I'd suggest that you do a web search for Wi-Fi modems that can handle up to 50 or more devices. There are several out there that can do this. Here's a quick link to one of those websites. 8 Best Routers For Multiple Devices in 2022 [For Upto 50 Devices] (bcca.org) I'm sure others will be able to give you some advice as well. Good luck.

 

The Xfinity modem supports up 100 devices

 

but of course, that is an "administrative limit" on how many nodes it can keep track of, not its switching thruput. Are any of your devices "complaining" that they are "unavailable / unreachable"? If not, then it more likely that your "wifi space" is crowded and resulting lower "upper speeds" as the band congestion reduces overall speeds along with the distance from the access point. You didn't indicate what wifi spec the device that used for speed test is using / capable of (ie. 802.11 ac? and what the network adapter is capable of) . Lots of adapters don't have the greatest speed capability depending on implementation / chip set in the device. How many of your devices are on the 2.4g bands versus the 5g bands? Get a wifi scanner app and look at the wifi's at various points thru out your house to get an idea of how good the signal is and also how many others are in your "air space". Go from the results.

Note: depending on the computing device used for testing, in the "network connections" setup, there is usually a "speed of connection" for the given wifi setup (eg. in windows, its in the properties panel for the wifi connection information). What does yours indicate?

The suggestions for adding additional routing / wifi nodes are good but come with added network complexity.

 

Definitely recommend upgrading to a dedicated router/access point. From my past experience, the Xfinity modem/router/access point combo device is not great in terms of performance with tons of devices.

With that many devices on your network, its not necessarily a question of bandwidth, but overall network traffic (that requires more processing power) and potential wireless interference. Depending on how close your neighbors are (and how many devices THEY have), you could even be getting interference from them if your wifi is using the same channel(s).

Any of the routers Mark suggested should definitely be an improvement. My suggestion, if you can find one, is get the Ubiquiti Dream Machine (in stock option). Ubiquiti is known for their almost-enterprise level hardware and the UDM is catered to "home power users" that may not want to deal with actually managing a network. Be aware though, any of these all-in-one router/access point combinations are eventually gonna hit a limit due to hardware limitations. This is where transitioning to a dedicated router and dedicated access point will give you much more headroom.

If you're serious about home automation and smart devices, the real answer is going to be to get off wifi devices entirely in favor of Zigbee/ZWave enabled devices. This will require a hub like Samsung's SmartThings or something like HomeAssistant if you want to really get into the weeds.

 

Yes!!! I guess the zwave, ZigBee option is what I'm leaning towards. That would help with WiFi speed, connectivity, my etc right?

If that's true, any recommendation for the learning curves, questions, etc
Thanks so much guys.

Yeah I tried using my own router/modern at first and it was such a hassle. It was like the ISP knew I had my own asked constantly screwed with connections. That's just the jist.

 

Thanks for the indepth reply. I'll test with a wifi scanner app and see what I have going on.

If I take all the smart devices offline, my speed does increase quite a bit.

I guess my real main question is - if I get a zigbee (or the likes of) will that help with the speed across the network since the smart devices will call home to the Zigbee (or whatever hub) and less strain on the modem, or will it technically be the same strain on the network and bandwidth? If this is the best resolution scenerio what is the best hub to get?

No devices are saying that they are out of range. At times I do have a hard time reconnecting the ring products whether I'm right next to the modem or not (can't find wifi). I have extended xfinity pods throughout the house as well to help. Seems like they work fine when connected, but when they lose connection it's a disaster with products that are conncted to the pod.

Thanks guys for all the great responses.

 

The only devices you cite that consume network bandwidth are those that are cameras / video.
The rest (switches, bulbs, relays, etc) are trivial datatraffic (the devices that could be replaced with Z-Wave / Zigbee).
Put your cameras on their own VLAN using a managed network switch to isolate. Use ethernet and not Wifi if possible.

You cite a really fast network connection. Is that both Up and Down? For cloud cameras (like Ring) the UP is the important metric.
Best is to not use cloud cameras. The local network cameras connect to a good controller that on demand can push up to the internet if you want to view camera views when outside of the home.

More important choice is your control system.

 

The only devices you cite that consume network bandwidth are those that are cameras / video.
The rest (switches, bulbs, relays, etc) are trivial datatraffic (the devices that could be replaced with Z-Wave / Zigbee).
Put your cameras on their own VLAN using a managed network switch to isolate. Use ethernet and not Wifi if possible.

You cite a really fast network connection. Is that both Up and Down? For cloud cameras (like Ring) the UP is the

More important choice is your control system.

1.2GB speed is only download. Xfinity's upload speed is horrible at only 35MB. That is always constantly right there, download speed is very inconsistent.
Nothing going to the cloud. Any camera's that I have are stored locally. Not constantly recording though, so no constant bandwidth being used there.

 

how are you controlling all the devices. As suggested by smoothtlk, that is an important part of creating a viable / useful smart setup beyond "bandwidth concerns".

 

I don't use any of the wifi based plugs/lighting control etc fwiw. Nor do I use any xfinity provided garbage, so those speeds might be in spec.

They make all of this stuff easy to use, hence discovery etc is multicast/mdns or broadcast traffic. This traffic will go across (by design) your entire network unless you filter it.

Grab wireshark (its free) and see if this stuff is constantly spamming multicast or broadcast traffic. I've had clients use cheap wifi light switches etc and the one time I looked they were constantly sending multicast queries across the entire network. Multiply that by x30....and this traffic hits every single device on your network.

Don't upgrade anything until you find root cause of your issue. The tools are free and plentiful to figure it out. Upgrading your equipment might not resolve, as it might not be a "speed" issue.

If for example that is the issue, then isolating this stuff to it's own network/vlan can limit the damage it's causing. But then you have to figure out how to control it, as most of this cheaper IOT stuff won't work across broadcast domains, to keep it simple for people to setup. Then you're passing mdns, ARP etc across vlans.

I would never use an entire lighting system over wifi. Too many other choices exist like lutron, zwave etc that keep that stuff off your network.

 

Unfortunately that's not a viable option to just toss the products for new ones

 

Yup, common situation.
That's why I suggest "pick the automation controller first, then the devices to control" because that's even more common to do that out of order and have a bunch of incompatible devices to each other and to the future selected controller that are then needed to be sold on eBay (or thrown out) if you really want an automation system and not just Remote Control.
This is like getting blueprints from an architect BEFORE building the house, and not after the house build is attempted. Need a plan. The automation controller sets most of the plan.

 

As suggested, look at your "spectrum" in and around the house, to understand what is happening in the air. You may have channel "conflicts" or otherwise that you might be able to mitigate. As mentioned above, it is likely that some of your bandwidth is being "burned" by the various devices "touching the clouds" BUT your hardwired test suggests that you have a "good cloud highway" once on the wire so that would point to wifi congestion / placement / assignment issues maybe. When you are wifi connected right next to your xfinity, what is your "pc" saying the connection speed is?

 

How EXACTLY are you running a speed test? Through a browser? Right now, it's ~8AM on a Saturday morning. Running a speedtest via:

Microsoft Edge: I clock in at 645/23
Google Chrome: 448/24
Firefox: 598/24
The Ookla app for Windows: 913/24

Browsers always slow things down.

 

I have 52 devices (light bulbs, switches, streaming boxes, AVR, all wall switches, ceiling fan, thermostat, printer, etc...), and I use Alexa exclusively and have no issues with speed. I use an [older] Asus RT-AC66U B1. My internet is fiber to the modem. 250-300 down and 50 up. I dropped cable TV internet for this the day it was available in my area and haven't looked back. A decent router is what you need. I think I paid $80 2-3 years ago for mine.

 

Download a free spectrum analyzer like Netspot. This will show you your WiFi environment.

I don't know your square footage or WiFi appliance. But if you have sufficient signal strength and devices are dropping connections you could have co-channel interference. If you are using the free WiFi appliance from your ISP it's probably not up to the task.

You may need to create separate 2.4GHz and 5GHz SSIDs to help with congestion.

-65dB is your floor for 2.4GHz coverage. -75dB for 5GHz. If the signal is constantly above those points and you don't have interference connections typically will hold. You could have one device causing problems for the others. Cheap wireless printers are demons from the depths of hell.

 

Well, I'm not going to pretend I know what is going on with your wireless network. But I will tell you this, I have 96 devices on my flat network and run load-balanced 250Mbps connections. I have no network bandwidth problems and I stream tons of video. All the chatting in the world from your smart (IoT) devices only amounts to a few hundred Kbps, so that's not your problem. Maybe a few of them have occasional uploads to a remote server. Your wireless router may not be up to the task at hand. What the problem is, without having access to analyze your network, is just throwing stuff at the wall and hoping something sticks. My SWAG at the problem is your router is not up to the task. Not enough memory, CPU is overloaded, hard to say without being able to look at the problem first hand. Given your network's complexity, it's time for a properly designed network with a dedicated router, at least one high-quality managed switch, and a couple of APs. My guess is you are asking too much from an ISP provided cheapy router.

 

Bandwidth is not going to be affected by your devices. You should worry about jitter and latency caused by one router talking to all of these things. It can only talk to so many devices at one moment so the more you add, the worse your wifi quality will be.

200-300 on wifi is pretty typical with isp APs. You will need 80mhz 5ghz chanels with a really good AP to reach higher speeds.

Anyway, if you are serious about, invest in some prosumer gear like unifi. Set up dedicated APs and hardwire everything else you can