"Does Qualcomm's StreamBoost Really Work?" Article

[mediatrek]

In regards to the "Does Qualcomm's StreamBoost Really Work?" article, while it has not been reviewed by SmallNetBuilder.com, you fail to mention the other model router on the market that features Qualcomm’s Streamboost traffic shaping engine. The Zyxel NBG6716 (AC1750) to be exact. The d-Link firmware is buggy to say the least and the Zyxel model handles much better; from physical hardware offering double the RAM over d-Link’s DGL-5500, CPU & RAM usage meters, to the units fairly comprehensive documentation.

I do not have a single regret having returned the DGL-5500 and keeping the NBG6716.

As for the future, I cannot wait to see Streamboost rolled out in Qualcomm’s new IPQ-based solutions.

 

[L&LD]

Is StreamBoost something that can be used in any router (given proper compensation to Qualcomm, of course)?

Or is it D-Link and Zyxel only?

 

[sinshiva]

very interesting article. while i'm very happy with my current QoS implementation, it wasn't without a lot of trial and error. A quick look around on google has shown me that the vast majority of people out there have trouble getting QoS to work perfectly for them, and this looks like the answer many are looking for

 

[thiggins]

Is StreamBoost something that can be used in any router (given proper compensation to Qualcomm, of course)?

Or is it D-Link and Zyxel only?

StreamBoost requires a Qualcomm processor.

 

[L&LD]

So it is on the SoC then? Well, I guess Asus routers won't be getting this anytime soon.

 

[jramskov]

My guess is that this could quickly become a competitive advantage, in which case the other router manufaturers will scramble to offer something similar and I can't see why they shouldn't be able to implement it. The easiest would probably be the improved overview of your bandwidth usage.

 

[thiggins]

My guess is that this could quickly become a competitive advantage, in which case the other router manufaturers will scramble to offer something similar and I can't see why they shouldn't be able to implement it. The easiest would probably be the improved overview of your bandwidth usage.

Other manufacturers have offered automatic QoS (D-Link using Ubicom) and media prioritization (Linksys on its Smart WiFi routers). Neither is as sophisticated as StreamBoost.

 

[thiggins]

So it is on the SoC then? Well, I guess Asus routers won't be getting this anytime soon.

It's not just code on the SoC, but a whole cloud-based service backing it up.

 

[jramskov]

Other manufacturers have offered automatic QoS (D-Link using Ubicom) and media prioritization (Linksys on its Smart WiFi routers). Neither is as sophisticated as StreamBoost.

My point is that nothing hinders them from creating something similar.

 

[nas82]

I have the ZyXEL branded streamboost router and it has been amazing. I never have streaming or VoIP issues or Netflix issues. I was so impressed, my family got one as well and they have had nothing but good things to say about it.

The router has been running daily after I got done playing with it and no glitches or freezes.

The firmware is simple but effective and everything works.

 

[sfx2000]

Other manufacturers have offered automatic QoS (D-Link using Ubicom) and media prioritization (Linksys on its Smart WiFi routers). Neither is as sophisticated as StreamBoost.

Keeping in mind that Qualcomm bought Ubicom some time back... perhaps there's some of their DNA in the solution as well.

http://www.newelectronics.co.uk/ele...peripherals-pioneer-bought-by-qualcomm/41402/

SNB thread here...

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?p=40544

Qualcomm has had a fairly astute M&A strategy in the 802.11 space - Airgo, Ubicom, Atheros (and Bigfoot as a result).

Starting to see the investments paying off with their more recent platforms - including putting their WWAN experience into play with moving their Krait cores into the platform.

Hate linking off-site but this probably slipped under a lot of radars...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7526/...internet-processor-lineup-ipq8064-and-ipq8062

Did you see that Qualcomm just put a bunch of money into FON, and FON's stuff is going to be folded into QC-Atheros SDK's?

http://www.dailywireless.org/2014/01/20/fon-qualcomm-facebook-social-wifi/

sfx

 

[dtaht]

fq_codel, bufferbloat, and streamboost

One of the core technologies in streamboost is fq_codel, which is a standard part (now) of openwrt "barrier breaker", dd-wrt, cerowrt, and other shaping systems for hundreds of platforms. Additionally the gargoyle-router project has a system built around automagic measurements and the SFQ subsystem.

I would love a comparison of current streamboost against routers equipped with these, as streamboost does a better job of classification, but these others do a (IMHO) better job of managing downstream bandwidth.

I am VERY happy that streamboost is doing so well and eliminating bufferbloat everywhere and that people consider buying routers just because it has it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bufferbloat

 

[thiggins]

From http://wiki.openwrt.org/about/latest

"The trunk, code named Barrier Breaker, contains bleeding edge source code for OpenWrt.

Is there something stable that implements fq_codel that can be tried?

 

[dtaht]

open source firmwares with better qos/aqm

OpenWrt is marching down towards a stable release. Can contact the devs for a steer towards stable...

dd-wrt added fq_codel to it's qos system over a year ago, I don't know when it went into a stable release, but it's out there.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/

CeroWrt 3.10 is closing in on a beta next month, but has been focused on fixing ipv6 issues lately rather than QoS. It is only available for the netgear wndr3800 series of routers.

This release is pretty stable in practice:

https://lists.bufferbloat.net/pipermail/cerowrt-devel/2014-January/002093.html

http://www.bufferbloat.net/projects/cerowrt/wiki/Setting_up_SQM_for_CeroWrt_310

but there are bugs presently in HT40 mode and ipv6 tunneling holding up the beta. Still, worth benchmarking (IMHO). The previous stable release of cero is from feburary of last year, and has fq_codel in it, on all interfaces.

http://www.bufferbloat.net/projects/cerowrt

The SQM/QoS/AQM system has been improved dramatically since then...

(disclaimer: I am the architect of cerowrt, and a few other things)

Gargoyle just shipped version 1.6, which is available for many routers:

http://www.gargoyle-router.com/

they use a different technology (SFQ) with what they call "ACC".

Please feel free to contact me via email, or on the mailing lists,
if you have any questions...

https://lists.bufferbloat.net/pipermail/cerowrt-devel/2014-January/thread.html

My own request of your testing is you focus a bit more on uploads WITH downloads, things like web page loading, and videoconferencing while watching a movie, and ipv6.

happy benchmarking!