How many devices can I connect to my 5G Hub through Wifi?

[MRX_001]

Hi,

How many devices in total can be connected to a Home Broadband 5G Hub's WIFI connection? There are 2 Ethernet ports so that will be occupied by 2 device. So the remaining will have to be connected on WIFI.

I saw another similar post to this one and it was stating that 32 device is the maximum. Is this right? 

Regards

[PeteG]

Hello, MRX_001. 

Welcome to the Three Community. 

It depends on the router you have. There are some that can carry 32 devices, and some that can carry more. Can you confirm which 5G Hub you are using? 

Pete. 

[MRX_001]

Hi. Thanks for the reply.

Model Number: NR5103E

Regards,

[PeteG · Accepted solution]

The NR5103E has the ability to connect up to 64 wireless devices at once. 

Pete.

[martcoug1]

Also you can get a network switch for around a tenner to add an additional four ports... 

[Denisaok]

Hi All

I have a NR5103E which I got in January which is just being replaced because after 3 told me to pin reset it I could no longer log in to it. 

Anyway I have over 40 smart bulbs and about 6 other wireless devices that I need to connect, above it says that the hub can connect up to 64 devices, but when I was able to log in it said 32 devices and I was not able to change it.

I was thinking could connect my TP-Link Archer AX50 AX3000 router and TP-Link N300 wireless ceiling mount access point to the NR5103E to connect all devices.

Thanks in advance

P.s

If what am thinking won't work can anyone suggest a way to do what I need

[PeteG]

Hello, Denisaok. 

Welcome to the Three Community. 

That's strange, I'm not sure why the supported device count isn't matching up with the spec of that device. In relation to using other routers/extenders with your Hub, that plan should work just fine. The WiFi device limit refers to the Hub managing connections for individual devices, but if you have 5 or 10 devices connected to a wireless extender, that device will manage those WiFi connections, and will only take up one WiFi "slot" on your Hub. 

Hope this helps. 

Pete.

[Badger1873]

So to confirm, hypothetically if I had 1000 devices on a network driven by a router, and that router connected via an Ethernet cable to the Zyxel NR5103E, that would work? As in this device limit mentioned in spec's is just for the Zyxel handling wifi connections to itself? 

[JonathanB]

Hi @Badger1873,

That's my understanding, from a hypothetical point of view. I'm not sure if having 1000 devices with any current model of router is possible, and if so I'd imagine that the data will begin to bottle neck at some point.

But purely in theory yeah what you've said makes sense.

If you run a 2nd router, you may see an issue called double NAT which can interfere with some types of usage, particularly I've seen this interfere with gaming. You can use a feature called IP passthrough on the NR5103E if you want it to act like a modem, so you may need to set this up for best results.

I've personally connected a 2nd router by ethernet when an ISP supplied router was struggling to manage a bunch of speakers and bulbs etc, and it worked a treat though. I just kept my Xbox wired to the ISP router and that worked well without having to delve too far into router admin settings.

Thanks,
Jonathan