TP-Link has found an issue with Google’s Cast products, mainly the Google Home and Chromecast, which are causing issues with Wi-Fi networks.
Google Cast sends packets between the device and your phone or tablet to maintain a connection. According to recent testing, when a Google Chromecast wakes up it can send a flood of packets (sometimes in excess of over 100,000 packets) looking for a device to connect with. This flood of packets can overwhelm routers and even “eventually cause some of the router’s primary features to shut down – including wireless connectivity.”
TP-Link has rolled out an update to one router to address the issues, and Google told 9to5Google that it is “working quickly to share a solution.”
This issue does not just effect TP-Link routers, they are the company who found the issue, but testing shows the issue affects a wide range of routers from Asus, Linksys, Netgear, and Synology.
So if you are having a lot of Wi-Fi issues and have a Chromecast set up you are not using, you may want to unplug it unless you need it.
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