Tplink Wifi Router problem accepting more that 15 connections

[strike101]

Hi , i'm having problems with my current router , it's a TP-Link WR740N , it has problem accepting more than around 12-15 connections , other users can't connect when it hits the limit even though the DHCP address pool is set to more than 100 IP's , i have to power cycle(reset) the modem for it to work again

I've encountered similar problems with other cheap routers from Huawei , so what's causing the problem ? is it the Router's CPU and RAM ? I'm thinking of replacing it with a Linksys EA6300 , specwise should be able to handle more connections ?

TPLink TL WR740N
model revision : 4.27
AR9331-AL3A 400Mhz CPU
ESMT M13S2561616A(RAM) ( i think it's 32mb ??)
Spansion FL032PIF 32Mbit (4Mb) Flash

Linksys EA6300
model revision : EA6300V1 - that's say thati it's a relabled EA6400
CPU Broadcom BCM4708A0 ( dual core 800mhz )
Switch Gigabit in BCM4708A0
RAM 128 MB (Hynix H5PS1G63JFR-S6C)
Flash 128 MB

 

[dave_the_nerd]

This is a common limit for low-end WAPs (it's not the router, or even the CPU per se, it's just the antennae and sharing signal/channels).

A "good" one will do up to 30, maybe. Enterprise grade equipment can handle up to 50 clients per WAP.

But since bandwidth is shared between all the clients, you'll probably want to keep the number down - maybe get a second inexpensive WAP and bridge it to the first to distribute the load a bit.

 

[Genx87]

Is this wireless or wired or both? Wireless as Dave noted the radios on these cheap routers suck. If this is wired that might be a symptom of something deeper in the OS.

 

[strike101]

ok.. thanks for clearing things up , so any chance that Linksys will do any better ? it's a $30 vs $100 router

or i might just pickup an Ubiquiti Unifi AP

 

[dave_the_nerd]

ok.. thanks for clearing things up , so any chance that Linksys will do any better ? it's a $30 vs $100 router

or i might just pickup an Ubiquiti Unifi AP

The documentation for a given wifi router will sometimes have a recommendation on max number of supported clients. I'd expect the Linksys to be better... but better enough? No idea. It can depend on a lot of other factors, too - there are no real guarantees with WiFi.

In your position, I'd probably try the Linksys first, and if it handles the load, great. If it doesn't quite manage, I'd keep the higher end router as a router and use your older TP-Link as a second WAP in bridge mode to distribute the load like I mentioned earlier.

Ubiquiti makes excellent hardware/software, too, but I don't know too much about how their AP would integrate with the TP-Link router.

As a side note, I'd be curious if you could get CPU/RAM use stats from your TP-Link router. If you've really got over a dozen wireless clients, and assuming you have a few wired devices as well, it's possible you're approaching the limit for the amount of traffic that router can route. Especially if you have one or more systems using BitTorrent (or something else that runs a lot of connections.)

 

[JackMDS]

No matter what the specs says, it is very Bad practice to load any of the APs (even the over $100). with 15 clients.

Unfortunately the "Crowd" do not have basic understanding of Signal Propagation Tech. and the vendors like to keep it this ways.

Wireless hardware usually have about 33mW in signal out of the chip-set. Input into "flimsy" Antennae in awkward or and inefficient positions. It does not serve well no matter how many Antennae there are and how fancy their plastic cover looks like. It is a cheap antennae with Bad Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) , and a lot of noise and harmonics around 2.4GHz.

Just like Cell phones, Wireless 802.x was invented in order to be used in very small Cells (basically one AP per each room).

I will never forget the first years of Wireless (the b/g era). were all the vendors specs cited 300 feet indoor of WIFI (yeah if the indoor is an open space like a Boeing 747 hangar, may be).


😎

 

[VirtualLarry]

all the vendors specs cited 300 feet indoor of WIFI (yeah if the indoor is an open space like a Boeing 747 hangar, may be).

LOL. I remember that.