With years of awesome fun, writing, and hardware-modding antics at How-To Geek under his belt, Jason helped launch How-To Geek's sister site Review Geek in 2017. After cutting his teeth on tech writing at Lifehacker and working his way up, he left as Weekend Editor and transferred over to How-To Geek in 2010. He's been in love with technology since his earliest memories of writing simple computer programs with his grandfather, but his tech writing career took shape back in 2007 when he joined the Lifehacker team as their very first intern. Jason has over a decade of experience in publishing and has penned thousands of articles during his time at LifeSavvy, Review Geek, How-To Geek, and Lifehacker. Prior to that, he was the Founding Editor of Review Geek. ![]() Prior to his current role, Jason spent several years as Editor-in-Chief of LifeSavvy, How-To Geek's sister site focused on tips, tricks, and advice on everything from kitchen gadgets to home improvement. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the site to ensure readers have the most up-to-date information on everything from operating systems to gadgets. Jason Fitzpatrick is the Editor-in-Chief of How-To Geek. Likewise, if your modem and router are near your TV in the living room, a fairly common setup, you can do something similar to enjoy the benefits of the UPS for your network gear and protect your TV and game console in the process. And you'll get the benefits of the UPS for the network gear even when you're not using your PC. Plugging your modem and router into a UPS you're already using for your PC adds very little overhead. ![]() Check the documentation for your particular NAS to learn more about the feature.įor folks that have their equipment in their home office or otherwise next to their PC, it's a no-brainer to go big with the UPS unit. A graceful shutdown is critical for data integrity. The upgrade will allow you to take advantage of USB-based communication between the NAS and the UPS unit, so the UPS unit can gracefully shutdown the NAS when the battery runs low. In turn, the mini UPS, via its own 12v power cord, supplies the power along with a small internal battery as a backup.Įven if you're not worried about a long uptime, if you have a NAS in your network closet you'll benefit from going with a bigger UPS unit. The idea is you plug adapter cables for your modem, router, and other low-voltage gear into the mini UPS. They look like a portable battery pack you might use for your phone but with a plethora of 12v and USB ports on them. Skip the "Mini UPS"īefore we dig into talking about the right size UPS and offering some recommendations though, let us steer you away from any products with names like "Mini UPS" or similar. First, a warning about a particular kind of UPS you should avoid. ![]() Here, however, let's focus on the things that are immediately relevant to selecting a UPS for your modem, router, and adjacent gear. Related: How to Select an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for Your Computer If you're curious about the more advanced features of UPS units or how to crunch the numbers involved in selecting one, it's worth a read. In our guide to selecting a UPS for your computer, we take a deep dive into the ins and outs of calculating power loads and UPS sizing requirements. But after working at a PC hooked up to a UPS unit for years now, I can tell you the number of times there is a power disturbance (which you'll notice by hearing the UPS battery circuit click on) is surprisingly high. If you had asked me before I hooked up UPS units to all my computers and network gear if my neighborhood had power problems, I'd have said no. It doesn't just offer better protection, it'll help keep your internet on in the face of brownouts and blackouts.ĭon't think brownouts and power supply issues are a problem where you live? You might be surprised. But by doing so you'd be missing out on the biggest benefit of going with a UPS unit over a surge protector. If you're just interested in protecting your network equipment from getting fried, sure, you could put a really high-quality surge protector on your network gear and call it a day. The Internet Stays On During Blackouts and Brownouts Even if you're rocking a good budget Wi-Fi router it's still not cheap to replace. Between the modem, the router, any extras you may have added into your setup like a network switch, and then various smart home gear add-ons like a Phillips Hue Hub for your smart bulbs, you're looking at a few hundred dollars or more worth of gear.
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