are built on a mature firmware architecture engineered for long-term stability and efficient resource management, so periodic reboots simply aren’t necessary to maintain performance,” Jason Chang, an associate product marketing manager at MSI, told PCWorld via email.

“While the GUI does include an optional scheduled reboot feature, it exists purely as a convenience for users who prefer it, not as a system requirement,” Chang continued. “Personally, I’ve never had reason to enable it. In everyday use, MSI router owners can expect consistently strong performance, no routine reboots required.”

Netgear’s senior vice president of home networking, Jonathan Oakes, agreed.

“Rebooting a home router can help fix occasional issues like slow speeds or dropped connections by resetting network activity, but it’s not something people should have to do regularly on a well-performing network,” he said in an emailed statement. “At Netgear, our routers are designed to deliver consistent performance without routine restarts, so if you find yourself rebooting often, it’s usually a sign of other factors like interference, congestion, or older equipment that needs to be replaced.

“What matters more is keeping the router up to date,” Oakes added. “Netgear routers support automatic firmware updates that deliver important security patches and feature improvements to help protect your home network and keep things running smoothly over time. If it’s not already enabled, turning on automatic updates is the easiest way to maintain strong, reliable Wi-Fi without having to think about it.”

But if your internet still feels slow, there’s another solution: Call your ISP. Support techs can run remote tests to determine whether there’s work being done in your area, a problem with your router or cable, or some other issue. They can also send a technician to visit your home and check your gateway. Even older coax cable — something you can’t do anything about — could be the problem.

Still, after some testing and consultation, I think I’ve reached a conclusion: This myth is busted, especially on newer devices. The secret to better throughput? Upgrade your plan, buy a newer router, or check with a tech. Rebooting your router alone won’t solve your problems.

Even if I probably haven’t convinced the conspiracy theorists out there.