Don't all routers run on DC? I have a power supply/transformer thing that plugs into the wall and provides DC to the router. It may be just a matter of having the right voltage and a plug (which you probably have, it just needs to be dismembered ).

Hmmm, looking at these specs I should just be able to splice the proper barrel plug onto a 12vdc "cigarette lighter" plug and be good to go? Then checking the specs of our DSL modem, I might be able to do the same for it.

-Blast (hoping not to live up to his name this time)

Generally your safe. since a 120v to 12v wall transformer is pretty simple the router has an internal regulator. Since 120v power can fluctuate, say from 100v to 130v your input at the router can be from 11v to 13v. usually there is a 5v regulator inside anyway. If you ant to be extra safe get a 12.5 or 13v zener diode and put across your 12v cord to prevent anything higher from getting through (say if you were to run a car alternator to charge your battery where you could hit 14.whatever volts.)

AT&T bought our local phone company a few years ago so the land line ceased to stay alive for very long when power was out and wasn't very relaible when there was power so we swiched to an all in one cable bundle. I've used the power companies web site to verify outage maps and report my power was out.

If you want to conserve power, skip the wireless router and plug your computer directly into your modem with a CAT-5 cable. Be sure to turn off your computers wireless antenna too (to save additional power).

Yep, IME wireless is good for about ~50 Mbps while Ethernet is good for 100 Mbps. I keep my laptop wireless radio turned off and use Ethernet exclusively.

Wired Ethernet is good for anywhere between 10 Mb/s half-duplex and 1 Gb/s full-duplex with most laptop NICs. With reasonably recent devices you're most likely going to see 100 Mb/s full-duplex. Those are nominal connection speeds; the switch, cabling and PC will limit actual throughput to 90% (ideally) or much less of the negotiated or configured speed.

Wireless Ethernet tops out at about 250 Mb/s, but that's a rare speed to get. Much slower speeds are more common, down to 1 Mb/s. Most wireless access points share a very limited pool of bandwidth with all connected devices, and don't do that well.

In most home networks wireless and wired speeds are much greater than Internet connection speeds, so which you use doesn't matter from a speed perspective unless your traffic is going between devices on your network, rather than from your PC to and from servers on the Internet.

Wired Ethernet almost always consumes less power. While this is unlikely to matter for your power bill or if you're running a generator, it could easily start to matter if you're running on battery power.

^^This

That said, to answer Blast's question, there is this, provided your wireless adapter's amp draw is not too great:

http://www.amazon.com/12V-2A-DC-Converte...777&sr=1-14

On the larger topic: when we had our generator installed I made a point of getting the circuits powering our household telecom infrastructure on the transfer switch. When our power was out and I had to call the local DPW about a sewage backup I had to walk up the road to make a cell call because the landline phone's backup had run down.

Hmm, that looks very interesting but after digging around some it seems I need 13-14 volts feeding into it to get the 12V out. My battery system puts out 12-13V. Will it still power my router?
http://www.powerstream.com/dc6.htm

-Blast

Read, fancywork (Kevingg isn't the only paracord addict here), trombone, etc. Speaking of LEDs, I just replaced the bulbs on the old 2D incandescent flashlights with 1/2 watt LEDs. $9/each at Home Depot and I've got 25 lumen floods with a 40+ hour usable battery life and a massive spillbeam. Perfect for power outages.

My experience with these things is that a auto cigarette lighter-style plug means that 12V will power it, as long as it's not drawing more than about 10A. I even have a large spotlight with a lighter plug that my small jumper pack will run, albeit not for long. I can't say for sure as I haven't used this product, but the price is such that I'd say it's worth a try.