How can I determine whether my router is capable of uninterruptedly connecting numerous devices?
Having several devices connected to the Internet at home has become very common in recent years.
In addition to computers and smartphones, we also have TVs, smart speakers, and a variety of other home automation equipment.
This makes it necessary to have a router that has the ability to accept multiple things at the same time. How do you know if your device allows it? That is what we will talk about in this article.
If you have an older router, it probably won't support many things connected at the same time. At the very least, you may have trouble getting good quality with decent speed. Newer, more powerful routers will perform best when you connect more devices.
- Check if your router supports multiple devices.
This is especially interesting if you decide to automate your home. Suddenly, you will start having a lot of devices connected to the network at the same time and you want to see if that will negatively affect the connection. Obviously, bandwidth is limited, and the more you use, the slower it will be.
These four strong arguments will convince you to turn off your router at night
- The Wi-Fi protocol used by the router
The first thing you should look at is what Wi-Fi protocol your router supports. If your router is older, it will likely be Wi-Fi 5. In this case, it will be more limited in supporting more devices connected at the same time. It is an older protocol and may slow down your connection.
On the other hand, if you have newer protocols, such as Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7, they will have greater capacity to support more connected devices. The bandwidth is greater and you can even use the 6 GHz frequency in the case of Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7.
- MU-MIMO technology
Also interesting is that it has MU-MIMO technology. This is something that many modern routers have and is very useful when connecting multiple things to the network. This allows for better management when there are multiple connections at the same time, which is what happens when you connect multiple devices.
If your router doesn’t have this technology, it can cause higher latency and minor drops when you have a lot of things connected. If you have Wi-Fi repeaters, it’s also important that they are MU-MIMO compatible.
For this reason, quickly move the router away from the TV if it is near it
- QoS
Does your router have QoS? This doesn’t mean it will support more or fewer devices connected at the same time, but it will make the connection work better. This means that a specific device will be prioritized, the one you want to have better speed and not have any problems.
As you connect more things to the network, your connection may start to degrade. For example, if you need to make a video call, there may be interruptions. Now, by having Quality of Service (QoS), you can prioritize the device you are going to make the video call to, which doesn’t mean you have to disconnect other things connected to the router.
- Check the maximum devices according to the router model
On the other hand, you will also be able to find out how many devices this router supports at the same time. You should know the exact model and do a search on the Internet. We recommend that you refer to the official manual or website, where you will definitely find this information.
For example, you may see that one router supports up to 30 devices at the same time, while another model supports over 100 devices, and so on. This may vary depending on the quality.
In short, these are the options that help you know how many devices your router supports. If you are planning to automate your home, it is important to review this type of data to avoid problems with interruptions or loss of speed.