Cable modem --> WRT54G Router --> [my computer + SWMBO's Macintosh + HP color laser printer + OOMA VOIP phone + Neighbor's laptop + SWMBO's netbook]

Out of all of that, only the neighbor and the netbook actually use the wireless function. I didn't know what kind of setup I would have before I moved down here, so I got the WRT54G wireless router "just in case". Wireless or not, I need the router working all the time.

It would make sense to change the wireless router for a non-wireless one and drop an ethernet cable down to the neighbor... except that the floors of this building are 16" steel-reinforced concrete and making a hole would be... difficult, and I would need at least a six-port router. Better to leave well-enough alone.

In any case, the power supply for the router is rated at .5A at 12V, so it is pulling about 3 watts (figuring the router is using about 50% of the maximum capacity of the power supply) so that works out to be maybe two KWH per month. More than I would have thought, those little 3-watt loads do add up, don't they? By contrast, my refrigerator is, by my calculation, using more than 90 times that amount. [6.0A @ 127V = 762 watts averaging 8 hours per day of run time for 30 days = 183 KWH/month.] And yes, my next large household expenditure will be for a larger but more energy-efficient refrigerator!

tanstaafl.