How to Speed up Your Home Network by Changing the MTU Size

if you want to optimize your internet connectivity and speeds make sure to stick around for the entire video as today we'll be covering mtu size many people are used to just plugging in their router and connecting to the internet now this may be okay for a lot of people but if you want to make the most of what your home network has to offer you may want to consider changing your mtu size hey everyone it's chris here from homenetworkgeek.com where we talk about everything home networking if you enjoy this video and you find it helpful i'd really appreciate it if you could drop it like and subscribe if you haven't already now let's jump straight in and find out what mtu even is mtu is the abbreviation for maximum transmission unit and is one of the many settings you can adjust within your home network but definitely one you should pay particular attention to if you want to optimize your experience the mtu size simply determines the maximum size that a packet can be when it's transmitted over your network is the property of a physical network interface and is usually measured in bytes with the default size being dependent on the type of network you're using for example the mtu size for ethernet is 1500 bytes if the messages transmitted are larger than the mtu size they'll be divided down into smaller packets before being sent checking the mtu size should be one of the first troubleshooting steps to consider when you're facing connectivity issues to the internet that you wouldn't expect or even other network related performance issues thankfully this process is both quick and easy as no additional hardware or software is needed you can perform all of the testing and make the necessary changes with just a regular computer and your router the larger the mtu size is the more data that can fit into fewer packets this generally results in a faster and more efficient transmission of data across your network on the other hand if an error occurs the packet will take longer to retransmit also more data within fewer packets can result in the packets becoming bloated with larger packets also being more likely to suffer from delays and even corruption a larger mtu size can also increase latency whereas if you set it to something smaller the latency generally improves therefore you should change the mcu size to be the maximum that it can absolutely be without any of these detrimental effects now it may take a few tries to find the best mtu size for your network but in my opinion it's definitely worth the time investment for the result you can achieve afterwards the simplest way to find the best mtu size for your network is through a simple ping test this process involves sending multiple ping requests whilst gradually reducing the packet size until it no longer needs to be fragmented fragmentation occurs when the messages need to be divided into smaller packets if you're a windows user you can use the ping command through the command prompt but if you're on mac os you'll need to use terminal instead i have a dedicated video on the ping command and how to use it which i'll link to in the corner of the screen for you to check out so i'm going to be super brief in covering how to access command prompt and terminal in this video so if you're on windows press the windows key and the r key to launch the run window type cmd into the empty field and click on ok to launch the command prompt if you're on mac os press command and space bar to launch spotlight type in terminal and press enter to launch the terminal window okay so now that you have a command prompt or terminal window open type in a pingable domain followed by the minus f and minus l switches and a test packet size to start for this example i'll start with a test packet size of 1 500 bytes if you receive a message back to say the packets need to be fragmented gradually reduce the test packet size and perform the test once again 10 or 12 bytes is a nice enough decrease keep repeating this until you reach a packet size that doesn't need to be fragmented this will be reflected in the results of the ping test now begin to increase the packet size in smaller increments until you get to a point where it's the maximum packet size it can be without any fragmentation i found that 1 460 bytes is the highest packet size i could reach without any fragmentation occurring now take the size of the packet you found to be optimal and add 28. it's important to add 28 bytes as 20 bytes are reserved for the ip header and 8 are needed for the icmp echo request header now this is quite advanced stuff that you don't really need to worry about at this stage just remember to add 28 to whatever you found to be the best packet size from your ping tests once you've done that you've found the optimal mtu size for your network now let's take a look at how to get everything changed over there are two ways of being able to change your mtu size on your router itself or in your computer settings for your network card now my router doesn't actually allow me to change my mtu size my isp has already determined what they believe to be the best size for me and set it but your router may well be different and have more advanced options that do allow you to change it on the router itself simply log into your router and check the settings you'll probably more likely find it in the advanced settings menu if you're in doubt just check your router's manual or consult the manufacturer's website to check whether this feature is available to you if you're like me and unable to change it on your router or you'd prefer to change it on a device level i'm going to walk you through how to do this through the command prompt open up the command prompt as an administrator by typing cmd into the search box in the bottom left corner right clicking on it and selecting to run as administrator type in the command that i'll put up on screen now and also in the description box below and press the enter key this will show you your interfaces and your current mtu size make a note of the interface name as we'll need this in just a second in my case this was simply ethernet type in the command that i'll again put up on screen and in the description box below making sure to substitute the word ethernet for your interface name and also the mtu size you found was best for your network through your ping tests once you've done that simply hit the enter key to run the command the mtu size for this particular device has now been changed so you can safely close the command prompt window so that was a rundown on what mtu size is how to find the best one for your home network and how to change it i really hope you enjoyed this one guys and you found it helpful if you did be sure to drop it a like subscribe if you haven't already and ring the bell to turn on notifications and if you haven't already be sure to pay a visit to homenetworkgeek.com where i have a ton of articles that cover everything home networking thank you so much for watching and i'll catch you in the next one

Channel: Home Network Geek

Views: 131,654

Keywords: home network geek, homenetworkgeek.com, home networking, IT, networking, technology, home network, mtu, mtu size, maximum transmission unit, best mtu size, best mtu size for home network, how to change mtu size, when to change mtu size, speed up home network, home network speed, home network performance, how to speed up home network mtu size, speed up router, speed up router mtu size, what is mtu size, check mtu size, tweak mtu size, best mtu setting, home network mtu

Id: e9YavAW09hI

Length: 6min 1sec (361 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 17 2020