Science

This Reset Plug Promises to Restart Your Router When the Wifi Craps Out

This device claims to solve one of life's most tedious problems.

Have you tried reseting your router?”

No other sequence of words can drive an otherwise reasonable human into a seething rage. It’s the most obvious, yet tedious, solution to one of life’s modern problems.

Now, a special plug will reset your router for you when it detects crappy wifi beaming around your apartment. It costs $59.99 — which seems like a lot for a plug! — but maybe if you calculate the five to ten minutes you spend every month or two resetting that router you lease from your ISP, it becomes worth it.

Here’s how it works: “The smart plug will act as a WiFi client to test the Internet connection. If the Internet fails to work, the ResetPlug will cycle power to the WiFi equipment to reset the Internet connection.” Then, “the ResetPlug continues to cycle power every five minutes until the Internet works again.”

What it won’t do, however, is unscrew the coaxial cable from your router, wait like 10 seconds and screw it back in, a tedious task that anybody who has ever called tech support has been instructed to do.

In a savvy bit of marketing, the Reset Plug people remind us on their website that more of our stuff is becoming wifi-enabled (security cameras, thermostats, smoke alarms) making the need for reliable wifi all the more important.