Router and Network Questions

There are two schools of thought as far as the life of a product are concerned.

One school holds that constantly powering down and then powering up a device actually places significantly more stress on the product components than simply leaving it on all the time.

The other school believes that powering off a device when it is not needed will prolong the life of the product.

Both schools claim to have evidence supporting their opinion, so it's pretty much a matter of preference on your part. For what it's worth, I leave the WiFi router on here all the time unless I'm going to be away for more than a few days, in which case I usually power it off. My neighbor powers off his router every night at bedtime and powers it back up again the next morning.

If you AirPort Express base station is your only Internet router, then unless you don't want to share Internet access with more than one device at a time, then you should leave it routing function enabled.

Whether or not, you want or need to disable its routing function is totally up to you. Note that routing and wireless are two separate features. You can enable/disable each, or both.

Its fine to turn off the WIFi function on a router if no one needs a WiFi network, but turning off the WiFi is a separate deal from turning off the router. Turn off the router by powering it down and no one will be able to connect to the network at all.

Or, are you saying that you have two routers, an AirPort Express and another router?

Maybe you could clarify on exactly what devices that you have and what it is that you are trying to accomplish, so we can provide an accurate answer. Please assume that we can't see your network.....(we can't).....or know what you are thinking.....(we don't).....so things that are obvious to you are totally unknown to us.