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Throttling WiFi connection

  • 09-03-2026 01:10AM
    #1
    mayoman1973
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,417 ✭✭✭


    With three IT savey teens in house I have to get more inventive on how I control access to WiFi. Blocking their devices is easy but can get a bit noisy when they lose access in middle of some film or whatever else they doing so I want to get smarter about how to do it. Nothing stops you watching a good movie more than too much buffering or cuts a video call short when things start breaking up. That is what I want. Connection so unusable and unstable that they just give up but don't suspect me of being behind it. Router admin has basic control but no good really. Any one got any idea on how to do this?



Comments

  • #2
    RianKellyIT
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5 ✭RianKellyIT


    A few options depending on what router or kit you have:

    If your router supports it (most TP-Link, ASUS, or Netgear mid-range routers do), look for QoS (Quality of Service) settings. You can usually prioritise certain devices or set bandwidth limits per device. This lets streaming continue but caps how much bandwidth any one device can use.

    A step up from that is getting a device like the Circle Home Plus or similar parental control hub that connects between your router and devices. These let you set schedules, throttle speeds by time of day, and pause internet without full disconnection, so a film in progress can buffer rather than immediately stop.

    For a more DIY approach, if you are comfortable installing custom firmware: OpenWrt or DD-WRT on a compatible router gives you fine-grained traffic shaping using SQM (Smart Queue Management) with per-client rate limiting. You can set device groups with time-based schedules and bandwidth caps.

    Another angle entirely: Pi-hole runs on a Raspberry Pi and acts as a local DNS server. You can set scheduled DNS blocking by device or group so at 10pm certain device groups stop resolving social media and streaming domains entirely, but local network access still works. Bit more technical but very effective once set up.

    What router do you have at the moment? That would help narrow down what is actually available to you without buying new hardware.



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