News Your smart home devices might be overloading your Wi-Fi network — here's how to fix it

[admin]

Is your smart home's network slow or dropping its connection to your devices? Here's how to improve your speeds and diagnose which devices are the culprits.

Your smart home devices might be overloading your Wi-Fi network — here's how to fix it : Read more

 

[Saundiesel]

In my home I've had to get TP-Link to give me dedicated firmware for my Mesh Network which puts each of my 4 XE75 routers on different channels to cut down on the 2.4Ghz traffic congestion, have an old M5 in the mix which is for my backyard in in the base of my Swim Spa to help with backyard cameras. I also have TP -Link plugs on some of my Google Home Speakers that will only turn on if I want them on or turn on automatically when motion is detected.

I'm currently on vacation and there are 80 devices connected to my network, 9 of which are Nest Cameras (2 are Nest Hub Max's which are only on when no one is home) 4 of my Google nest mini's are off currently as we are away as well as Google Home Max. Multiple smart speakers as well as Google TV's which are always transmitting packets seem to be the biggest issues with congestion, which you can control if not using be having them turned off with a smart plug to reduce network congestion.

I've resorted to limiting the wifi devices I buy and going with thread or ZigBee with new purchases, mainly Aqara products which I set up my DIY security system since Nest Secure ended. I haven't added up my network devices in a while but I would be well over 130 and have no issues now with gaming play Call of Duty or PUBG on the Xbox. Definitely as recommended in the article rum ethernet to any device you can. Also with my Mesh Network I've set up ethernet backhaul to also cut down on traffic.

Even though TP-Link and other say they can handle 150+ devices it would depend on what type of devices you connect as my network gets wonky after I see 100+ on the Wi-Fi network due to the 9 camera's, 9 smart speakers, 4 Chromecast (2 of which are google TV's) and then just the pure number of other smart devices. Packet traffic seems to be my biggest issue which I can only resolve by taking devices offline when not in use, although being on different channels helped considerably as well as another change they made (which I can't recall as it was 9 months ago and my brain is in vacation mode)

 

[Una Mala Madre]

In my home I've had to get TP-Link to give me dedicated firmware for my Mesh Network which puts each of my 4 XE75 routers on different channels to cut down on the 2.4Ghz traffic congestion, have an old M5 in the mix which is for my backyard in in the base of my Swim Spa to help with backyard cameras. I also have TP -Link plugs on some of my Google Home Speakers that will only turn on if I want them on or turn on automatically when motion is detected.

I'm currently on vacation and there are 80 devices connected to my network, 9 of which are Nest Cameras (2 are Nest Hub Max's which are only on when no one is home) 4 of my Google nest mini's are off currently as we are away as well as Google Home Max. Multiple smart speakers as well as Google TV's which are always transmitting packets seem to be the biggest issues with congestion, which you can control if not using be having them turned off with a smart plug to reduce network congestion.

I've resorted to limiting the wifi devices I buy and going with thread or ZigBee with new purchases, mainly Aqara products which I set up my DIY security system since Nest Secure ended. I haven't added up my network devices in a while but I would be well over 130 and have no issues now with gaming play Call of Duty or PUBG on the Xbox. Definitely as recommended in the article rum ethernet to any device you can. Also with my Mesh Network I've set up ethernet backhaul to also cut down on traffic.

Even though TP-Link and other say they can handle 150+ devices it would depend on what type of devices you connect as my network gets wonky after I see 100+ on the Wi-Fi network due to the 9 camera's, 9 smart speakers, 4 Chromecast (2 of which are google TV's) and then just the pure number of other smart devices. Packet traffic seems to be my biggest issue which I can only resolve by taking devices offline when not in use, although being on different channels helped considerably as well as another change they made (which I can't recall as it was 9 months ago and my brain is in vacation mode)

Your reply was better than the original article.

 

[Saundiesel]

Your reply was better than the original article.

Thanks... I've had multiple remote sessions with senior technicians with TP-Link in Hong Kong, I'm in Canada to work on network congestion issues and they have been amazing to deal with and work to fix the issues, I've seen a couple firmware upgrades come as a result of test firmware they have tried on my network first.

 

[TerabyteNet]

Is your smart home's network slow or dropping its connection to your devices? Here's how to improve your speeds and diagnose which devices are the culprits.

Your smart home devices might be overloading your Wi-Fi network — here's how to fix it : Read more

This might be the most poorly written article I’ve ever read. That the advice was to buy a Wi-Fi 6 mesh system to solve congestion clearly shows a lack of understanding of how Wi-Fi and mesh work. If all you do is put up mesh network and you don’t hardwire the individual access points your congestion becomes the connection to the last device. What your better off doing is getting a dedicated firewall and dedicated access points they can handle the number of devices that you want. I have well over 100 smart devices in my home including 4k security cameras, 5 FireTV 4K Max sticks, a dozen smart speakers, locks, alarms, lights, fans, HVAC, garage doors, etc… I have 3 business-class APs inside & 2 outside, each that will handle 200 clients per radio. Each AP is hard wired to a 10Gbps PoE switch that connects to my firewall via 10Gbps fiber (I have Spectrum gig cable). I have zero issues with congestion or delays. Yes, this will cost a little more than using a consumer mesh system, but you’ll have far, far fewer issues. If you’re going to spend the $ on a smart home, make sure the back end that supports it is worthy of your investment.

 

[TerabyteNet]

In my home I've had to get TP-Link to give me dedicated firmware for my Mesh Network which puts each of my 4 XE75 routers on different channels to cut down on the 2.4Ghz traffic congestion, have an old M5 in the mix which is for my backyard in in the base of my Swim Spa to help with backyard cameras. I also have TP -Link plugs on some of my Google Home Speakers that will only turn on if I want them on or turn on automatically when motion is detected.

I'm currently on vacation and there are 80 devices connected to my network, 9 of which are Nest Cameras (2 are Nest Hub Max's which are only on when no one is home) 4 of my Google nest mini's are off currently as we are away as well as Google Home Max. Multiple smart speakers as well as Google TV's which are always transmitting packets seem to be the biggest issues with congestion, which you can control if not using be having them turned off with a smart plug to reduce network congestion.

I've resorted to limiting the wifi devices I buy and going with thread or ZigBee with new purchases, mainly Aqara products which I set up my DIY security system since Nest Secure ended. I haven't added up my network devices in a while but I would be well over 130 and have no issues now with gaming play Call of Duty or PUBG on the Xbox. Definitely as recommended in the article rum ethernet to any device you can. Also with my Mesh Network I've set up ethernet backhaul to also cut down on traffic.

Even though TP-Link and other say they can handle 150+ devices it would depend on what type of devices you connect as my network gets wonky after I see 100+ on the Wi-Fi network due to the 9 camera's, 9 smart speakers, 4 Chromecast (2 of which are google TV's) and then just the pure number of other smart devices. Packet traffic seems to be my biggest issue which I can only resolve by taking devices offline when not in use, although being on different channels helped considerably as well as another change they made (which I can't recall as it was 9 months ago and my brain is in vacation mode)

Your congestion issues are because the xe75 is a consumer system with woefully inadequate processing power combined with the myth that mesh is the messiah for solving WiFi issues. They’re ok for extending WiFi, but performance is NOT their forté. Also, they’re not routers but access points that connect via a back haul radio channel to daisy chain the devices back to your modem. Generally that’s how mesh works. The better solution is to hard wire all the APs via Ethernet & ditch the mesh entirely which eliminates potential back haul congestion & interference from other devices or physical walls infrastructure. Putting them on different WiFi channels doesn’t cut down on traffic congestion it cuts down on signal interference which slows WiFi & reduces coverage areas. Any network with multiple APs should always be hotmapped & the individual APs put on frequencies that cause the least amount of interference with others.

 

[SoylentGreen]

Is your smart home's network slow or dropping its connection to your devices? Here's how to improve your speeds and diagnose which devices are the culprits.

Your smart home devices might be overloading your Wi-Fi network — here's how to fix it : Read more

Underpowered wifi routers are also to blame. You might get a strong signal, but if the CPU on the router struggles to handle 50 devices, it's going to be slow.