How do you limit the speed of a Tenda router for your device? AC10 by IP range, AX12 by device—I've set up both backend setups

this matter was triggered by my mother-in-law's old AC10. During the summer vacation, my nephew moved his laptop over, streaming during the day and gaming at night. The old 50Mbps broadband was tightly controlled by a computer, and the elderly man couldn't even connect to WeChat video calls. I originally thought it would be done in ten minutes—previously, I set a speed limit for my Mercury at this speed—but after going backend, I realized something was off: Tenda's old speed limit wasn't about device selection, but a chart for filling in rules by IP range, which is a completely different logic from the new model. After two trips back and forth, I helped my colleague set up the new model on his AX12 PRO, and got familiar with both interfaces. This article covers the speed limit methods for both the new and old Tenda generations in one go—just match your machine.

first, how to determine which system your home is in: connect your phone to Tenda's WiFi, enter 192.168.0.1 or tendawifi.com in the browser's address bar, enter the management password into the backend (I'll explain password details later). If you enter the classic menus on the left and right sides and can find the words "Broadband Control" or "Traffic Control," that's the old version—follow the section two; Inside, you'll see a large card-style icon with 'Device Management' and 'Connected Devices'—it's a new model, and the first section is enough. The AC9, AC10, and AC23 follow the old logic, while the AX12, AX12 PRO, and AX3000 follow the new logic.

new models are limited by device: find the person and click

new model is the most worry-free, because it recognizes the device, not the IP. Go to the backend and go to 'Device Management' (some versions call it 'Connected Devices'), which is an online list with one row per device, including name, MAC, and real-time speed. Find the device you want to restrict, click the speed limit button to its right, and two boxes will pop up: downlink speed and uplink speed . Fill in the numbers to save, and it takes effect immediately. The restricted device doesn't need to be disconnected.

I have a clumsy trick that works when identifying devices: have family members take turns turning WiFi on and off, and whoever disappears from the list becomes the one who disappears. If the name appears as a string of letters and doesn't match the number, check the MAC address in the device's settings page. The last six digits lock it after comparison.

can be set up even when you're not at home. Install the Tenda router app on your phone, bind the router, and then you can still limit speed in 'Device Management,' so you can manage your home network on the go. App binding and webpage backend login use the same management password. If you can't bind it, it's usually because your phone is connected to the wrong WiFi or the firmware is outdated. I wrote about these in my on Tenda phone to change WiFi passwords, so I won't repeat them.

older AC10 by IP range: first fix the device's IP, then fill in the rules

The old model was troubled by "broadband control," which recognized the IP range, not the device itself. In the backend, find "Broadband Control" (some firmware calls it "Traffic Control"), which contains an empty rule table. Each rule has four key cells: Start IP, End IP, Maximum Uplink, Maximum Downlink. The idea is to enclose a certain IP address range and set a bandwidth limit for that range.

trap is about to start: the IP address of your home device is automatically rented out by the router's DHCP. Today it's 192.168.0.103, and restarting tomorrow might turn it into a 108. You follow the 103 limit rules, and they change their address, but your rules are still waiting in place. So the old speed limiter had a necessary prerequisite step—first binding the target device to a static IP so it always uses the same address. In Tenda's backend, in the 'DHCP server' or 'static IP allocation', bind the device's MAC and fixed address. I've written a detailed article DHCP on static allocation in an article about the specific idea and general approach (that one is the universal version of 192.168.1.1, with slightly different menu names in Tenda, but the logic is the same). Here's the conclusion: after binding, restart the device to confirm it has received the IP you specified, then fill in the speed limit rules. Here's an example of the

rule filling method: after binding my nephew's laptop, it becomes 192.168.0.103. The rule is to start 103 and end 103 (if the start and end are the same, only that one is the machine). Uplink is 5120Kbps, downlink is 20480Kbps—in plain terms, uplink is 5 megabytes, downstream 20 megabytes. If multiple devices are located next to each other, for example, from 104 to 106, for three children's devices, just fill in one section for the start and end sections, and one rule governs one area.

old model has a unit pitfall: the table is filled in Kbps, not . 1 trillion = 1024 Kbps, so 20 trillion equals 20480. The first time I went, I just filled in 20 in the box, and after saving it, my nephew did whatever he was doing, with the internet speed unchanged—20Kbps is just a fraction of the fraction? No, 20Kbp is a struggle even for WeChat text messages, but the device wasn't covered by the rules at all (the IP had changed), so I didn't realize the company was wrong at the time. It was only on the second trip that I realized it was two overlapping pits. After filling in the rule, remember to enable it. Some firmware is checked by default, while others require manual checks.

Don't copy numbers blindly: my references and conversions

separate upstream and downstream lines. Downlink manages downloads, uplink manages uploads—streaming, video calls, and original image sharing rely on uplink. Home broadband uplink generally only has 30 to 50 Mbps, which is more expensive than downlink. The real lag is often on uplink. A set of numbers I've actually used:

conversion for reference: 50 megapixels≈ 51,200 Kbps, 5 megabytes = 5120Kbps。 The new interface directly selects Zhao as the unit, no need to calculate it yourself.

the limit hasn't taken effect? According to these three checks

the first is the IP exclusively for the old model, which is the top pitfall. How to judge: Go into Broadband Control and check the IP in the rules, then check the current IP of that device in Device Management. If they don't match, that's the reason. The solution is either to bind the IP tightly or to fill both the new and old address ranges into the rules.

second is the dual-frequency two-record . In a dual-band integrated home, the same device left one record each at 2.4G and 5G. The new model may only have one record, and switching to a different band can bypass it. Recognize MAC addresses, both are restricted. The random MAC problem is the same—Android phones have random MACs enabled by default, and each time you connect to the internet, you change the address. The MAC you restricted is long gone, so either you disable the device's random MAC or restrict both old and new ones. I wrote a full elaboration of these two in the article Mercury Speed Limit, the principle is universal across brands.

The third issue is that total bandwidth is inherently insufficient My mother-in-law's 50Mbps broadband, before my nephew arrived, the two elders would occasionally watch videos and spin in circles. This kind of speed limit at home only ensures "he can't use everything," not "everyone is fast." The premise of speed limiting is sufficient total capacity and chaotic distribution; if the total capacity is insufficient, broadband should be upgraded. Check the device list for real-time speed—whoever dominates the rankings for a long time is the suspect; If there are no obvious big players, and everyone's speed is average but overall laggy, the problem is likely elsewhere. You need to look another way to find out who's stealing bandwidth .

Beyond speed limits:

stricter and more worry-free than speed limits is banned. The button in the device list has a 'Disabled' button. Clicking it immediately kicks off the internet and can't connect. It's perfect for student phones that sneak around late at night: disable at 10 PM, unban at 7 AM. It's more civilized than unplugging the network cable and more effective than reasoning. If a completely unfamiliar device appears on the list, it's not within the speed limit category but just freeloading. First, change your WiFi password.

less worry-free than speed limiting is the diversion. I didn't limit the speed of my colleague's AX12 PRO, but I pulled the IoT device and the guest's phone into the guest network for separate runs, leaving the main network for the computer and TV, each living their own life without disturbing each other. For requirements like online course priority, the new firmware's QoS includes priority settings, marking online course devices as high priority, which is more refined than a one-size-fits-all speed limit. Forgetting to manage passwords and can't access the backend; the way to recover new and old models is different. Read the article about Tenda's initial password don't reset right away—after resetting, your broadband account password is gone, which is even more troublesome.

the final wrap up of my mother-in-law's console: IP was tightly bound, rules were filled in, and after converting units to KBPS, my nephew's computer was stuck at 20MB downstream and 5MB upstream. The elderly man's WeChat videos never blurred again, and my nephew's streaming was enough—no one was delayed. The second trip took less than ten minutes, but if you had understood that the new and old models are two different logics on the first trip, you could have done it in one go. If you also have a shameless device at home, spending ten minutes is worth it.