Modern Wi-Fi routers place a lot of emphasis on convenience and performance, rightfully so, given that user demand for both is at an all-time high. Even affordable models from TP-Link and NETGEAR include convenience-focused features for accessing, maintaining, and controlling wireless networks.

The problem? Several of these features often have an undesired impact on network performance, speed, and reliability, especially on routers with limited processing power. Fortunately, disabling some of these features solves the problem for the most part.

Band steering isn’t always that smart

It often leads to stability issues

Band steering, also called Smart Connect, essentially combines the 2.4GHz and 5GHz SSIDs of your dual-band Wi-Fi router into a single network name (SSID). The router then chooses the appropriate band whenever you connect a device. On paper, this feature sounds great: you don’t have to worry about connecting to the right Wi-Fi network. The real-life experience with band steering is far less appealing.

The essential problem here is that a Wi-Fi router may fail to understand your performance requirements and instead allocate bandwidth to devices based on factors like range and thresholds. For example, band steering may push a smartphone to the 2.4GHz band based on signal strength, but you may want it on the 5GHz band for better gaming/streaming performance. On some devices, band steering may cause brief connection drops due to frequent nudges towards band shifts.

That’s why it makes more sense to disable band steering and gain the many benefits of separating 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.

Automatic channel selection makes wrong picks

It rarely rechecks and adjusts

Choosing the right Wi-Fi channel can help you achieve better network performance, especially when you live in an area with too many networks. Most routers advertise automatic channel selection as an ideal solution for this purpose. However, automatic Wi-Fi channel selection can negatively affect network performance.

The results of automated channel selection would have been ideal if the router had continuously analyzed the Wi-Fi spectrum and switched channels. However, automatic channel selection relies on data collected during startup. Therefore, even when the environment changes, your Wi-Fi networks remain on the previously selected channel. There are also times when routers fail to select non-overlapping Wi-Fi channels. Using overlapping Wi-Fi channels causes interference, among other issues.

Given how rarely we restart Wi-Fi routers, such automatic selection methods offer subpar results. Therefore, if you want the best network performance even in congested environments, you’d better turn off automatic channel selection. Instead, use a Wi-Fi scanner app (preferably during peak hours) to find the most suitable channel.

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UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) does more harm than good

It causes security issues

Universal Plug and Play is another feature that has come under fire, even though it offers significant convenience. In this case, the impact is twofold: UPnP causes CPU overhead and exposes your network to various threats.

UPnP allows applications and devices to automatically open different ports on your Wi-Fi router. However, to make this work, the function will continuously modify your router’s configuration table. This flow causes a noticeable spike in CPU usage on routers with low-end SoCs, due to multiple port-mapping threads and UPnP discovery broadcasts.

Moreover, leaving UPnP enabled may also allow malicious apps/devices to open ports and invite connections from threat actors on the internet. Such security issues stem from the fact that UPnP trades authentication for convenience. This situation allows any local device on the network to set up port forwarding rules and bypass firewalls.

In the end, the additional convenience UPnP offers over manual port configuration is not worth the definite security risks and potential dip in performance. Therefore, most users are better off disabling UPnP and keeping it that way.

Quality of Service (QoS) adds a lot of CPU overhead

You may not need it, either

If you have a router with a low-end SoC (single-core and without hardware acceleration), Quality of Service (QoS) may not have the same impact as you expect. On paper, QoS sounds like a magic system that can intelligently prioritize traffic and improve performance for specific tasks/apps. For what it’s worth, QoS configurations can improve your network performance in many environments.

However, many forget the CPU overhead of the process, since QoS requires the router to inspect all packets before forwarding them. As a result, QoS configurations on low-end routers can strain the CPU, affecting the network performance. There are also instances in which suboptimal QoS configurations cause noticeable performance degradation on Gigabit Ethernet connections. Their impact on network speed and performance persists even as your Wi-Fi router prioritizes a stable connection for specific devices/apps.

Unless you have very specific requirements and a Wi-Fi router with dedicated hardware, you are better off avoiding Quality of Service.

Router-level VPNs are, at times, overkill

You can use per-device VPN profiles

Credit: Kanika Gogia / MUO

Router-level VPNs offer significant convenience, as they protect all devices connected to the network. However, in addition to affecting per-device flexibility, this network-wide feature can degrade network performance. As with QoS and UPnP, the first point of impact is processing resources. This happens particularly because encryption is CPU-intensive.

When you set up a VPN at the router level, it encrypts all traffic, which can take a toll on CPU resources. As a result, you’d notice a dip in speed and performance as well. You may avoid this on routers with VPN hardware acceleration (rare in consumer models; often requires custom firmware), though.

Unless you get one of those, you are better off disabling router-wide VPN and sticking with per-device connection profiles. For what it’s worth, while not available on devices like smart TVs, per-device connection profiles offer more flexibility in switching servers and other settings.

Brand

Linksys

Range

2,700 sq. ft.

Wi-Fi Bands

Tri-Band

Ethernet Ports

4x Gigabit Ethernet LAN

Disabling hindrances isn’t enough

Merely disabling the convenience-oriented features mentioned above cannot make a significant difference in your Wi-Fi router’s network performance. Instead, you must follow additional steps, such as manually assigning devices to the appropriate band and scanning the Wi-Fi environment to select the best possible Wi-Fi channel. Even so, disabling features like UPnP and QoS can free up CPU resources, which can translate into better overall performance.