How to evenly distribute my router's performance/activity?

[vdiddy]

I have a high-end ac router, but my cable internet is roughly 20mbps/5mbps on a good day and normally 15mbps/3mbps on average.

That being said, I have about a dozen devices that are capable of streaming video or playing games online. At any given moment, at least two of these are being used.

But the issue that I am facing is that as soon as one becomes active, the other will lag behind. In other words, it seems that all of the activity is being pushed to the first device and disregarding the second, third, etc. to the point where it barely moves along.

So is there a way for my router to "divide up" its activity and give each device a balanced amount of performance? Alternatively, is this a simple setting in my router's administrative portal? Something to do with the modem provided by the cable company?

 

[APassingMe]

That would be QoS or Quality of Service, some routers have the option while others do not. Even if the router has the option it doesn't always have the option to adjust total bandwidth distribution and even then it doesn't always work out the way you want it to. That said, you're looking for QoS, good luck with it.

 

[kanewolf]

If your router is supported by DD-WRT, it has more granular limits available, at least according to the docs. I have never used it to vouch for the capability.

 

[APassingMe]

DD-WRT has great QoS options, but the performance will vary depending on the router and tweaking done. I'm not sure if it's a good option for a basic user.

 

[kanewolf]

DD-WRT has great QoS options, but the performance will vary depending on the router and tweaking done. I'm not sure if it's a good option for a basic user.

Don't disagree that DD-WRT is for advanced users. Getting QOS working well isn't trivial. I was just trying to suggest options with better capabilities than typical factory firmware.

Unfortunately a lot of users believe there are "magic" knobs that just allow a home router to dial a specific network stream (or mac, or friend) to a specific bandwidth. Unfortunately that just isn't the case. Most home QoS settings are intended to positively bias specific network traffic rather than throttle types of traffic.

 

[APassingMe]

I agree, it is sad but it is hard to get good bandwidth control even on professional routing equipment unless you want to shell out some serious money. DD-WRT is about as good as it gets for decent bandwidth control on the cheap, there is that caveat about tweaking for sensitive IP protocols though.

 

[vdiddy]

Thanks for all of the responses, guys. It does have QoS in the admin portal but I haven't looked into DD-WRT. I'll check it out when I get home.

I wouldn't call myself an advanced user, but also not a novice. I do play around with mac address reservations, port forwarding, etc.

One more follow-up question: Is this a normal occurrence in the sense that it's normal for routers to push everything to one device? I got this new and high-end router because it touted itself as heavy multi-tasking, and while it is an improvement over my last one, it's still not where I want it to be. Could that be a result of the bandwith I'm getting from my cable company?

 

[APassingMe]

The router just routes everything to whatever devices requests it, so basically you have some heavy users. You either get more bandwidth than what is being used or you limit your heavy user/s.

 

[vdiddy]

Okay makes sense. Thank you again to all.