2.4 Client Limit

[Svenskmat]

I have lots of 2.4 I.O.T. Clients and I wanted to know if there is a limit on the number of clients.

I found an old thread about this. http://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac3200-limit-on-the-number-of-2-4gb-clients.47019/post-486215

Most of my I.O.T clients don't stream so it is not a concern for bandwidth.

Does anyone know of a similar limit for the RT-AC5300?

Thanks

 

[L&LD]

On consumer routers, we have around thirty-two clients maximum per radio.

Give or take.

 

[Tech9]

I have lots of 2.4 I.O.T. Clients

How many is lots? You have 2 routers with separate 2.4GHz radios. Any chance to spread around the IoT devices between the routers?

 

[Svenskmat]

I have more then 32 clients especially if our phones jump over to 2.4.(maybe 40 or so 2.4 clients) So if I bind Some of the clients to the node, the 32 or so limit should not be a concern? Is that correct?

Thanks

 

[Tech9]

Is that correct?

Yes. The Router will handle some, the Node the rest. You have 2x 2.4GHz radios.

I have more then 32 clients

Most home routers support 16-32 clients per radio. I believe 2x RT-AC5300 routers will handle yours. If not, come back here for a different solution.

especially if our phones jump over to 2.4

Disable SmartConnect and high-speed devices will stay on 5GHz band(s). SmartConnect is not very smart anyway. Take better control of your devices.

 

[thiggins]

First, are you having problems with devices not connecting?
The 16 - 32 "limits" others describe are not necessarily hard limits. Router DHCP servers will handle > 200 devices in a Class C network. Consumer routers will usually not refuse to associate devices.

The "limit" is more about performance. But that depends on what the devices are requiring. IoT devices that are idle most of the time and use little bandwidth when they're active don't place much load on an AP.

 

[Svenskmat]

First, are you having problems with devices not connecting?
The 16 - 32 "limits" others describe are not necessarily hard limits. Router DHCP servers will handle > 200 devices in a Class C network. Consumer routers will usually not refuse to associate devices.

The "limit" is more about performance. But that depends on what the devices are requiring. IoT devices that are idle most of the time and use little bandwidth when they're active don't place much load on an AP.

I understand about the number of IP's that the DHCP can assign, however I saw in another post that Asus limits the number of 2.4 clients. (see link in first post) "Asus confirmed via email that the ac3200 has a chipset limitation of 25 2.4 GHz devices"

It seems that there is a point when additional clients come in range, others drop off.

 

[Tech9]

Asus confirmed via email that the ac3200 has a chipset limitation of 25 2.4 GHz devices

Sound like manufacturer limitation for specific chipsets. Here is the Netgear statement:

How many WiFi client devices can my NETGEAR router support?

The number of WiFi client devices that your NETGEAR router can simultaneously support varies depending on the model. For information about Orbi systems, see How many devices can my Orbi system support? Most current NETGEAR routers use 802.11ax (WiFi 6) technology. If you have a NETGEAR WiFi 6...

kb.netgear.com

 

[thiggins]

I checked with NETGEAR. Turns out some older chipsets do have a connection cap due to limited memory.

There is no connection limit for Wi-Fi 6 and 6E products.

So for the current generation of routers and APs, any connection limits are either being enforced by design or are rule-of-thumb / best practice guidance.

It all depends on what you're trying to do. 50 IoT devices that are sleeping most of the time and have very low bandwidth needs when they're awake use much lower airtime than 5 IP cameras that are constantly on. But even most IP cam systems now are motion driven. So they are not using much airtime when idle.

Even streaming is a misnomer. If you look at network activity for a typical stream, you'll see a large intermittent downloads, not a continuous stream. The other day I had to interrupt our network while my wife was watching Netflix. It took about 3 minutes before the show stopped.

The biggest airtime users are large file transfers/downloads. Those are as continuous as it gets.

 

[Tech9]

What 50-100 IoT devices are used for in a typical home? Anyone to give an example?

 

[thiggins]

Ok, so 20. The point is the same.

 

[Svenskmat]

We have lots of lights that are on smart sockets, some Nest Camera's. We have some early Chromecast that are 2.4 only as well as some speakers. It does not take long to get that number

 

[elorimer]

The guy in the McMansion across the street from me when I was chatting with him after Isaias rolled through bragged that he had almost 150 wifi devices, mostly lighting controls and bulbs. His backup generator was droning in the background, and I thought a bit about asking him if he saw the connection between his carbon footprint, and the downed trees and power outage.