How To Throttle Bandwidth to Devices in Your Home (2024)

Bandwidth is usually distributed equally among all the devices on a network. Unfortunately, not all devices have similar bandwidth needs. For instance, an adult’s gaming device will need more bandwidth than a kid’s tablet. Hence, the overall health of your entire network is likely to be compromised.

If you’re trying to figure out how to throttle the bandwidth directed to the devices in your home, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, you’ll learn how to go about the process so all your devices can enjoy fairly distributed bandwidth. Keep reading to find out more.

How to Throttle Bandwidth to Devices in Your Home Using a Router

Most routers allow you to throttle the bandwidth directed towards a particular device using the “Quality of Service” feature.

You’ll first need to identify a device’s Mac address or the Internet Protocol (IP) address to limit the bandwidth it can use. For example, to find the IP address of your PC, you can open the “Command Prompt” and type in “ipconfig/ all”. This command should bring up all the network information relating to your computer, including the IPv4 and physical addresses.

Now that you know the IP address or the Mac address of the device with the bandwidth you want to limit, you then need to identify your router’s IP address, also called the default gateway. The default gateway is used to sign into the administrative account of a router.

Here’s how to find the IP address of your router using a computer:

1. Connect your computer to your router’s network.
   
2. On the computer, search for “Command prompt.”
   
3. Launch the application and type in “ipconfig”.
   
4. Find the value under “Default gateway,” and that’s your router’s IP address.
   

Now let’s have an in-depth look at how you can throttle bandwidth for specific routers.

How to Throttle Bandwidth to Devices Using a Linksys Router

If you’re using a Linksys router and want to throttle the bandwidth that’s being channeled to your home devices, follow these steps:

1. Enter the IP address of your router in the browser to log into your Linksys router’s admin page.
   
2. Navigate to the “Applications and Gaming” section and select “QoS.”
   From the “Upstream & Bandwidth” dropdown menu, select the “Mac Address” option.
   
3. In the “Enter a name” text field, enter the name of the relevant device. Next, enter the Mac address you recorded earlier in the text field.
   
4. Choose the appropriate “Priority” for your device, depending on your bandwidth needs.
   
5. Once you’re done, press the “Save Settings” button.
   

For bandwidth-intensive devices such as gaming and streaming devices, it’s recommended that you set the bandwidth priority as “High.” You can assign children’s devices a “Normal” bandwidth priority. Finally, for devices that rarely need internet access, such as smart home devices, you can give them a “Low” priority.

Assigning bandwidth to devices according to their internet needs should improve your home’s network access and general internet quality.

How to Throttle Bandwidth Using a TP-Link Wireless Router

If you’re using a TP-Link Wireless Router and want to throttle the bandwidth to the devices on your home network, follow these steps:

1. Go to the TP-Link router portal and log into the router’s control interface using the credentials at the bottom of the device’s label.
   
2. Navigate to “Network map.”
3. Select “Clients” to see the devices connected to that router.
   
4. Choose the home device with the bandwidth you want to throttle and navigate to the “Speed Limit” tab.
   
5. Check the “Speed Limit” checkbox.
   
6. Define the upload and download speeds of the device according to your throttling needs.
   
7. Once you’re done, hit the “Save” button.
   

How to Throttle Bandwidth on a Huawei Router

Huawei routers are slowly but surely gaining popularity across the world. If you’re using one, follow these steps to throttle bandwidth for devices across your home network:

1. Connect the device with the bandwidth you want to limit to the router’s Wi-Fi. Alternatively, you can connect the computer to the Local Area Network using an ethernet cable.
   
2. Log into your router’s administrative page using the default IP address usually found on the device’s plate.
   
3. Go to the “Manage Device” tab and select the device with the bandwidth you want to throttle.
   
4. Turn on the “Limit Rate” toggle switch.
   
5. Specify the download and upload rates for the device in question.
   

There is a maximum number of devices that you can set bandwidth limits for, and they vary depending on the router model you’re using. Once this number is reached, you can no longer set limits for additional devices on the network.

How to Throttle Bandwidth Using the D-Link Router

If you’re using a D-Link router and want to throttle bandwidth for the devices on your home network, follow these steps:

1. Open your browser and type the router’s IP address in the search bar.
   
2. Log into the router’s dashboard using your router’s login credentials.
   
3. Navigate to “Advanced” and choose “Traffic Control.”
   
4. Go to “QoS Rules” then “Add.”
   
5. Key in the IP address of your device in the “Source IP” text field.
   
6. Key in the bandwidth limit of the device in the “Down Floor” and “Up Floor” text fields.
   
7. Press the “Add Rules” button to save the changes.
   

How to Throttle Bandwidth Using the Netgear Router

To throttle bandwidth using a Netgear router, follow these steps:

1. Enter the IP address of your Netgear router in the search bar to access the device administration dashboard.
   
2. Navigate to “ADVANCED” then “Setup.”
   
3. From the options, select “QoS setup” then “Setup QoS rule.”
   
4. Go to “Add QoS rule.”
   
5. In the “Priority Category” dropdown menu, select the “mac Address” option.
   
6. Assign the priority to your device according to your throttling needs.
   
7. Click the “Apply” button to save the changes.
   

How to Throttle Bandwidth on Google Chrome

If you’re using the Chrome browser to access the internet and want to throttle your own internet connection, follow these steps:

1. On your computer, launch the Chrome browser.
   
2. Right-click the window and select the “Inspect” option.
   
3. Open the “Network” tab.
   
4. Open the “throttling” dropdown menu and select “Slow 3G” or “Fast 3G,” depending on your throttling needs.
   

Please note that the above process might give inaccurate or varying results because Chrome dev tools merely simulate the throttling behavior. For accurate results, it’s best to use a router instead.

Bandwidth throttling can make a massive difference to the general health of your internet connection. Fortunately, the process of limiting the bandwidth that’s directed towards a particular device is relatively easy. Simply log into your router’s administrative page, locate the QoS tab, and set the bandwidth limits for your devices. In the end, throttling is a worthwhile process that will improve the general effectiveness of your home network and leave you with a seamless internet connection.

Have you tried throttling the bandwidth directed to the devices on your home network? How did you go about the process? Let us know in the comments section below.