ASUS QOS does NOTHING! Help wanted [Rant]

[360NoScoper]

So I recently made a thread asking about to discuss QOS options with my RT-AC66U_B1. I've had it about 18 months, did only basic research on it and the person I purchased it from (eBay) already installed Merlin on it.

Didn't use bufferbloat tests back then, tried Traditional QOS and Bandwidth Limiter - stuck with the latter as it was easier to setup. I thought I noticed a tiny improvement to online games stability, but I realise this was now a placebo...

I stayed away from Adaptive QOS as I was wary of TrendMicro, especially after there's always some big data breach in the news and my online accounts have already been affected by a large data breach in the past.

To get to the point. The placebo has faded and I recognise the issues with my online multiplayer experience. I have issues such as: bullets suddenly not registering properly, being shot around corners, rare rubber-banding, etc. This doesn't happen with very gunfight in online shooters - but it creates enough of an inconsistency that I can't perform the same level of skill at all times and I have to play in a weird away and avoid most head-on gunfights, so that I'm not in a coin flip situation with my connection.

I started using bufferbloat tests from DSL Reports and Waveform... very bad results even unloaded (but many devices in use). I was informed that Bandwidth Limiter doesn't actually do much and won't help reduce latency spikes in gaming. So as advised, I tried Traditional QOS and Adaptive QOS... NONE OF THEM changed anything. It's like they didn't work at all... after research, that is the case: they do F all.

Lots of people reporting QOS in ASUS routers not working, whether stock firmware or Merlin. I've read Merlin can't fix core features like QOS without ASUS firstly implementing a fix. So what the F is ASUS doing? Why haven't their F-ing programmers done their F-ing job and fixed their mess? I'm sat here now wondering if I've effectively paid £130 for a brick, considering reducing latency spikes was the only reason I wanted a decent router with a QOS. My experience is exactly the same with my crappy ISP (Virgin Media) SuperHub 2 router. I get that my ISP and connection affects these results somewhat, but QOS if working should at least improve my results SOMEWHAT. But they do absolutely NOTHING on my ASUS router and many other peoples routers. I've even been recommended to install FlexQOS scrip, but from research on this some people report that doesn't fix the QOS bugs at all, ASUS still needs to pull their finger out of their behind.

Now if I'm incorrect and QOS does work but I've set something up wrong or changed a setting in the router that I shouldn't, please let me know. I would rather stick with this router if it means I can get a functioning QOS to work on it. But right now I'm debating selling this pos and buying a NetDuma R2. Someone recommended for me to upgrade to an RT-AX68U, it looks like a nice router but guess what? If the QOS is broken just as it is on other ASUS routers - it's effectively a £250 brick to me.

Again, I know my ISP affects latency somewhat. I'm looking to upgrade to BT FTTP 500 package. But the upload speed of that is 73Mb. If QOS doesn't work on my router, I will run into the exact same bufferbloat issues as I do now on that FTTP connection. If I'm backing up data to my iCloud, streaming on Twitch or uploading work files whilst gaming - I want a QOS that gives me an A+ in every bufferbloat test regardless of how many devices I'm using and what they're doing, that's fundamentally the point of this technology - I should not have to worry about what devices are doing with my connection when gaming. Other people have achieved this. Is it too much to ask?

So as stated, if I'm setting up something incorrectly can you help me? Or is QOS in all forms broken on ASUS routers and I'm better off buying a different brand like NetDuma/Netgear, etc?

 

[Jack Yaz]

Virgin Media are notorious for issues with oversubscribing areas such that everyone in the area suffers latency and jitter issues. It took me over a year of liaising with the local area manager at VM to push through a capacity upgrade on the cabinet for my brother's house ti finally resolve the latency spikes.

QoS can't fix an unreliable and spotty connection. QoS is used to ensure devices on your network do not adversely affect your connection. If the ISP connection is dirt, QoS can't do a thing. I suggest you aim your rant at Virgin's complaints department. Also start running Bandwidth Quality Monitor to your IP to demonstrate the latency issues.

 

[360NoScoper]

Virgin Media are notorious for issues with oversubscribing areas such that everyone in the area suffers latency and jitter issues. It took me over a year of liaising with the local area manager at VM to push through a capacity upgrade on the cabinet for my brother's house ti finally resolve the latency spikes.

QoS can't fix an unreliable and spotty connection. QoS is used to ensure devices on your network do not adversely affect your connection. If the ISP connection is dirt, QoS can't do a thing. I suggest you aim your rant at Virgin's complaints department. Also start running Bandwidth Quality Monitor to your IP to demonstrate the latency issues.

Thanks but can you answer of QOS on ASUS routers is broken or not? I've read many posts about it and from my experience, I don't even see a 10% improvement with any QOS setting enabled.

 

[Jack Yaz]

Thanks but can you answer of QOS on ASUS routers is broken or not? I've read many posts about it and from my experience, I don't even see a 10% improvement with any QOS setting enabled.

QoS always worked when I used it on my AC87U and AC86U. I now have a gigabit line so the AC86U can't keep up anymore, but it did work up to 500Mbps when I was on that.

Honestly, run BQM to your IP, and take a look at the graph of latency especially when you have no devices online, or you're using very little bandwidth.

QoS is designed to make sure traffic gets through the router at the right priority amongst other traffic. If you see the latency issues when your gaming device is the only device online, and you're not doing anything like downloading at the same time to saturate your connection, you have an ISP issue, not a QoS issue.

 

[Jack Yaz]

P.S with Virgin Media currently upping their prices, now is a great time to complain to them and tell them you're thinking of leaving. You should be able to quit them without paying any fee because of the incoming price increase, or at the very least get a discount and get an engineer to actually look into your connection

 

[DJones]

P.S with Virgin Media currently upping their prices, now is a great time to complain to them and tell them you're thinking of leaving. You should be able to quit them without paying any fee because of the incoming price increase, or at the very least get a discount and get an engineer to actually look into your connection

alternatively for bufferbloat..

You can also try using TCP optimizer on windows which may help a bit, or if your computer is running Linux all newer Linux kernels have cake baked into them you just need to enable it (lots of google sites explain) however that’s cake on only that device it won’t effect other devices on your network stealing extra needed bandwidth. Cake on a router makes all devices fall under its umbrella.

If your ISP’s lines are garbage though like the other have said that can cause a degradation of speeds and increased latency due to packet loss or issues with SnR or Line Attenuation.

 

[adrenalize]

As others have said I would try a Thinkbroadband BQM on your line. I don't do gaming and have never used QoS as I've not had any issues - I do a reasonable amount of Teams/Zoom (although some over my work corporate VPN) and use a VoIP landline with no issues.

But just for comparison the attached shots are of my Openreach FTTP line with BT residential/retail 500/75 service through an RT-AX88U on Merlin f/wm no QoS etc. On the BQM you can just see the effect of the several Waveform tests I did on the right hand side.

I also note in your OP you've got an RT-AC66U - I think these were released 2012/13 and no longer supported under Merlin. It's not going to have the grunt for QoS on faster connections but may cope with basic h/w accelerated NAT. You'd probably be better off with an RT-AX68U or similar newer router, you may even find the (if you go with BT) BT hub performs just fine.

 

[AndreiV]

Why complain about a second hand ASUS router when your ISP Hub has the same issues?

Your line/ISP are more likely the problem.

On a high speed FTTP connection you wouldn't want QOS anyway,

If other people are doing a lot of streaming there will always be higher latency on the line.

For gaming you need to invest in a router that runs Smart Queue Management..

Take a look at this :


BufferBloat Fix

 

[ColinTaylor]

For comparison, here are my results using Virgin Media on a quiet network. No QoS, AiProtection, etc. If you're only getting a "C" grade in the same circumstances that's likely the best you'll ever get unless VM fix their network.

 

[dave14305]

What bandwidth values did you use when testing the various QoS options? To figure out if QoS can help your connection, try an extremely low value (e.g. 10 Mbit down, 5 Mbit up). If you still have bad results, it’s likely not something you can control from the router.

 

[bbunge]

I used adaptive QOS with manual settings with AC66U_B1 on 10/1 DSL for several years. The QOS just worked! That router is now an AiMesh node.

 

[Jaime Alvarez]

I have an AC68U and I use FlexQoS with spdmerlin autoadjusting the bandwidth limits. It has worked pretty well for my work-from-home settings, with simultaneous videoconferences happening all the time, with a 100Mb connection.

 

[DJones]

As others have said I would try a Thinkbroadband BQM on your line. I don't do gaming and have never used QoS as I've not had any issues - I do a reasonable amount of Teams/Zoom (although some over my work corporate VPN) and use a VoIP landline with no issues.

But just for comparison the attached shots are of my Openreach FTTP line with BT residential/retail 500/75 service through an RT-AX88U on Merlin f/wm no QoS etc. On the BQM you can just see the effect of the several Waveform tests I did on the right hand side.

I also note in your OP you've got an RT-AC66U - I think these were released 2012/13 and no longer supported under Merlin. It's not going to have the grunt for QoS on faster connections but may cope with basic h/w accelerated NAT. You'd probably be better off with an RT-AX68U or similar newer router, you may even find the (if you go with BT) BT hub performs just fine.

He has the B1 version which is supported still as non HND.

 

[360NoScoper]

As others have said I would try a Thinkbroadband BQM on your line. I don't do gaming and have never used QoS as I've not had any issues - I do a reasonable amount of Teams/Zoom (although some over my work corporate VPN) and use a VoIP landline with no issues.

But just for comparison the attached shots are of my Openreach FTTP line with BT residential/retail 500/75 service through an RT-AX88U on Merlin f/wm no QoS etc. On the BQM you can just see the effect of the several Waveform tests I did on the right hand side.

I also note in your OP you've got an RT-AC66U - I think these were released 2012/13 and no longer supported under Merlin. It's not going to have the grunt for QoS on faster connections but may cope with basic h/w accelerated NAT. You'd probably be better off with an RT-AX68U or similar newer router, you may even find the (if you go with BT) BT hub performs just fine.

Thanks for the reply. Looking at your BQM, you have a very stable and clean connection. Your bufferbloat results look really bad but that would be fixed with QOS/SQM. That gives me hope as maybe most of my issues are from my Virgin Media connection. I'm a signed up to Think Broadband so that I can see a BQM of my connection.

I'm actually looking into a RT-AX88U right now too, what a coincidence. I think this with maybe CAKE SQM script installed could achieve A+ in bufferbloat tests, so as long as my connection is good enough - if not, I still want to upgrade to that router along with BT FTTP 500.

 

[360NoScoper]

Is my BQM bugged?

Broadband Quality Monitor | thinkbroadband

FREE Broadband Quality Monitor to keep track of latency & packet loss

www.thinkbroadband.com

 

[adrenalize]

Your router is not replying to pings, hence the solid red which is 100% packet loss. You may need to find the "reply to pings" setting on your router and turn it on.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Is my BQM bugged?

Broadband Quality Monitor | thinkbroadband

FREE Broadband Quality Monitor to keep track of latency & packet loss

www.thinkbroadband.com

In Firewall > General you must have Respond ICMP Echo (ping) Request from WAN set to Yes.

 

[Gary_Dexter]

I also assume you’re running your Virgin hub in Modem Mode and it’s not been left in Router Mode?

 

[Jaime Alvarez]

I also assume you’re running your Virgin hub in Modem Mode and it’s not been left in Router Mode?

Good point. Even better if it can be set to bridge mode.

 

[Morris]

Wow, you worry about internet exploits and then you turn off the feature that will protect you.

Then you worry about buffer bloat yet use a QOS type that is not designed to improve it. You want CAKE which is as easy to implement as cake.

These are your fixes, it's up to you to use them.

Morris