Router overload usually manifests in the form of slow Internet connections and downloads that affect your entire Internet connection rather than particular websites. However, slow performance can also result from many other kinds of hardware, software and connectivity problems, making it difficult to get an exact diagnosis. The more consistent the performance slowdown, across different network devices, websites and types of Internet activity, the more likely router overload becomes as an explanation for the cause.
1. Open a new browser session and perform some low-bandwidth activities like visiting the homepage of a website. Visit one page at a time, rather than running multiple tabs. Do this one at a time for each computer or other device connected to your home network. If you encounter performance problems at any point, then you probably have a different problem from router overload because the router should easily handle this work volume.
2. Perform a high-bandwidth activity next, such as downloading a large file, loading many tabs at once, or playing an online game like "Second Life" or "World of Warcraft." Do this for each device on your network one at a time. If you experience intermittent dropped connections or broken downloads, especially if it occurs on different devices, that may indicate router overload.
3. Determine whether the performance issue results only when you simultaneously use the Internet on a specific combination of devices on your home network, or if it results with any combination of simultaneous device use. For this test use the Internet as you would normally, rather than limiting use to a low-bandwidth activity. Router overload would cause slow performance on any combination of devices, whereas performance issues that occur only with a specific combination of devices indicate a different problem, either with one of those devices or with its connection to the router. If you only have one device connected to your home network, skip this step.
4. Inspect your router’s firewall settings to see whether they might be causing a performance bottleneck. You can check these settings through the router’s control panel software on your computer, usually by typing the IP address “192.168.1.1” (without quotes) into your browser’s address bar. If that doesn’t work, check your router user manual. If you don’t know enough about firewall settings to inspect them knowledgeably, simply disable the router firewall entirely and see if that resolves the performance issue. If it does, you can consult with a technician, geek friend or the user manual to figure out what settings you need to change to run the firewall without overloading the router.
5. Compare performance speeds between regular Internet usage and peer-to-peer filesharing. “Regular” Internet usage includes universal activities like visiting websites and sending email, where you typically interact with centralized Web servers. Peer-to-peer filesharing, by contrast, can overload a router’s CPU even at relatively low levels of bandwidth usage because the router must handle information coming in from many different networks. This limitation only affects cheap or older routers with limited CPU capacity. If you don’t engage in filesharing, skip this step as it can’t be a source of router overload.
- Many home gateways combine the functions of a router, modem, wireless access point and network switch into a single piece of hardware. This article uses the term “router” inclusively. If you have a separate modem, for instance, you may have to repeat these tests on it too.
- If none of these steps suggests router overload, you may have a different problem such as a malware or virus infection or a hardware failure.
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