SPCR

Just thought I would start a thread about DSL modem power consumption.

I obsess a bit with seeing where I can squeeze out a few Watts less here and there around the house and ALWAYS-ON electronics are one of my favorite targets.

I have a Watts Up? meter and measured these:

Zoom 0226 ADSL modem = 9 Watts

Motorola 2210 ADSL2/2+ Modem = 2 Watts

The Motorola is the new modem I got from Sonic.net

Yo Sonic.net!

hm I have a zoomx6 wifi, howd you get the new moto? is it for Fusion?

Another thought. Typically, the modem isn't alone but it's accompanied by a router and/or switch, which may be wireless.

If power consumption is de rigeur, one may want to consider an all-in-one modem, 4 wired ports + wireless router such as this.

My old modem had a flaky power switch so I called Sonic.net and they sent me the Motorola as a replacement. It's really TINY, and at only 2 Watts seems very thrifty.

The problem with most "all-in-one" solutions for me is they are usually pretty junky. I am enough of an IT networking geek to want better and more flexible setup than that.

On my router I want to be able to run OpenWRT and have lots of flexibility and control. Which I haven't seen on any of the "kitchen-sink" solutions but I haven't looked very hard. Anyhow I eschew the modem+router+WiFi for that reason.

Within that framework of wanting to use discrete components, I like seeing how low I can get the power consumption.

My 2Wire 2701HG uses 22 watts. It is a router/modem combo.
The older Sprint (Embarq) 620 modem only uses 5 watts. I don't know who made this for Sprint.

my 2wire 2700hg (modem/router) consumes only 6 watts.

Really, I must check.

I have an internal Alcatel PCI card DSL modem in this PC, - don't have a way to measure but imagine it uses very little power. My other PC has an external USB DSL modem which I think works on 5V/0.5 Amps so that will be pretty 'green' too.

greenfrank wrote:my 2wire 2700hg (modem/router) consumes only 6 watts.

I checked, mine also uses only 6 watts.

My cable modem + router + ATA + UPS draws 20 watts. Measured with a power meter.

eleanori wrote:How can I get my old computer to recognize a new modem? I recently had my modem replaced. I wanted to also make it work with my older computer (as a backup) that runs Windows 98, but for some reason, the older computer does not communicate with the new modem. I called my ISP, but was told that they no longer support Windows 98 so they could not help me. Any suggestions?

linux

get off of windows 98 and switch over to ubuntu linux or something else, at least it has more support. and not windows.

I'm currently using a TeleWell TW-EA100B USB ADSL modem that has no ADSL2+ support and while it is very reliable device it does consume about 5w. I thought the USB modems would have been lower in consumption than a full router. I've tested a few devices but they typically perform pretty similarly.

I've been hunting for better USB-based options but they seem so difficult to obtain they are not really worth pursuing. Everything based on the st70138 Unicorn II could be good because the chipset manufacturer specifically advertises it as having a very low consumption. Apparently names of devices that have this include Zyxel P-630S EE, ZTE ZXDSL 852 v2, Netronix MN-01 and Acorp Sprinter@ADSL

The Motorola Netopia 3342N model that has ADSL2+ support (but no USB 2.0 support, which makes it uncapable of actually delivering some of the faster speeds I guess...) should also be an efficient one.

Anyone has one of these and could provide some actual numbers?