Router Ethernet connections have limited data transfer speeds.
Router Ethernet connections have limited data transfer speeds.
Hi Everyone, I'm not sure if the title is the proper way to phrase my request but here is the gist. I recently got my Starlink and I have offered to share it with my landlord in order to get the dish in a spot where it would work. Where we live is not in a spot where there are any other options for high speed internet (just basic DSL). The way I plan on sharing it is to plug an ethernet cable from my router into his mesh network. My landlord has a lot of devices and has a lot of people on his network. On the old network when he had a party there was no bandwidth for me. Since this my internet I want to prioritize my devices over his. Is there a way to cap the bandwidth on an ethernet port? If not are there any other solutions that would help me. I have a TP Link Wireless Router AC1750. Thank you.
In theory, yes—but… No. A good firewall or router is essential for proper load balancing. Most consumer products that claim this ability just don’t deliver and restrict performance. Starlink offers speeds from DSL, but theoretically it’s faster even during heavy usage. As long as devices aren’t all simultaneously uploading or streaming, network congestion won’t impact you.
For Starlink I'm experiencing downloads over 100MB with consistent performance. With DSL the top speed was around 15MB and it would frequently drop. Zoom calls were difficult, so I switched to a personal hotspot but speeds remained limited and coverage wasn't ideal. His parties are quite large. In July he's planning a live band event. He has a spacious home with outdoor areas, which is why he uses mesh networking. I've noticed at least three large 4K TVs playing nature videos in his house—either streaming or local content. I'm unsure if it's using a live stream or local video. My landlord installed a microwave ISP but it had data limits. He accused me of exceeding the cap after just a few days, which seems unfair given my download and streaming activity, especially since I wasn't connected. I don’t know his exact data limit. If managing this isn't possible, are there practical solutions for home use or alternative methods?
100mb is a substantial amount; using it fully would be challenging unless you're streaming multiple 4k Netflix sessions at once, which feels a bit too much. Music will consume very little space, and YouTube in 1080p might use around 5 mbps. From what I understand, there’s no straightforward solution. You could run an older PC as a pfSense firewall, which actually functions well, but that means more effort than it’s worth. I’d suggest testing it for a short time and see if any problems arise—if not, you can revisit later.