Changing The Mtu Size - NETGEAR WGR614v9 - 54 Mbps Wireless Router Reference Manual

Changing the MTU Size

The Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) is the largest data packet a network device transmits.
When one network device communicates across the Internet with another, the data packets travel
through many devices along the way. If any device in the data path has a lower MTU setting than
the other devices, the data packets must be split or "fragmented" to accommodate the one with the
smallest MTU.
The best MTU setting for NETGEAR equipment is often just the default value, and changing the
value might fix one problem but cause another. Leave MTU unchanged unless one of these
situations occurs:
• You have problems connecting to your ISP, or other Internet service, and either the technical
support of the ISP or of NETGEAR recommends changing the MTU size. These might require
an MTU change:
– A secure Web site that will not open, or displays only part of a Web page
– Yahoo e-mail
– MSN
– America Online's DSL service
• You use VPN and have severe performance problems.
• You used a program to optimize MTU for performance reasons, and now you have
connectivity or performance problems.
Note: An incorrect MTU setting can cause Internet communication problems such as the
inability to access certain Web sites, frames within Web sites, secure login pages,
or FTP or POP servers.
Fine-Tuning Your Network
Wireless-G Router WGR614v9 Reference Manual
v1.1, May 2008
5-15