Note that there are many different types of router problems, and not all of them are caused by this issue.
One that is very common is the NAT table (a table your router uses to figure out which computer on your network to send which data to) fills up due to server browser refreshes.
Many consumer routers have a much too small NAT table, so if you do a browser refresh, and there are thousands of servers on it, and it goes to ping each one, to tell you what your latency is, then the NAT table fills up, and you will have no internet connection for a little bit, until NAT table entries expire and there is unused space in the table for a new connection to register.
This problem is particularly bad with Verizon FiOS in the U.S., as the internet connections are very high bandwidth allowing a large number of connections in a very short period of time, yet the supplied Actiontec routers (at least earlier revisions) have very small NAT tables. Supplied Westell routers have much larger NAT tables.
This happens with a wide variety of consumer routers though, as many older models and some new ones simply aren't designed for the large number of concurrent connections required in order to poll thousands of servers for data in a refresh.
Here is some additional info on this subject from DSLreports.com.
So, essentially this is when you have an issue of "lost internet connection" during or immediately following server refresh.
There are a few ways to try to address this issue. Any one, or a combination of different ones may work for you. I will list the least expensive/difficult first.
1.) Go into Steam settings. Change bandwidth setting to a bandwidth much lower than what you actually have. This will make steam refresh fewer servers at a time, allowing the NAT table to clear out, and continue refreshing. It may slow down server refreshes, but at least it might not disconnect you.
(not complicated & free)
2.) Once you find a server you like, try manually connecting to it without ever doing a server browser refresh, following the directions below:
- Note the IP address of the server you like (eg. 70.42.74.39:7777)
- Next time you play the game, from the main menu don't click on any menu items
- Instead press the tilde (~) button to bring down the console.
- type "open <ip>" without quotation marks (eg. open 70.42.74.39:7777)
- you may need to try a few times if the server is full. Pressing up arrow allows you to return to the previous entry for expediency.
- once a connection is established, press the tilde (~) button again, to hide the console again.
(slight complication level, no cost)
3.) If your router is compatible, reflash it using a 3rd party firmware, like
DDWRT. Then use the DDWRT settings to customise your NAT table size. This does involve a risk of bricking your router, and not all routers are supported.
(complicated , free)
4.) Replace your router with one that has a larger NAT table size, or one known to be compatible with DDWRT. This is not as straight forward as it might seem, as manufacturers don't tend to publish their NAT table sizes. Do research online before buying. For FiOS users, try calling Verizon and asking them to replace your Actiontec router with a Westell model.
(not complicated, but may involve some cost)
5.) The best solution to any routing problem is to not use consumer routers at all. One way to go about this is to use a spare old computer you have laying around (doesn't need to be fast at all, can be a family members old machine they are no longer using because it is too slow for them. an otherwise obsolete computer, essentially), and spend the money you would have spent on a high end consumer router, and instead buy
a decent two port server network card or two high end (preferably Intel) network cards (the linked one is PCIe, make sure you have PCIe slots before buying) and install
pfSense on it. This will be the best router you have ever owned, and you can manually configure the NAT table size to any size you want provided you have enough RAM. (mine is set to 1,000,000 entries, just to be on the safe side) Then just convert your old router into a dumb wireless access point for Wifi (or get
one of these Ubiquity Unifi Access Points. They are fast, cheap, and put any consumer wireless access point to shame.)
Just make sure you don't use your on board network, as they tend to be terrible for high performance tasks like servers our routing, especially the Realtek branded ones.
(This solution is both complicated and involves some cost, but it will be by far the best.)