The Dreaded BB (Buffer Bloat)

k3Tim

With the confluence of V2 and the cable TV going kaput, the cable tech found the splitter betwen the cable modem and TV distribution amp wasn't up to spec. The Cable Co. (CC) had switched to all digital (?) and a splitter in the Ghz range was required. The upload speed went from 1.6mb to 5.5mb and BB dropped from F--- to a  C. The IQ router is tempting to help fix this lBB problem but was wondering how does one fix BB on their own?  Is it based on the UDP packet size?
A web search wasn't helpful.

Thanks,

Tim

Mike va3mw

Hi Tim

I have done a lot of work with the EvanRoute guys.  Sending them an email with the same question will certainly help you out.  What you want to do is have the router walk through a relearning session again as the IQrouter is a dynamic device and is constantly changing it tuning values.  

Mike va3mw

k3Tim

Hi Mike

Thanks for your reply. Sorry I wasn't clear in the question but I'd like to avoid buying the IQ and 'tuning' the a Linksys LRT214 router instead. The LRT214 is a really nice router so would not want to replace it. Maybe an alternative is to use both?
Tim 

ctate243

I ended up just getting the IQ router.  my time is worth more than the router.

probably could help reading this piece
https://www.bufferbloat.net/projects/bloat/wiki/More_about_Bufferbloat/#setting-up-a-router-manually

Tim - W4TME

It is all about buffering and queues, hence the name buffer bloat.  Big buffers, poor queuing algorithms = buffer bloat.  It is usually the router that is the problem and needs to be "tuned" (if that is possible) or replaced by one that optimizes the WAN buffers and queues.

Varistor

It's all about enabling the smart queue management engine which is now standard in any reasonably recent firmware. There is zero need to change your router and invest in fancy stuff. I have tried the below on quite a few routers in the past couple of weeks and the method has worked consistently and reliably.

First, enable QoS. This will enable the engine. Just to be sure, create at least one priority rule. For example, give DNS the highest priority (this is a good practice anyway as the human eye perceive speed by how quickly pages start loading). Of course you can add additional priority rules if you want to, but the ultimate goal here is to enable the smart queue engine.

Next, if you have the ability to limit download and upload speeds, do so. Set the limits just a bit below your max speed. Make sure you first measure the actual speed by connecting your computer directly to the cable modem, without any additional hardware in between, and run a speed test.

So let's say you measure 10 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up. I'd set the limits to 9 and 4 Mbps respectively.

k3Tim

This method worked out. Enabling QoS and setting maximum just under the highest transfer rate changed bloat from F or D to A.  Yeah!

Thanks for the tip. 

k3Tim

K1UO Larry

I just did this on my remote ASUS router and test results went from steady CCD to BAD immediately.   Just enabled QOS,  Did a speedtest, set manual Bandwidths to 13/13Mbs and selected "Adaptive QOS" then applied the settings.  That was it! 

Thanks for the post Varistor.

k3Tim

"BAD" is good !

Managed to eak out a AAA here.