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Will it run? · UK figures, 230 V

Will a power station keep my broadband router and Wi-Fi on?

Short answer: Yes

Easily: a home router uses roughly 5–10 W, so even a 286 Wh station runs it for around 11 hours and a 1,000 Wh one for well over a day. Whether the internet still works depends on the network outside your house.

average load to cover
15W
start-up peak
20W
hours to cover
24h

How much power a broadband router draws

  • Planning figure

    10 W

    Range 4–10 W

    Published figure

    Selectra uses 10 W (about 88 kWh a year) for a router left on; ISPreview measured one ISP router at about 4–4.5 W. SelectraISPreview

Hours on four power stations

Worked with BLUETTI's published formula: capacity × 0.9 × 0.85 ÷ (load + 10 W the station uses itself). Capacity and continuous output are from each maker's UK page, read on 11 October 2026. "Too much" means the station's continuous output is below what the appliance needs at once.

Estimated hours of a broadband router on four power stations
LoadEcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus
286 Wh · 600 W		Jackery Explorer 500 v2
512 Wh · 500 W		Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2
1,024 Wh · 2,000 W		Jackery Explorer 2000 v2
2,042 Wh · 2,200 W
Router only, low (5 W)15 h1 day 2 h2 days 4 h4 days 8 h
Router only, cautious (10 W)11 h20 h1 day 15 h3 days 6 h
Router + fibre box (ONT), estimate (15 W)8.8 h16 h1 day 7 h2 days 14 h
One cell, worked through

Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2: 1,024 Wh × 0.9 × 0.85 = 783 Wh usable. Router only, cautious (10 W): 10 W + 10 W = 20 W. 783 ÷ 20 = 1 day 15 h.

Your Wi-Fi may stay up while the internet doesn't

The government's Prepare advice warns that you would lose internet connection and possibly mobile signal in a power cut: your home internet won't work without power, and your mobile may stop if the local mast is in the cut-off area. Powering the router keeps your side of the line alive; the street cabinet or exchange needs power too.

If you rely on a landline for emergency calls or have a telecare alarm, Prepare suggests asking your landline provider how it will work in a power cut; they may offer a free backup battery solution covering at least one hour.

Keep the station for the router, not the whole house

Plug the router in through its own adapter, or straight from a 12 V or USB-C port if your router supports it (check its label). Leave TVs and games consoles off the same station: the Prepare advice is to unplug TVs and PCs anyway, as a surge when the power returns can damage them.

Before you rely on it

  • Fibre broadband often has a separate optical box (ONT) that also needs power; the 15 W row is our estimate for both together.
  • Mesh Wi-Fi systems add a few watts per extra unit.
  • If the line itself is down, a mobile hotspot from a phone kept charged by a power bank is the fallback.

Which station we'd pick

Smallest on our UK list for this job

Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2

1,024 Wh and 2,000 W continuous: about 1 day 7 h at 15 W. A full day for a router and a fibre box, the estimate including a separate ONT.

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Want to add other appliances? The power-cut calculator does the sums for your whole home, and the full list of 14 stations has every UK figure.

Questions

How many watts does a broadband router use?

Roughly 5–10 W. ISPreview measured one ISP router at about 4–4.5 W and Selectra uses 10 W as a planning figure (about 88 kWh a year).

Will my broadband work in a power cut if I power the router?

Only if the network outside still has power. The government's Prepare advice says you would lose internet and possibly mobile signal in a power cut, so a powered router is no guarantee.

Other appliances

Guides (5)

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from one of these pages, read on the date shown. If a maker changes its page, its page wins.

See all 8 sources