Modern homes usually have multiple devices connected to Wi-Fi access networks at the same time, which often leads to bandwidth tightness, especially when conducting high-bandwidth demand activities such as online gaming or video streaming.

To help you manage network load, some routers (such as routers produced by manufacturers such as Google, Netgear, Eero, etc.) provide a feature called "Quality of Service" (QoS). Simply put, it allows you to prioritize specific devices and traffic types on your Wi-Fi network so that those devices and traffic can prioritize high-speed connections when bandwidth is limited.

Your router vendor may use a different name to call this feature, but a quick lookup of the instructions or searching online should determine if your router provides QoS capabilities. If provided, it is worth familiar with this feature and its role, as prioritizing devices on Wi-Fi networks can help reduce buffering time and avoid connection disruptions at critical moments.

What is quality of service and how does it work?

The term "quality of service" has been around for decades and it applies to various networks. In a home Wi-Fi environment, it means that marking certain devices or activities as more important than others. When your router divides Wi-Fi into separate segments, these tagged devices and applications will gain bandwidth priority.

Thinking of QoS as diced pizza is a good metaphor. Without QoS, all devices connected to the router get the same size "pizza slice": your PlayStation 5, the laptops used by the kids, the smart TV in the living room, and more. With QoS enabled, you can assign larger “pizza slices” to important Zoom meetings. Therefore, less important tasks, such as Windows updates downloaded in the background, will get smaller "pizza slices".

In other words, prioritizing devices on Wi-Fi networks with QoS does not necessarily guarantee that these devices always have a stable and reliable Internet connection. This does not mean that the speed of less important hardware on the network will plummet. The reality depends largely on the speed of the internet in your home.

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When QoS is enabled, video calls, online games, and video streaming are usually given priority. Other online tasks, from viewing emails to downloading updates, often reduce priority.

Ultimately, how to use QoS is up to you, but your router will determine what type of control you can get and how much control you can control. Some routers allow you to prioritize specific devices, such as gaming consoles, while others allow you to prioritize Internet traffic types, such as video calls. Some routers both do. If you are considering upgrading your router, this is definitely a spec worth watching.

How to use QoS to prioritize devices on Wi-Fi networks

Every router handles QoS differently, but we can provide some examples so you can understand how it works.

More advanced routers allow you to prioritize specific devices, applications, and tasks, while simpler routers only provide priority for audio and video streaming.

If you use Google Nest Wi-Fi mesh network settings at home, for example, you can open the Google Home app on your phone, click Favorites, and then click Wi-Fi, and select Devices to view a list of devices using your network. Select the device you want to prioritize, click Prioritize device, decide how long you want to provide VIP treatment to, and then click Save to complete the operation. Remember that you can only prioritize one device at a time.

You can also use the Google Home app to select the type of activity you want the network to prioritize. First, click Wi-Fi, click Gear icon to open settings, and then select Preferred Activity to tell the network what to prioritize. Your choices will include Video conferencing and Game, and the router will continue to allocate greater Wi-Fi bandwidth to your choice until you turn them off again.

[Related: What to do when your device cannot connect to Wi-Fi]

On the other hand, if you have a Netgear router, you need to open a web browser, visit routerlogin.com, and log in with your router's administrator credentials (If you're not sure what these are, check out the documentation that comes with your router). Then, go to Advanced, Settings and QoS Settings to start making changes.

Select Upload QoS, then select Set QoS rules, and finally select Add priority rules. You can choose Online Game to ensure your game is as smooth as possible, select Application to prioritize specific network applications, select Ethernet LAN port to specify Devices connected to the router port, or select MAC address to select devices connected to the network via Wi-Fi separately.

This article has been updated. It was originally published in 2021.

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