Network / WiFi Router Expert Help - Too Many Connections

I have a lot of smart devices. It's common for me to have 50 or more individual devices connected. These are things like smart light bulbs, power switches, TV, tablets, phones, yadda yadda yadda. The router appears to be overwhelmed. In theory I have over 200 IP addresses available. Does anyone know if there are settings I might change or a particular router that is designed to handle these things?

I used to work for an ISP years ago before IoT devices were big, and we could throttle the number of devices connected simultaneously. If your router ends up being the issue, that's probably a simpler fix

perhaps a mesh network?

Hello,

Here's an article on the issue you are having...or rather on devices that may solve your issues.
https://www.pickmyrouter.com/best-router-multiple-devices/

Also, older routers' radio transmitters only support up to 54mbps of wireless signal which means that the bandwidth is pieced out much faster than would be imagined. For example if a tv , a tab and a light bulb all send a packet or receive a packet at the same time the bandwidth is used up in that second then a secondary request is sent for a partial packet causing a cascading effect...thus you will see weird and unpredictable results from smart devices.

There are other factors such as i.p. lease times and i.p. renewal rates as well. You could assign permanent or static i.p. addresses for your more intensive internet devices such as TV, tablets, laptops or gaming systems.

Let me know if you would care for a more in depth understanding on how to resolve this issue.

~~may the force be with you