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When a router runs out of Ethernet ports for devices like smart TVs, consoles, NAS drives and desktop PCs, the fix is an inexpensive plug-and-play Ethernet switch rather than a router upgrade. The switch connects to one of the router's LAN ports and instantly adds four, seven, 15 or more wired connections to the network.
Reddit testing suggests certain routers, not the Pixel 11 itself, may be responsible for reports of excessive idle battery drain on Google's new phones. One user found their Pixel 11 Pro XL was being woken roughly 135 times per minute by Wi-Fi while connected to a Tenda mesh router on Wi-Fi 6, and that switching to Wi-Fi 5 or a different router brand cut both wakeups and battery loss dramatically. Other testers saw normal results on different Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 hardware, so the exact trigger remains unclear.
The comparison explains that wired internet delivers a physical connection via fiber, cable or DSL lines into a modem, while fixed wireless internet uses a gateway that connects to a provider's 4G LTE or 5G network instead of a cable. Once inside the home, both setups function similarly, distributing internet through a router or all-in-one gateway that can support Wi-Fi and Ethernet-connected devices alike.
Smart locks replace either a full deadbolt or just its indoor thumb turn, connecting to home Wi-Fi so owners can lock, unlock and monitor doors remotely via a smartphone app. Many models add features like keypads, fingerprint readers, temporary guest passcodes and real-time lock-status alerts.
A FreeBSD contributor has implemented GRAND (Gratuitous Neighbour Advertisement), a mechanism that addresses an asymmetry in IPv6 Neighbour Discovery where a host can reach its router immediately but the router may not yet know how to reach the host. Under GRAND, the host proactively announces its new IPv6 address so the router already holds a Neighbour Cache entry before any return traffic arrives.
Amazon is offering the TP-Link Deco X15 Wi-Fi 6 mesh router at a 29% discount, bringing the price down to $42, its lowest point this year. The unit includes two Gigabit Ethernet ports and supports mesh networking for extended home coverage.
In May 2003, UW-Madison discovered its public NTP time server was being hit by a massive, sustained flood of hundreds of thousands of packets per second from hundreds of thousands of hosts worldwide. Investigation revealed this wasn't a DDoS attack but a design flaw in a popular vendor's cheap consumer routers, which mistakenly hardcoded UW-Madison's server as a time source and queried it far too aggressively.
Most routers include a USB port that goes largely unused, but manufacturers like TP-Link and Asus support turning it into a shared file server, printer connection, or even a backup internet source via cellular dongle or phone tethering. Enabling these features requires digging into router settings for options like USB storage, media sharing, or printer sharing, with setup steps varying by brand and model.
Modern Wi-Fi routers often ship with multiple antennas—sometimes up to eight—because of a technology called MIMO (multiple-input, multiple-output), which allows several data streams to be handled simultaneously rather than one at a time. This shift away from single-antenna designs was driven by the explosion of internet-connected devices in homes and the growing demand for faster, more reliable connections.
A tech explainer clarifies the difference between a router's WAN port, which connects to a modem or ONT for internet access, and its LAN ports, which link wired devices like PCs, consoles, TVs and NAS units inside the home. It notes that combo router/modem units skip the WAN port entirely, while some routers use flexible WAN/LAN or auto-sensing ports instead of clearly labeled ones.
Dual-band routers transmit Wi-Fi simultaneously on two frequencies, 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz, to spread device traffic across separate channels instead of one shared lane. The 2.4GHz band covers longer distances and passes through walls better but runs slower and gets crowded, while the 5.0GHz band delivers faster speeds and more capacity at the cost of range. Most modern routers automatically assign devices to whichever band suits them, though some networks still show separate SSIDs for each frequency.
Router manufacturers and security experts note that routers, as small computers, accumulate memory buildup and temporary files that degrade performance over time. Restarting a router clears this cache, refreshes connections with your modem and internet provider, forces a rescan of less congested Wi-Fi channels, and disrupts malware or lingering connections attackers could exploit. This differs from a factory reset, which erases all saved settings including network name and password.