How to Disable QoS On a Netgear Router
To disable QoS on your Netgear Router simply log into your router’s account online. From there you can change the settings of the QoS and apply them to the router.
Netgear is known for producing efficient, top-tier Wi-Fi routers. However, its consumers had been complaining, on Netgear’s community forum, about the slow internet speed caused by the QoS. Most complain that the QoS prioritizes gaming and streaming applications over other tasks like downloading files. This is great if you are a gamer or you mainly use the internet for entertainment, but not so great if your main priority is work.
Netgear advises its consumers to switch off QoS for those using a gigabit internet connection or have an internet speed of 300mbps or more. According to them, only those who’s internet speed is 250mbps or lower, or enjoy gaming and/or video streaming can benefit from having QoS.
Consumers have also reported on the forum that QoS sometimes prioritizes traffic from a dead device. This implies that the service is not that good at prioritizing traffic, therefore what is the point of it?
Table of Contents
What is QoS?
Quality of Service (QoS) is a feature in routers responsible for prioritizing traffic and managing bandwidth within a network. By prioritizing it allows the important data packets to be transmitted first by allocating the applications more bandwidth. To do so, QoS uses an algorithm comprising of four main tools, whose functions are summarized below:
Tool |
Function |
Classification |
Involves identifying and marking traffic, so network devices can recognize them and also prioritize the data transmitted. |
Queues |
These are buffers that hold data before it can be processed. Doing so reserves bandwidth and allows for prioritization of traffic. |
Policing |
A bandwidth limit is set on an application such that, if the application exceeds its limit, their traffic is remarked and dropped for reprioritizing. |
Shaping |
Involves delaying data based on a software set limit on the rate of bandwidth transmission for a specific class of data packets. If there is excess traffic from the class, the excess data is buffered and reprioritized. |
With traditional QoS, you can decide how to manage your traffic, by simply assigning priority (high-low) to your traffic, applications, specific ports used to access the internet or device using an IP or MAC address. This can be cumbersome especially if you do not know the right protocols to follow. A small mistake may worsen the performance of your network. Automated QoS like Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM), on the other hand, do the prioritizing for you. The WMM, for example, prioritizes (from highest to lowest): Voice, video, and best-effort applications followed by background applications (like file downloads or printing). However, while WMM controls the traffic for wireless networks, it does little for wired networks. Most newer models in Netgear support WMM, which is the reason for complaints against the QoS.
How Can You Deactivate the QoS?
There are users on Netgear’s community forum that have reported an improvement once they run their internet without QoS. However, there is no complete assurance you will get the same results. Still, it is worth a try. The good thing is you can always reactivate QoS in the future if you choose to. So, how can you disable it?
Begin by opening a web browser on a device that is connected to the network. It is important to ensure that the device you are using is connected to your Netgear route’s Wi-Fi network, otherwise, you will not access your router’s account. Once on the browser type in http://www.routerlogin.net orhttp://www.routerlogin.com and press search. This should take you to the administrative page where a login screen will display. Enter your router’s credentials at this point. The default credentials are normally: Username – admin and Password – password. However, if you had changed your password, you could use your new password instead. After you log in, you will be taken to the BASIC Home displays. Select the tab written ADVANCED. Under ADVANCED select Setup, then select QoS Setup. Under QoS Setup there are two options Enable WMM (Wi-Fi multimedia) settings (2.4 GHz b/g/n) and Enable WMM (Wi-Fi multimedia) settings (5 GHz b/g/n). Uncheck both boxes and click on the Apply button. By doing that, your changes will be applied to the router and QoS will be disabled.
If in the future you may want to reactivate QoS, you can simply log into your router’s account using the same steps. This time, however, check the boxes you unchecked and apply the changes. Simple right?
Conclusion
In theory, QoS should work to improve your internet performance by ensuring the right amount of bandwidth is used by the right applications. Reality is, however, that is not always the case. Gamers, especially those using Netgear Nighthawk, insist that QoS is great at optimizing the internet for gaming purposes, still, that means other applications like printers suffer. What if you’re not a gamer, and looking for that balance between work and entertainment? Disabling QoS might be worth a shot, after all, you’re not benefiting much from it now.
Frequently Asked Questions?
Why does QoS slow down my network?
If your router has assigned higher priority to video streaming, it allocates half of the speed to streaming. This means that other tasks such as downloading content will take longer than usual.
Is QoS necessary?
QoS is a feature put in place to optimize your connectivity by managing traffic and proper allocation of bandwidth. In a crowded network, QoS would be very useful, however, if your speed is 300mbps and above, this feature is not necessary.
