How many client devices can be connected to one Wi-Fi access point. We look at the connected devices in the admin panel of the router. Maximum number of devices via Wi-Fi

In this article we will look at how much mobile devices You can simultaneously connect to the router if it is a WiFi Internet distribution point. And also how many devices can be connected to the router via cable.

Connecting via LAN cable

It all depends on the number of LAN connectors on the router itself. As a rule, a regular router has 4 such connectors. This means that only four devices can be connected to it via cable.

WiFi connection

Here, of course, there are no restrictions on the number of connectors, however, a large number of simultaneously connected devices will affect the operation of the router itself.
There are restrictions and they are expressed in the maximum number of IP addresses that are issued by the DHCP server on the router itself. By default, different routers have their own values. For example, on Asus the starting address is 192.168.1.0, the ending address is 192.168.1.254, that is, the address range is 254 (254 devices can be connected). For TP-Link routers, respectively, the initial value is 192.168.0.100, the final value is 192.168.0.199, and the range is 99 (that is, you can connect 99 devices). Thus, theoretically, an entire army of phones and tablets can be connected to each router. But in fact, from a purely technical point of view, the router will not be able to connect so many devices - it will not be able to provide stable operation to so many devices.

How many devices can you connect? We have seen complaints when router owners connect a dozen devices (for example, work computers in an office) and the Internet disappears. There can be only one piece of advice here - it is important to select router models that are designed for such a load. They are much more powerful, have powerful blocks power supplies and processors. Of course, their cost is much higher. You can choose a suitable router at any office equipment store that sells laptops, tablets, phones, and you can also buy phone cases wholesale as fashion accessories. When purchasing, carefully read the description of each model - the number of connected devices should be indicated there.

So, ordinary routers for a home network are designed for no more than 5 devices. For example, let's take the router model Huawei EC 5321u-1 Rev.B, Sierra Wireless AC802. The specifications for it indicate that it is designed for a load of up to 5 devices. Another example is the Easo M8. The instructions for it say that it is possible to connect 50 devices, but the recommended number is only 5 - 7.
So, each router is designed for a certain load, which is indicated in the instructions. When planning a small local network at home or in the office, or when distributing WiFi in crowded places, always pay attention to the power of the purchased router.

For a small network (up to 5 devices, say, tablet, computer, phone and TV) inexpensive model. For example, TP-Link-WR841N or a similar one from this price category and similar in power.
To build a wireless network in crowded places (cafes, conferences, hostels, apartment buildings), where a large number of connected devices are expected, feel free to buy a more expensive router (about 5 thousand rubles). It will provide stable operation and is guaranteed to work without failures.
And yet, if you plan to place a large load on the router from several devices simultaneously (video games, downloading torrents, online videos, etc.), then you should also opt for a more powerful model router. This will protect you from possible interruptions in Internet distribution.

Everyone loves freebies, but no one loves freeloaders! If you have a suspicion that someone is stealing your wi-fi traffic, you can’t hesitate, you urgently need to find out who connected to your wifi networks. Fortunately, it’s quite easy to view all connected devices to your wi-fi router if you have the necessary knowledge. Let's find the wrong connections and punish lovers of free Internet!

Today, Internet routers are used everywhere in offices, apartments, and public places, as they allow multiple devices to simultaneously access the network quickly. The operating principle of these devices is to use WI-FI technologies via server-client protocol. The router has a special connector for connecting an Internet cable, after which it distributes the received speed between clients.

However, not all users need their Internet to be accessed by strangers, for example, neighbors in the hallway or dorm room. Sometimes there is a desire to give away wireless access only within the apartment if there are several units of such devices as:

  • Laptops;
  • Tablets;
  • Smartphones.

In addition, thanks to WI-FI you can create local networks in office environments, if the gadgets in use are equipped with an adapter. The main symptoms that someone is using your Internet without permission are:

  • Significant drop in access speed;
  • Changing router configurations and settings;
  • The list of connected clients contains unknown devices;
  • Increased activity of the WAN indicator on the router when you are not using the Internet.

Typically, the key indicator of an unauthorized connection to your access point is a significant reduction in speed, since any router distributes it among all clients.

We look at the connected devices in the router admin panel

On various forums, novice users quite often ask the question of how to find out who connected to my WIFI, but in order to give an accurate answer, you need to determine the model of the router you are using. Since the most common routers are TP-LINK, it is most advisable to consider this using its example. The most effective, fast and convenient method is viewing connected clients in the device admin panel, but first you need to log in to it. So, you need:

  1. Connect to an access point via WI-FI or connect a twisted pair cable (crimped on both sides) from the LAN port of the router to the laptop/computer;
  2. Open your browser and address bar enter: 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 or tplinkwifi.net;
  3. In the window that opens, specify the authorization data (by default, Login is admin, Password is admin).

That's all, after these simple manipulations the client has the opportunity to configure the router as desired. Regarding the second point, we need to clarify, since the address you enter directly depends on the model of your device, but in most cases one of the above will definitely do. In addition, you can see the exact IP of the router on the sticker located at the bottom of the case.

In the future, viewing connected clients will not be difficult and to do this you need to do the following:

  1. Login to the admin panel using the method indicated above;
  2. Go to the Wireless tab;
  3. Select Wireless Statistic.

This section contains all connected to the access point on this moment clients, but they can also be viewed in the menu of the DHCP item - DHCP Clients List. This method advantageous in that it displays more detailed information about the connected gadget, including MAC address network card and assigned internal IP.

Programs for viewing a list of devices connected to WI-FI

Developers software to control the network environment today they are actively working for the benefit of users. At the moment, there are several high-quality programs that allow you to view the clients of your access point, but the most popular and functional is WiFi Guard. If other applications have a general focus on all kinds of interactions with network connections, then this one is intended for specific purposes. Thanks to it, any administrator will be able to control the number of connected users and, if necessary, block their access. In addition, special green and red markers opposite each connection give an idea of ​​whether the client is consuming traffic legally.

NETGEAR Genie is a very good analogue of the WiFi Guard program with a friendly interface and a wide arsenal of tools. Almost immediately after installing this software, you will be able to obtain comprehensive information about connected users through a network status map. Acrylic WiFi Professional is a program primarily intended for administrators and developers, but it can also be very useful at home. Its functional set provides not only a list of clients, but also the ability to more fine tuning your access point. A program with the unambiguous name Who’s Is On My WiFi can also help you get information about who is connected to my WIFI. Although it is only available on English language, copes with its task perfectly. The following applications for Windows can be considered no less effective analogues of this software:

  1. Wireless Network Watcher;
  2. NCS Network Scanner;
  3. NetBScanner.

Disabling foreign devices from Wi-Fi

The best way to disconnect a user from your access point is to simply change the password and set the WPA2-PSK encryption protocol. To perform this procedure you need:

  1. Login to the router admin panel;
  2. Go to the Wireless section - Wireless Security;
  3. Select the encryption type WPA2-PSK;
  4. Set a password of 8 or more characters, it is better to use different case and numbers;
  5. Click the Save button.

In addition, in the same settings menu the maximum number of simultaneous clients is set. This will help if a strictly defined number of devices are always connected to your access point, for example, a laptop, computer and smartphone, so you can set this parameter to 3.

You can protect your WI-FI network from hacking using different methods.
Firstly, it is recommended to change your password to a new one at least once a month, which is a generally accepted security measure for every Internet user.
Secondly, in no case should you use the same password on all sites and, in addition, it must be unique. For example, it is very short-sighted to display your date of birth, the name of an animal, or the middle name of your spouse. It is better to specify a multi-digit code and write it down in a notepad. Among other things, you should always use only the WPA2-PSK encryption type, since other types of protection are easily hackable, but this one guarantees almost 100% security.

How to punish freebie lovers who connect to your WIFI

If you find a “rogue” client on your access point, then you need to take all measures to ensure that this does not happen again. An excellent way to punish a negligent neighbor is to permanently block access from his device to your network. To do this you need:

  1. Log in to the router admin panel;
  2. Go to the Wireless Statistic or DHCP List section and write down the MAC address of the client’s network card;
  3. Select Wireless MAC Filtering in the router settings;
  4. Activate it and enter the previously recorded MAC;
  5. Save settings.

Thus, an attacker will never be able to connect to the router again. However, you can not disconnect the user, but set a speed limit for him in the same settings menu, for example, no more than 10 kilobytes per second. After all, what could be worse for modern people accustomed to broadband Internet than home page"Odnoklassniki", which takes a minute to load. Moreover, you will not lose anything from this. And always try to change the password on the router after someone else has used your laptop or computer, because once you have access to one of the clients, extracting the security key takes a few minutes.

It often happens that you want to limit access to your home Wi-Fi, but before that it was without a password and now many strangers can absolutely simply continue to use it, but, from your point of view, this is not good. Now we will look at what to do and how to limit the number of Wi-Fi connections or, for example, even turn off individual users. We will consider all actions and examples based on the TP-Link interface.

How to exclude unwanted users

Let's start with the fact that you can easily determine who is on your network. To do this, we should immediately go to the “DHCP” tab and find the “DHCP Clients List” sub-item. If you see that there are clearly several unnecessary devices connected, then look at their MAC addresses, and then move on.

Access limitation

To restrict Wi-Fi access to any user, we find on the left in the list “Wireless Mac Filtering” as a sub-item under “Wireless”. On new page, as shown in the screenshot, you need to click “Enable” to activate the function, and then we will configure it as needed.

Now everything is very simple - in the top line we enter the MAC address that we want to “cut off”, and just below we select “Enabled”, and then save the settings.

Now you know how to disconnect a user from Wi-Fi. You can remove this exception or edit it at any time.

Setting a password

We do this in this order for one simple reason - routers that have standard data for entering settings and free access can most likely be reconfigured at any time strangers. If this has already happened and you cannot log in, then the devices of this company have a “Reset” button, pressing which for 10 seconds will reset all settings to factory settings. Then you will have to set everything up again, but this is the only way to snatch your Wi-Fi from the hands of unscrupulous citizens.

We go to the “System Tools” section and there we find the “Password” sub-item. Having entered it, we enter our old data, which, as we know, is admin in both fields, then just below we enter a new login and a new password twice, after which we save.

Now all that remains is to activate the password for the device. Go to the “Wireless Security” section and select the desired encryption for protection, and then enter the password and save. This method will help you block Wi-Fi for other users once and for all.

Good afternoon.

Do you know that the reason for the drop in speed on a Wi-Fi network can be neighbors who have connected to your router and are taking up the entire channel with their surges? Moreover, it would be okay if they just downloaded it, but what if they start breaking the law using your Internet channel? Claims, first of all, will be addressed to you!

That is why it is advisable to set a password for your Wi-Fi network and sometimes view who is connected to Wi-Fi router(what devices, are they yours?). Let's take a closer look at how this is done ( The article provides 2 ways)…

Method number 1 - through the router settings

STEP 1 - enter the router settings (define the IP address to enter the settings)

To find out who is connected to the Wi-Fi network, you need to enter the router settings. There is a special page for this, although it opens on different routers - at different addresses. How can I find this address?

1) Stickers and stickers on the device...

The easiest way is to carefully look at the router itself (or its documents). There is usually a sticker on the device body that indicates the address for settings and a username and password for logging in.

In Fig. Figure 1 shows an example of such a sticker; to access settings with “admin” rights, you need:

  • login address: http://192.168.1.1;
  • login (username): admin;
  • password: xxxxx (in most cases, by default, the password is either not specified at all or matches the login).

Rice. 1. Sticker on the router with settings.

2) Command line…

If you have Internet on your computer (laptop), then you can find out the main gateway through which the network operates (and this is the IP address to enter the page with the router settings).

Sequencing:

  • First, launch the command line - key combination WIN + R, then you need to enter CMD and press ENTER.
  • in the command line, enter the command ipconfig/all and press ENTER;
  • A large list should appear, in it find your adapter (through which the Internet connection is made) and look at the address of the main gateway (you need to enter it into the address bar of your browser).

Rice. 2. Command line (Windows 8).

3) Special utility

There is a special utilities for searching and determining the IP address to enter settings. One of these utilities is described in the second part of this article (but you can also use analogues so that there is enough of this “good” on the Internet :)).

4) If you can’t log in...

If you haven’t found the settings page, I recommend reading the following articles:

Rice. 3.TP-Link

Rostelecom

The menu in routers from Rostelecom is, as a rule, in Russian and, as a rule, there are no problems with searching. To view devices on the network, simply expand the " Device Information", DHCP tab. In addition to the MAC address, here you will see the internal IP address in this network, the name of the computer (device) connected to Wi-Fi, and the time spent on the network (see Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Router from Rostelecom.

Very popular model routers, and often menus in English. First you need to open the Wireless section, then open the Status subsection (in principle, everything is logical).

Rice. 5. D-Link who joined

If you do not know the password to access the router settings (or simply cannot enter them, or cannot find it in the settings necessary information), I recommend using the second method of viewing connected devices to your Wi-Fi network...

Method No. 2 - through special. utility

This method has its advantages: you don’t need to waste time searching for an IP address and entering the router settings, you don’t need to install or configure anything, you don’t need to know anything, everything happens quickly and in automatic mode(you just need to run one small special utility - Wireless Network Watcher).

A small utility that does not require installation, which will help you quickly determine who is connected to the Wi-Fi router, their MAC addresses and IP addresses. Works in all new ones Windows versions: 7, 8, 10. Of the minuses - there is no support for the Russian language.

After launching the utility, you will see a window like in Fig. 6. There will be several lines in front of you - pay attention to the “Device information” column:

  • your router - your router (its IP address is also shown, the settings address that we looked for so “long” in the first part of the article);
  • your computer - your computer (from the one from which you are currently running the utility).

Rice. 6. Wireless Network Watcher.

In general, it’s an extremely convenient thing, especially if you haven’t yet understood the intricacies of your router’s settings very well. True, it is worth noting the disadvantages of this method of identifying devices connected to Wi-Fi networks:

  1. the utility shows only online devices connected to the network (i.e. if your neighbor is currently sleeping and has turned off his PC, then it will not find and show that he is connected to your network. The utility can be minimized to the tray and it will flash to you, when someone new joins the network);
  2. even if you see someone “outside”, you will not be able to ban him or change the network password (to do this, you need to go into the router settings and restrict access from there).

This concludes the article, I will be grateful for additions on the topic of the article. Good Luck!

I'll try to answer today interest Ask, which I think a lot of people are interested in. Let's try to figure out how many devices can be connected to the router at the same time. Via wireless Wi-Fi network and network cable.

How many different computers, phones, tablets and other equipment can be connected to one router, how will this affect its operation, and whether it will work at all.

Let's get straight to the point. And, first, let's figure out how to connect devices via a LAN network cable. As a rule, ordinary modern routers have 4 LAN connectors. For example, I have it on hand, now I’ll take a photo of the LAN connectors.

This means that you can connect 4 devices to it. For example, or.

You won’t be able to connect more devices due to the limitation on connectors. This, I think, is understandable.

Maximum number of devices on Wi-Fi?

This is where it gets more interesting. There is no physical limitation when connecting via a wireless network. Compared to network connectors.

But this does not mean that you connect 20 laptops to the router and everything will work fine.

Yes, there is a limitation. And, I think that this is the maximum number of IPs that the DHCP server on the router can issue. For example, by default, Asus has a final IP address 192.168.1.254 :

And Tp-Link, for example, 192.168.0.199 :

It turns out that, for example, you can connect 99 devices to Tp-Link, and more than 250 to Asus. But I think that these numbers mean nothing in practice. At all. This is a theory. If I'm wrong, please correct me.

I think that not a single router, even the most modern and powerful one, can handle 99 devices :) He simply cannot physically provide them with access to the Internet. Moreover, stable access.

I didn’t have to test it, but I think that if you connect even 10 devices to the same popular device and start downloading something or opening sites on them, it will simply freeze. The Internet will disappear everywhere, and only a reboot will save it. His processor simply cannot withstand such a load. Even if I run games on several computers, I’m not sure that it will maintain a stable connection. Even a torrent on one computer can load the router. I already wrote how to deal with this ““.

This applies not only to the TL-WR841N, or to TP-Link, this applies to all routers. If, for example, we take its younger brother TL-WR741N, then things are even worse there (it's cheaper and weaker). Very often I come across complaints that the Internet simply stops working. Only a reboot can save you, and not for long. This is a clear example of the fact that the router simply cannot withstand the load created by the devices that you connected to it.

If we take more expensive models, for example Asus RT-AC66U, TP-LINK TL-WDR3600, then the situation with the number of simultaneously connected devices and network stability will be much better. Since these models are much more expensive and more powerful. They have more powerful processors, power supplies, etc.

And mobile 3G routers (almost all models), have restrictions on connecting devices via Wi-Fi. Typically, this is up to 5 devices. For example: Huawei EC 5321u-1 Rev.B, Sierra Wireless AC802 – up to 5 devices. But to Easo M8 you can connect 50 devices, but 5-7 are recommended. It’s clear that it will never handle 50 devices.

Afterword

When choosing a router, you should already know approximately how many devices you will connect to it. If you have, for example, two computers and several smartphones, then you can take a not very expensive model, such as the TL-WR841N, or another from this price category.

But if you want to build wireless network in a big house (where there are many devices), in a small office, dorm, etc., then I advise you not to save money. Take a router that costs more than 1000 UAH. (4000 rub.) . So that everything works stably and without failures.

Otherwise, your Internet connection will begin to disappear, and you will have a long and tedious search for the answer to why this is happening. And the answer will be very simple, your router will simply not withstand the load that the devices will create. Especially if you are going to play Online Games, watch the video in high quality, or download (distribute) torrents.

I will be glad to see your questions, comments and additions in the comments. Best wishes!

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How many devices can be connected to the router via Wi-Fi and network cable? updated: March 28, 2014 by: admin