What are the Advanced networking settings?

The Internet section contains all of the information and settings related to how your network connects to the internet. In practice, this usually refers to how IP addressing is handled by the network, both on a local level and more broadly as it relates to your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

This is the IP address that the eero has obtained from the modem, modem/router combo, or ONT that it is connected to. This is typically referred to as the gateway or router IP address. When the eero is connected directly to a modem, your IP address will be public, and the appearance of the address may vary. If your eero is connected to a modem/router combo or another router that is handling DHCP, the WAN IP address will be private, and will typically match whatever IP range is provided by that modem/router or router.

IPv6 is a newer version of the IP protocol that supports a broader range of addresses and is designed to work with newer devices. In the app, "IPv6" refers specifically to global IPv6 addresses (the IPv6 equivalent of your WAN IP address). If your ISP supports IPv6, enabling it can improve your network's efficiency and security. For more information on IPv6, see What is IPv6?

Note: Enabling or disabling IPv6 will reboot your network.

The ISP Settings page contains a list of configurations that will instruct your network on how to interact with your ISP. Essentially, if your ISP has specific additional requirements for your eero to connect to the internet, you can find those settings here. In particular, you will find the following options:

• Static IP

• VLAN tagging

• PPPoE

Each of these options can be configured during setup, or after setup by viewing the ISP Settings page in the app. For more information on each of these settings and how to configure them, see How do I configure ISP settings?

The Network services subsection contains many of the most important and commonly adjusted settings for your network. Many of these settings require a network reboot to apply, so keep this in mind when making adjustments to your network.

The app allows you to toggle eero Simple Setup, a protocol designed to automatically connect, update and integrate any eero 6 or newer device to your network by connecting it to your network through Ethernet. You can learn more about eero Simple Setup here.

Here, you can review or change your network's DHCP range, which affects the numeric range of IP addresses that your network will provide to devices that connect. This can be potentially useful in situations where devices are unable to connect to the network due to issues with eero's default DHCP scheme. Additionally, you can view and configure your network's NAT type, toggling between automatic (defined by the eero), custom (defined by the user), or bridged (disables NAT and allows an upstream router to handle this instead).

You can go here to assign IP reservations and port forwarding rules for devices on your eero network. Port forwarding allows you to manually open an internet port for a single client to let traffic pass directly through to that machine. For example, if you wanted to run a FTP server on your laptop with an IP address of X.X.X.X, you might create a port-forward on port 21 that directs TCP traffic to that IP address through your eero. For more information on reservations and port forwarding, see How do I set up port forwarding?

Domain Name System (DNS) is a service used to translate IP addresses into recognizable web names called URLs, and governs the ability for devices on your network to access websites and services. You can use the DNS feature to toggle between the ISP default DNS, or your own custom-defined DNS settings. For more information on DNS and how to assign a custom DNS server, see How do I set up custom DNS servers with eero?

Note: eero Plus subscribers who have advanced security enabled will need to disable this feature to adjust their DNS settings. Additionally, changing DNS will reboot your network.

DNS servers turn URLs into IP addresses—similar to how phonebooks used to map business names to physical locations. Local DNS caching stores this information at the network-level, speeding up page loads and providing a faster internet experience. You can learn more about Local DNS caching here.

Note: Local DNS caching is not available on eero networks in bridge mode nor when any eero Plus features are enabled. See What features do I lose if I put my eeros in bridge mode?

eero Plus subscribers have the option to enable or disable Dynamic DNS (DDNS) on their networks, in addition to the standard DNS settings that can be normally adjusted on the network. DDNS enables you to remotely access devices on their network even if their dynamically-assigned IP addresses change over time. For more information on DDNS and how you can use it on your eero Plus-enabled network, see What is DDNS?

UPnP, short for Universal Plug 'n Play, is a connectivity feature that allows devices to connect to specific required ports without having to manually open those ports on the router itself. It is most commonly used for game consoles and services, as well as media streamers and similar devices. We enable this option by default; you can disable it by toggling the feature off.

Smart Queue Management (SQM) is a feature designed to shape how wifi traffic is queued to reduce latency and limit the amount of bandwidth certain devices use. For busy networks, this can improve the quality of voice, video calls, and online gaming. SQM makes the most difference with wifi activities that require high bandwidth and low latency. While SQM ensures every device still has bandwidth access, you may see slower performance on certain devices, particularly during speed tests. You may toggle this feature on or off in the app when needed. To learn more about SQM, see What is Smart Queue Management (SQM)?

The Wireless subsection contains a few features that were previously offered in beta testing but are now fully functional. These features include client steering and WPA3, while Thread functionality has been relocated here from its previous location in the app.

Multi-Link Operation (MLO) enables your Wi-Fi 7 devices to simultaneously send or receive data across multiple wifi frequency bands and channels. This is a new feature with the emergence of Wi-Fi 7 and is still being developed and tested across the broad spectrum of all things wifi. See What is Multi-Link Operation (MLO)?

Note: This feature is only available on Wi-Fi 7 eeros.

Many devices are dual-band capable, meaning they support both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. 5 GHz is typically less crowded and offers higher performance. Client steering tracks whether a device has previously been seen on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, and if so attempts to "steer" it to 5 GHz to improve long-term device performance. Toggle this feature on or off in the app to improve compatibility with your network. When you're roaming between rooms, Client steering encourages your devices to seamlessly switch to the nearest eero.

If your network has an eero Pro 6E, eero Pro 7, eero Max 7, or eero PoE 7, Client steering can help encourage compatible wireless devices to use the even faster 6 GHz band.

Note: Client steering does not guarantee that a device will choose the 5 or 6 GHz bands nor the closest eero to you, but helps to favor that preference.

You can enable or disable the Thread functionality of your network using the toggle included in this section. Thread is a low-power connectivity protocol that is used most frequently by Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices like smart locks, thermostats and doorbells, among others. For more information on Thread, including how to identify potential Thread-enabled devices on your network, see What is Thread?

Using the WPA3 feature, you can ensure that your network's password security protocols are up to date and secure as possible by making use of WPA3's enhanced encryption and connectivity functionality. While the feature is intended to allow for capable devices to connect using the newer protocol while still supporting older devices, if you are having continued connectivity issues, you can disable WPA3 to further increase compatibility.

Note: The 6 GHz wifi band always uses WPA3 for authentication even if WPA3 is toggled off in the eero app. For more information on WPA3, see What is WPA3?

Last is Integrations which contains features designed to sync and work with third-party hardware, providing enhanced functionality when compared to other eero networks.

Certain eero models support Apple's HomeKit Secure Router features, and can be set up together with HomeKit enabled IoT devices using the feature in the eero app. You can use this feature to access existing HomeKit features, or add more HomeKit compatible devices to the network to make the most of the protocol. For more information on Apple's HomeKit and how to use it with your network, see How do I use HomeKit with my eero network?

Note: This feature is only available on eero Pro 6 and older models.

The Amazon Connected Home feature is an easy way to ensure that you can automatically connect certain devices to your network without manually entering your password, as well as to control these devices with your voice through Alexa. Here, you can enable or disable this feature, and you can configure individual options for the feature as well. For more information on Amazon Connected Home, see What is Amazon Connected Home?