Router or other solution suggestings

[Bill_Bright]

Any satellite options in your area?

 

[dirtyferret]

4 phones on wifi 2 computers/ sons ps4 and a tv sometimes it gets tough with internet

how far is your TV from the router (same room, next room, several rooms)? I assume you are streaming Netflix using the Smart TV app rather than a dedicated stream device (roku, fire stick, etc.,)?

 

[eidairaman1]

Rain fade is still a problem

 

[markhodges78]

You are in the sticks then, last mile from a dslam, I just recall over 10000 ft connections top out at 1.5 Mbps, so you must be within 2000 ft of 1 then

Your area has not enough demand for anything faster to justify a isp to run fiber to the homes

My area has been approved to survey for fiber to see if the demand is there cable stops 1/2 mile up the road and theres 4 houses total that would hook to it so cable company says not enough demand for them...

how far is your TV from the router (same room, next room, several rooms)? I assume you are streaming Netflix using the Smart TV app rather than a dedicated stream device (roku, fire stick, etc.,)?

Tv is wall mounted and router is behind tv connected to nvidia shield through ethernet

On.the wait list for starlink

 

[eidairaman1]

My area has been approved to survey for fiber to see if the demand is there cable stops 1/2 mile up the road and theres 4 houses total that would hook to it so cable company says not enough demand for them...


Tv is wall mounted and router is behind tv connected to nvidia shield through ethernet

On.the wait list for starlink

Yup.

I used to work for AT&T so i understand the network topology pretty well.

The Area I live in is considered County, we are just getting fiber to the home, where as inner city they got it 3 years ago

 

[Bill_Bright]

Rain fade is still a problem

No solution is without issues. Even cable can suffer from rain fade as the cable TV providers receive their content via satellite. Snow and ice can be a problem too.

We need to get broadband out to the most rural areas. But the question always remains, who's going to pay for it? The Post Office has been struggling with this since its inception. Why should city folks have to pay extra just so the country folks can send a letter with the same stamp?

There's no good answers. Only bad answers and less bad answers.

 

[newtekie1]

Oh?

And where did the OP state what his service agreement calls for?

Where did the OP state which router he currently has?

Because the OP isn't asking for an expensive monthly bill as a solution of just adding more bandwidth. He knows adding more bandwidth would solve the problem, he's asking for a different solution. He asked for a hardware solution to the problem, we should be answering his question.

He's also not asking for parenting advice. I'm not sure why everyone seems to want to give it to him. Last I checked, this is a tech website, not a parenting website.

 

[Bill_Bright]

He asked for a hardware solution to the problem, we should be answering his question.

He asked for router or "other solution" suggestions. You would have him buying a new router before even knowing his current router or bandwidth requirements. Is that really providing sound advice?

And now that we have learned his ISP is an "end-of-the-line" DSL service with just 8Mbps, and with 2 kids streaming tunes and videos, 4 cell phones using wifi, and the OP trying to stream Netflix too, are you really going to contend that only you are right, that he needs a new router, and that I am still wrong and his IPS is not a potential bottleneck?

 

[ThaiTaffy]

He needs both a router and a new set of ki.. I mean better connection I thought when we first touched on this you said that the router could be sent back? I would do so and just buy something cheap that supports QoS you currently have no need for wifi6 from the sounds of it.

 

[Bill_Bright]

He needs both a router and a new set of ki.. I mean better connection I thought when we first touched on this you said that the router could be sent back? I would do so and just buy something cheap that supports QoS you currently have no need for wifi6 from the sounds of it.

What's wrong with his current router?

As seen by the specs, it already supports QoS. It also supports 11ax in both 5 and 2.4GHz dual band and 1Gb Ethernet and more.

 

[Aquinus]

OP should just use QoS device prioritization and put his device on the high priority list. The router supports it. Problem mitigated. If the kids want faster internet, you tell them that they can help foot the bill for it or do something for you to justify it. They're old enough for that.

 

[ThaiTaffy]

What's wrong with his current router?

As seen by the specs, it already supports QoS. It also supports 11ax in both 5 and 2.4GHz dual band and 1Gb Ethernet and more.

He told me it didn't support QoS I didn't check the specs but the fact he has a 8mb connection led me to believe he didn't need a ax router.
I was also told he could return it so rather than mess about trying to figure out what or what he couldn't do with his current one I suggested he do so while he has chance.

What's wrong with his current router?

It's a closed driver broadcom device and tplink don't exactly have the best reputation for keeping your web browsing data safe so I'd say if you can't return it burn it but that's just my personal opinion of what's wrong with it.

 

[Bill_Bright]

He told me it didn't support QoS

Where were you told this?

 

[ThaiTaffy]

Where were you told this?

Somewhere on the recent headlines thread about TP-Link dumping user data he told be the router doesn't support something he wanted and was interested in looking at a OpenWRT supported device.

 

[newtekie1]

And now that we have learned his ISP is an "end-of-the-line" DSL service with just 8Mbps, and with 2 kids streaming tunes and videos, 4 cell phones using wifi, and the OP trying to stream Netflix too, are you really going to contend that only you are right, that he needs a new router, and that I am still wrong and his IPS is not a potential bottleneck?

Here is the funny thing. I didn't say that the ISP wasn't the bottleneck. I said a hardware solution to deal with that bottleneck would work and is what OP is really asking for. Now we know getting a faster speed is not an option right now. Which I kind of correctly assumed given OP's statement that his rural and that most people already know if their internet is slow buying faster internet would help without the need to ask in a tech forum. It's time to start actually answering the question OP asked instead of just suggesting 'buy more bandwidth, dere".

If OP wants an actual solution to his problem and not a lesson on parenting or "duh, just buy more bandwidth", he can reference my original post. And I also never suggested he buy any new hardware, it might be necessary or it might not. If OP has an old PC laying around, pfSense will run happily on that. Or heck, you can run it in a VM on your current computer if you really wanted to, but that get complicated.

Oh, and another benefit of pfSense is whole network ad-blocking. Loading ads is using bandwidth, get rid of it on every device on the network.

What's wrong with his current router?

As seen by the specs, it already supports QoS. It also supports 11ax in both 5 and 2.4GHz dual band and 1Gb Ethernet and more.

Consumer router QoS is absolute junk. In fact, QoS in general is pretty shitty at what op wants in his situation, but TP-Link's implementation(like most of what they do) is particularly shitty. You want something that can actually set and enforce bandwidth limits. Because even with QoS, it will still let one device take up all the bandwidth if it things that device needs it.

Now, you want to see something really cool, check out this:


Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "is that the same router that OP has?!" Yep, it sure is. Now you next question is "what's with that layer of dust?" And that answer to that is this router just sits on my shelf unused. Why? You ask. Because it's a huge pile of ****. I know for a fact the QoS is absolute trash on that router because I actually used it.

So, the answer to OP's problem, now that we know what we know, is a better piece of hardware that can do proper per device bandwidth limiting. You know, like I originally suggested. Set the phones to have 512Kbps, they don't need more than that to make WiFi calls or stream music. They won't be able to stream video to their phones, but they shouldn't be doing that with other streaming devices in the house. Set each video streaming device to 2Mbps(which will force 480p video) or 3.5Mbps(which will limit it to 720p). Or another option is to limit bandwidth to a group of devices. Give each kid 2Mbps for all their devices, which is still enough to stream 480p video with a little to spare. Let them figure out how they want to use what they are given.

 

[eidairaman1]

Here is the funny thing. I didn't say that the ISP wasn't the bottleneck. I said a hardware solution to deal with that bottleneck would work and is what OP is really asking for. Now we know getting a faster speed is not an option right now. Which I kind of correctly assumed given OP's statement that his rural and that most people already know if their internet is slow buying faster internet would help without the need to ask in a tech forum. It's time to start actually answering the question OP asked instead of just suggesting 'buy more bandwidth, dere".

If OP wants an actual solution to his problem and not a lesson on parenting or "duh, just buy more bandwidth", he can reference my original post. And I also never suggested he buy any new hardware, it might be necessary or it might not. If OP has an old PC laying around, pfSense will run happily on that. Or heck, you can run it in a VM on your current computer if you really wanted to, but that get complicated.

Oh, and another benefit of pfSense is whole network ad-blocking. Loading ads is using bandwidth, get rid of it on every device on the network.


Consumer router QoS is absolute junk. In fact, QoS in general is pretty shitty at what op wants in his situation, but TP-Link's implementation(like most of what they do) is particularly shitty. You want something that can actually set and enforce bandwidth limits. Because even with QoS, it will still let one device take up all the bandwidth if it things that device needs it.

Now, you want to see something really cool, check out this:
View attachment 246520

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "is that the same router that OP has?!" Yep, it sure is. Now you next question is "what's with that layer of dust?" And that answer to that is this router just sits on my shelf unused. Why? You ask. Because it's a huge pile of ****. I know for a fact the QoS is absolute trash on that router because I actually used it.

So, the answer to OP's problem, now that we know what we know, is a better piece of hardware that can do proper per device bandwidth limiting. You know, like I originally suggested. Set the phones to have 512Kbps, they don't need more than that to make WiFi calls or stream music. They won't be able to stream video to their phones, but they shouldn't be doing that with other streaming devices in the house. Set each video streaming device to 2Mbps(which will force 480p video) or 3.5Mbps(which will limit it to 720p). Or another option is to limit bandwidth to a group of devices. Give each kid 2Mbps for all their devices, which is still enough to stream 480p video with a little to spare. Let them figure out how they want to use what they are given.

Limit ip addresses put out from gateway even so they can only have 1 device on the network at a time even

 

[Bill_Bright]

I didn't say that the ISP wasn't the bottleneck.

LOL - No, you just said I was wrong when I suggested it could be the ISP when I said,

"IF" your current service agreement with your ISP does not provide for enough bandwidth.

But if it makes you feel vindicated to now claim you didn't say it was the ISP, fine. We all know the sequence of events here.

And no, you didn't specifically say to buy a new router. You simply said, "A good router can very much help the situation" without, at that point in time, knowing what router the OP had. To me, that implies the OP needs to make sure he has a good router, and if not, buy one.

And you added that you know a lot of rural areas stuck at 25 - 75Mbps, and you then claimed the OP's problem "goes away" just by "limiting every streaming device to 5Mbps".

So 2 kids and the dad all streaming Netflix, 2 kids streaming tunes, and 4 cell phones connected to wifi - all at the same time along with whatever demands the kids' school work is placing and you are still claiming 10Mbps will not cause any problems or "loss of quality of life?"

Really?

Okay. Then clearly, there must be 10s of millions of people grossly overpaying their ISPs for bandwidth they don't need - according to newtekie1.

he is in a rural area, so 100Mbps might even be the max speed he can get, or even lower. I know a lot of the rural areas around me are stuck with maximums of 25-75Mbps.

Well, 25Mpbs would be a 250% improvement for the OP - on a good day.

That said, I sure don't know what your definition of rural is, but there are many urban dwellers in this metropolitan area (Nebraska's largest - by far) with DSL service who would love to get 50Mbps, but are stuck with less - either due to costs, or simple availability. Heck, there are many rural users who would love to get 5Mbps total!

The point here is, conclusions were being made by you before we even knew what router the OP had, or what his ISP provided. And THAT is what I was objecting too.

You win. I'm done here.

Somewhere on the recent headlines

Somewhere? Sorry but no. Where did the OP say that?

 

[newtekie1]

LOL - No, you just said I was wrong when I suggested it could be the ISP when I said,

No, I said you were wrong to say a new router won't help if the ISP bandwidth is the issue. You are, in fact, wrong. A new, better, router that can do proper device based bandwidth limiting will in fact do good if the ISP bandwidth is the limiting factor. I was right on every point. OP literally can't get faster internet right now, I don't know why you keep arguing like you were right and the solution is just more bandwidth. Even if OP had the option to increase bandwidth, you are still completely wrong that a better router would do no good if the ISP bandwidth is the limit. That is 100% wrong. In fact, a better router is exactly waht you want if you have limited bandwidth because it gives you WAY more control over how that bandwidth is used. It's over, I'm done arguing with you. You were wrong, more bandwidth is not the solution to help OP, it is literally as this moment impossible So a better router is in fact the option OP is looking for and will in fact help in this situation. Time to move on.

 

[Mussels]

Looking for a solution to enforce bandwidth control per device. The problem I'm facing is my kids don't know how to do just 1 thing they must have 1 device streaming netflix another streaming music and serving on there phone while doing homework on there pc so when I set down to watch something on netflix all I get is buffing lol ... so i'm thinking either have to find a router to do what I need ( which it seems like all the ones i've seen just does prioritizing ) what i would like to do is allocate bandwidth for each device. is it possible to maybe go from modem then go to a managed switch and then go to 4 or 5 routers and use the switch to allocate bandwidth on each port or is there an easier way

Thanks Mark

You want to set up a guest network for them, with its own bandwidth limit.
TP link routers can come with different chipsets, some do QoS with bandwidth limits and not just priority control (which never worked well on slow ADSL, for me)


Grab one of their budget models with bandwidth control, give the kids their own throttled network


Edit: and now on page 2... 10Mb will lag with one netflix connection and people trying to do anything else. It's not enough.
I'm on 50Mb, and prior to getting QoS working fully i had lag issues from a single netflix or disney+ stream since they'd max the connection while buffering, pause, max it again - leading to stutter issues

 

[eidairaman1]

Lets get back on subject, how to help this guy figure out how to stop freeloaders from stealing the bandwidth on a ADSL connection that is 8Mbps average 10Mbps max (766KBps)

 

[Mussels]

Lets get back on subject, how to help this guy figure out how to stop freeloaders from stealing the bandwidth on a ADSL connection that is 8Mbps average 10Mbps max (766KBps)

seperate throttled network is the only way, for example maxing their network at 5Mb while his has the potential for 10Mb

He could also set up a server as a web cache, although i'm not sure that'd help with video content or gaming

 

[eidairaman1]

seperate throttled network is the only way, for example maxing their network at 5Mb while his has the potential for 10Mb

He could also set up a server as a web cache, although i'm not sure that'd help with video content or gaming

I said a few other suggestions earlier, limited ip addresses and QOS enforcement on said IP addresses.

 

[ThaiTaffy]

No, I said you were wrong to say a new router won't help if the ISP bandwidth is the issue. You are, in fact, wrong. A new, better, router that can do proper device based bandwidth limiting will in fact do good if the ISP bandwidth is the limiting factor. I was right on every point. OP literally can't get faster internet right now, I don't know why you keep arguing like you were right and the solution is just more bandwidth. Even if OP had the option to increase bandwidth, you are still completely wrong that a better router would do no good if the ISP bandwidth is the limit. That is 100% wrong. In fact, a better router is exactly waht you want if you have limited bandwidth because it gives you WAY more control over how that bandwidth is used. It's over, I'm done arguing with you. You were wrong, more bandwidth is not the solution to help OP, it is literally as this moment impossible So a better router is in fact the option OP is looking for and will in fact help in this situation. Time to move on.

I've given up arguing it's far easier to ignore, I have to much déjà vu of conflicts when replying to him.

Let's not confuse OP though when we say a better router we just mean one with better management.

I'd highly recommend something you can flash with OpenWRT, although more complicated you can't really find anything on the market without getting into enterprise gear that allows you to have quite so much control and allowing you to use features such as QoS, SQM and 802.11r which might be of benefit to you if you decide you would like to expand your WiFi network.
I think we've covered it now good luck to op in his endeavour hopefully you ISP can provide you a better connection in the future as 8mb sounds like tin cans and string to me in this day and age.

 

[newtekie1]

Let's not confuse OP though when we say a better router we just mean one with better management.

I'd highly recommend something you can flash with OpenWRT, although more complicated you can't really find anything on the market without getting into enterprise gear that allows you to have quite so much control and allowing you to use features such as QoS, SQM and 802.11r which might be of benefit to you if you decide you would like to expand your WiFi network.
I think we've covered it now good luck to op in his endeavour hopefully you ISP can provide you a better connection in the future as 8mb sounds like tin cans and string to me in this day and age.

That's why I suggested pfSense, it literally runs on anything x86. So an old PC with a couple network cards in it is all you need. And while it gives tons of features, more than OpenWRT actually, it's actually easier to get configured for your average user, IMO. The only down side is it doesn't do WiFi, so you have to use a separate access point. But the old router will work for that, just put it in AP mode or disabled DHCP and plug into a LAN port. The old router will also function as a wired switch at that point too.

 

[ThaiTaffy]

That's why I suggested pfSense, it literally runs on anything x86. So an old PC with a couple network cards in it is all you need. And while it gives tons of features, more than OpenWRT actually, it's actually easier to get configured for your average user, IMO. The only down side is it doesn't do WiFi, so you have to use a separate access point. But the old router will work for that, just put it in AP mode or disabled DHCP and plug into a LAN port. The old router will also function as a wired switch at that point too.

Enterprise grade firewall to stop the kids from hogging bandwidth on a 8mb connection, seems a bit ott but I like it
I use Opnsense myself the BSD firewalls are nice but I'm guessing we get more use our of ours than he ever would past handy capping his kids tiktoc time.