some network questions - probably a router question

I have some networking questions. Bear with me, I am self taught on networks so I probably don’t understand something correctly. But I don’t know what that is! Yet.

I have a few computers on a small home network. I have a lot of Sonoff devices, wifi switches. I typically have around 60 devices on my network.

I have a Netgear Orbi pro router, and it has VLANS. I have my computers and printers on one vlan, and I have all my home automation devices (wifi switches) on another vlan. I have some ip cameras and an nvr and they share the same vlan as the wifi switches.

I also have a small managed switch, a Netgear GS105Ev2 5 port switch. Just playing with it. It has vlans too. Playing. Experimenting. Learning.

My IP cameras run through 2 different poe switches, because of my layout. It was easier to put a poe switch in the garage and run 2 ethernet cables to the nvr, rather than running individual ethernet cables for each camera. They all have unique ip addresses and are all visible on that network.

My router specs that it can handle up to 50 devices. I have more than 50 devices on my network and it seems to be ok. But it bugs me in the back of my head. And I have a weird thing happen in my access control page in the router.

I used to have it set to reject all new connections. Then I went over 50 devices. I have changed it to allow all new connections. They will still need the network password. When I try to go back to reject all, it seems like I have some devices that will stay blocked. I change them to allow and another device switches to blocked. It’s like I am limited to 50 devices in my access page. It keeps changing other devices to blocked. So now I went back to allow all new connections.

I like my router, it seems to do a good job, but I am wondering about the 50 devices. I didn't realize it was a hard stop number. I always thought it was more of a suggestion. I think I might need a new router. I was thinking about an adding an access point but then I realized that will not help my overall device count. So now I'm here asking questions.

Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Like I said, I am self taught so push me in the right direction please. Should I start shopping for a new router or just leave well enough alone? Or is there something else, another way that I am not aware of? TIA

Hi sdtag,

I suspected that the "50 device" limit was artificial and here is what I found using Copilot--

My initial query used the following question: "Netgear orbi pro allows only 50 devices??"

Below is the Copilot response (which is in-line with what I suspected) --------------------------------------------------------

Not exactly — the “50 devices” figure you sometimes see in marketing or reviews for Orbi Pro models is more of a performance guideline than a hard technical cap.


According to Netgear’s own documentation, most Orbi systems can handle up to 250 connected devices on a standard IP subnet, and newer Wi‑Fi 6 Orbi Pro models can go even higher (up to around 512 devices).


So why do people report hitting a wall at ~50?

• DHCP pool size — If the router’s IP address pool is small (e.g., only 50 addresses), new devices can’t get an IP until you expand the range.
• Performance sweet spot — Netgear sometimes lists “supports 40+ or 50+ devices” to indicate the number of active devices you can have before performance starts to degrade for high‑bandwidth tasks.
• Network congestion — Even if the router can technically connect hundreds of devices, lots of simultaneous high‑demand connections (video calls, streaming, large downloads) can slow things down.

If you’re running into a 50‑device ceiling, you can usually fix it by:

• Increasing the DHCP range in the LAN setup (e.g., from .100–.149 to .100–.200).
• Assigning static IPs to low‑demand devices like printers, cameras, or IoT gadgets.
• Adding another access point or satellite to spread the load.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

HTH, telepro21

I would agree it's probably a recommended number of devices based on the overall throughput the router is rated for. The physical limit is likely much higher and going to be constrained by router memory more than anything, but you'll likely never come close to the true maximum supported device count.

If the connected devices have very low traffic, I would think the real hard limit would be the number of available IP addresses in your network subnet.

Thanks guys but I think the problem is in my router, not in my subnet.
I have it set to 255.255.255.0 so I have 255 available ip addresses right?
I have my router set up to assign ip numbers from 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.200
So I should have 100 available local ip address right?
Leaving a little room for static ip addresses.

On my iot network I have it set similarly. lol Thank GOD for spell check lol
I have it set to 255.255.255.0 also and it will assign ip addresses from 192.168.30.20 to 192.168.30.128, so I should be good there also right? More than enough.

I think my problem is in my router's access control page.
But from what you guys said so far I think my router is not limited to 50 devices, I think that is a recommendation. Maybe thats when performance starts to degrade a little.
I don't think the Sonoff devices have very high network traffic but I'm not sure about that either. I'm guessing, hoping.
Again, TIA, I'm reading EVERYTHING

sdtag said:

Thanks guys but I think the problem is in my router, not in my subnet.
I have it set to 255.255.255.0 so I have 255 available ip addresses right?
I have my router set up to assign ip numbers from 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.200
So I should have 100 available local ip address right?
Leaving a little room for static ip addresses.

On my iot network I have it set similarly. lol Thank GOD for spell check lol
I have it set to 255.255.255.0 also and it will assign ip addresses from 192.168.30.20 to 192.168.30.128, so I should be good there also right? More than enough.

I think my problem is in my router's access control page.
But from what you guys said so far I think my router is not limited to 50 devices, I think that is a recommendation. Maybe thats when performance starts to degrade a little.
I don't think the Sonoff devices have very high network traffic but I'm not sure about that either. I'm guessing, hoping.
Again, TIA, I'm reading EVERYTHING

Click to expand...

You may have already tried this, so apologies in advance, if you have.
Perhaps you can try clearing the ARP table in your router. (The Address Resolution Protocol is used to build a table showing the relationship between a device's MAC address and its assigned IP address. (Apologies, again, if you know this, I was a network instructor many years ago.))

Here is what a quick Internet search offered as solutions on how to do this on your router:

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To flush the ARP table on an Orbi Pro router, follow these steps:

Option 1: Reboot the Router​

The simplest way to clear the ARP table is by rebooting the router. This automatically clears the ARP cache.

1. Log in to the Orbi Pro router's web interface.
2. Navigate to the Advanced or Maintenance section.
3. Select Reboot and confirm.

Option 2: Use the Web Interface (if supported)​

Some Orbi Pro models allow manual ARP table management.

1. Log in to the router's web interface.
2. Go to Advanced Settings or Network Tools.
3. Look for an option like Clear ARP Table or Flush ARP Cache.
4. Click the button to clear the ARP table.

Option 3: Command Line Interface (CLI)​

If your Orbi Pro router supports SSH or Telnet:

1. Access the router via SSH or Telnet.
2. Use the command to clear the ARP table (e.g., arp -d or a similar command specific to the router's firmware).

If none of these options work, consult the router's user manual or Netgear support for model-specific instructions.