My understanding is that the Omega (OpenWrt) has the timezone setting in the /etc/TZ file. It can be set in the Onion Console under Settings->General Settings I am in New Zealand and have my time zone set appropriately and /etc/TZ contains NZST-12NZDT,M9.5.0,M4.1.0/3 More information can be found about /etc/TZ and its contents at: http://blog.felipe-alfaro.com/2006/02/14/openwrt-and-the-time-zone/ https://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/uci/system#time_zones I don't know if the environment variable TZ has any connection or affect on this. The timezone as in /etc/TZ (i.e. as set in Onion Console) is preserved over reboots and since recent updates is also preserved over updates