Specify Your Internet Settings

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This setting specifies how the router assigns IPv6 addresses to the devices on your home

network (the LAN).

10.

(Optional) Select the

Use This Interface ID

check box and specify the interface ID to be

used for the IPv6 address of the router’s LAN interface.

If you do not specify an ID here, the router generates one automatically from its MAC

address.

11.

Click the

Apply

button.

Your settings are saved.

Change the MTU Size

The maximum transmission unit (MTU) is the largest data packet a network device transmits.

When one network device communicates across the Internet with another, the data packets

travel through many devices along the way. If a device in the data path has a lower MTU

setting than the other devices, the data packets must be split or “fragmented” to

accommodate the device with the smallest MTU.

The best MTU setting for NETGEAR equipment is often the default value. In some situations,

changing the value fixes one problem but causes another. Leave the MTU unchanged unless

one of these situations occurs:

•

You experience problems connecting to your ISP or other Internet service, and the

technical support of either the ISP or NETGEAR recommends changing the MTU setting.

These web-based applications might require an MTU change:

-

A secure website that does not open, or displays only part of a web page

-

Yahoo email

-

MSN portal

-

America Online’s DSL service

•

You use VPN and have severe performance problems.

•

You used a program to optimize MTU for performance reasons and now you have

connectivity or performance problems.

Note:

An incorrect MTU setting can cause Internet communication

problems. For example, you might not be able to access certain

websites, frames within websites, secure login pages, or FTP or POP

servers.



To change the MTU size:

1.

Launch an Internet browser from a computer or wireless device that is connected to the

network.

2.

Type

http://www.routerlogin.net

or

.

Specify Your Internet Settings

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A login screen displays.

3.

Enter the router user name and password.

The user name is

admin

. The default password is

password

. The user name and

password are case-sensitive.

The BASIC Home screen displays.

4.

Select

ADVANCED > Setup > WAN Setup

.

5.

In the

MTU Size

field, enter a value from 64 to 1500.

6.

Click the

Apply

button.

Your settings are saved.

If you suspect an MTU problem, a common solution is to change the MTU to 1400. If you are

willing to experiment, you can gradually reduce the MTU from the maximum value of 1500

until the problem goes away. The following table describes common MTU sizes and

applications.

Table 2.

Common MTU sizes

MTU

Application

1500

The largest Ethernet packet size. This setting is typical for connections that do not use

PPPoE or VPN and is the default value for NETGEAR routers, adapters, and switches.

1492

Used in PPPoE environments.

1472

Maximum size to use for pinging. (Larger packets are fragmented.)

1468

Used in some DHCP environments.

1460

Usable by AOL if you do not have large email attachments, for example.

1436

Used in PPTP environments or with VPN.

1400

Maximum size for AOL DSL.

576

Typical value to connect to dial-up ISPs.

38

4

4.

Optimize Performance

You can set up the router to optimize performance for applications such as multiplayer gaming,

peer-to-peer connections, or real-time communications such as instant messaging or remote

assistance (a feature in Windows XP). By default, the router uses Wi-Fi Multimedia Quality of

Service (WMM QoS).

This chapter contains the following sections:

•

Improve Network Connections with Universal Plug and Play

•

Wi-Fi Multimedia Quality of Service

Optimize Performance

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Improve Network Connections with Universal Plug and

Play

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) helps devices, such as Internet appliances and computers,

access the network and connect to other devices as needed. UPnP devices can

automatically discover the services from other registered UPnP devices on the network.

If you use applications such as multiplayer gaming, peer-to-peer connections, or real-time

communications such as instant messaging or remote assistance (a feature in Windows XP),

enable UPnP.



To enable Universal Plug and Play:

1.

Launch an Internet browser from a computer or wireless device that is connected to the

network.

2.

Type

http://www.routerlogin.net

or

.

A login screen displays.

3.

Enter the router user name and password.

The user name is

admin

. The default password is

password

. The user name and

password are case-sensitive.

The BASIC Home screen displays.

4.

Select

ADVANCED > Advanced Setup >

UPnP

.

The UPnP screen displays.

5.

Select the

Turn UPnP On

check box.

By default, this check box is selected. UPnP for automatic device configuration can be

enabled or disabled. If the

Turn UPnP On

check box is cleared, the router does not allow

any device to automatically control router resources, such as port forwarding.

6.

Type the advertisement period in minutes.

The advertisement period specifies how often the router broadcasts its UPnP information.

This value can range from 1 to 1440 minutes. The default period is 30 minutes. Shorter

durations ensure that control points have current device status at the expense of more

network traffic. Longer durations can compromise the freshness of the device status but

can significantly reduce network traffic.

7.

Type the advertisement time to live in hops.

The time to live for the advertisement is measured in hops (steps) for each UPnP packet

sent. Hops are the steps a packet takes between routers. The number of hops can range

from 1 to 255. The default value for the advertisement time to live is 4 hops, which should

be fine for most home networks. If you notice that some devices are not being updated or

reached correctly, it might be necessary to increase this value.

8.

Click the

Apply

button.

Optimize Performance

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The UPnP Portmap Table displays the IP address of each UPnP device that is accessing

the router and which ports (internal and external) that device opened. The UPnP Portmap

Table also displays what type of port is open and whether that port is still active for each

IP address.

To refresh the information in the UPnP Portmap Table, click the

Refresh

button.

Wi-Fi Multimedia Quality of Service

Wi-Fi Multimedia Quality of Service (WMM QoS) prioritizes wireless voice and video traffic

over the WiFi link. WMM QoS is automatically enabled for the router.

WMM QoS prioritizes wireless data packets from different applications based on four access

categories: voice, video, best effort, and background. For an application to receive the

benefits of WMM QoS, both it and the client running that application must have WMM

enabled. Legacy applications that do not support WMM and applications that do not require

QoS are assigned to the best effort category, which receives a lower priority than voice and

video.



To disable WMM QoS:

1.

Launch an Internet browser from a computer or wireless device that is connected to the

network.

2.

Type

http://www.routerlogin.net

or

.

A login screen displays.

3.

Enter the router user name and password.

The user name is

admin

. The default password is

password

. The user name and

password are case-sensitive.

The BASIC Home screen displays.

4.

Select

ADVANCED > Setup > QoS Setup

.

The QoS Setup screen displays.

5.

Clear the

Enable WMM (Wi-Fi multimedia) settings (2.4 GHz b/g/n)

check box.

6.

Clear the

Enable WMM (Wi-Fi multimedia) settings (5 GHz b/g/n)

check box.

7.

Clear the

Enable WMM (Wi-Fi multimedia) settings Second Radio (5 GHz b/g/n)

check

box.

8.

Click the

Apply

button.

Your changes are saved.