Looking for help buying an sqm Router with performance to almost 500mbit connection

[Furious]

Hello everyone,

I currently have a connection of 100download/10upload speed. I am suffering from a D bufferbloat problem. My major problem is upload latency of 500 while my download latency is at 80 and being a gamer i have delay in most online games and zero responsiveness. I was considering buying an asus router so that i have asuswrt merlin to enable SQM which will result to better latency overall. Am i wrong with my plans? I have a family of another 3 people using the network while i am playing which probably also affects me. I am also considering upgrading my connection within 2-3 months to 500down/50upload.
Which would be a device that has serious Cpu power to handle sqm at such speeds and will likely offer support for a while.
Right now i have a Speedport 2 modem router provided by my ISP but i would prefer if the new router can handle everything on its own instead of using the new one to connect to the old one.
From your own experience how much latency has improved with an asus router using merlin compared to your ISP one? Is it worth the trouble and the extra cash?
Thank you for taking the time to reply and help me.

PS. Does using asuswrt void warranty from asus? Or is it considered acceptable?

 

[L&LD]

Welcome to the forums @Furious.

Is that latency wired or wireless?

Is your ISP DSL?

If those latency figures you provided were for wired devices, then you may never get anything better until you upgrade to a better ISP (i.e. not DSL).

 

[Tech9]

I was considering buying an asus router so that i have asuswrt merlin to enable SQM which will result to better latency overall.

If you are thinking about Cake QoS - incompatible with NAT acceleration, about 350-400Mbps WAN-LAN throughput limit. This is what home router CPU can do, high-end hardware models RT-AX86U Pro and above.

I am also considering upgrading my connection within 2-3 months to 500down/50upload.

You may not need QoS then. Don't use online bufferbloat tests. They saturate your ISP connection and create bufferbloat conditions. With normal Internet use you don't have bufferbloat. You may end up hurting yourself with QoS fighting non-existing problem. For true SQM 500Mbps or above you need x86 hardware.

 

[DocUmibozu]

Oldie but goldie:

So you have 500Mbps-1Gbps fiber and need a router READ THIS FIRST

It's such a frequently asked question over the last few years that we really need a post we can point people to. So your cable company rolled out 500Mbps or 1Gbps download speeds, or you have 1Gbps symmetric fiber (GPON/EPON) from ATT or Centurylink or Orange or whoever. You realize your old...

forum.openwrt.org

 

[Furious]

I have tested my latency on speedtest, dslreports and waveform.com. My tests are using ethernet cat 8 cable. All showed the exact same results which i mentioned earlier. I have fiber to the home which is then connected to ont and then to my isp router (Speedport 2)
What i did was try out a Netgear Nighthawk xr 1000 but it was very laggy in the router page and i was really disatisfied. Also a ton of bugs and problems unsolved from netduma(had to use a secondary router for the pooe login or the qos wouldn't work) so i returned the product. However the router fixed the latency issue to 20 ms download and 60-80 upload. But still not the 20-40latency A+ i am looking for considering i paid 250 euro for it.
What i am looking for is a router from asus which can offer sqm through ethernet which will be admirable and easy to setup. Having the most amazing wifi is not that important to me although it is an extra.

 

[L&LD]

Asus doesn't offer such a product.

 

[DocUmibozu]

x86 pfsense or openwrt box needed.

 

[Furious]

Doesn't asuswrt merlin offer sqm option for any of the asus routers they support? Is it supported by asus or is asuswrt something that will void my warranty? According to the videos i saw the asus routers give out of the box with their stock firmware lower gaming latency out of the box...

 

[Furious]

If 500mbps cant be achieved what about 200mbps sqm or 300mbps?

 

[Tech9]

what about 200mbps sqm or 300mbps?

Read post #3 above. Cake QoS is the extra option in Asuswrt-Merlin.

Is it supported by asus or is asuswrt something that will void my warranty?

You can revert the firmware to stock Asuswrt any time you want if this is a concern.

 

[RMerlin]

Is it supported by asus or is asuswrt something that will void my warranty?

They do not offer technical support for it, but you could say it's supported in the sense that they actively contribute to the project by providing assistance in its development.

Flashing Asuswrt-Merlin will not void your device's warranty.

 

[Moba]

For true SQM 500Mbps or above you need x86 hardware.

I had to post a reply to this, because it's a misleading statement. While it is true for AIO consumer routers that stubbornly use low power A53 SoCs or similar (B53), larger out-of-order ARM SoCs can handle higher speeds while having NAT acceleration disabled and FQ_CoDel/smart QoS enabled. The Dream Router/Pro (750 Mbps+) and the MikroTik RB5009 (1 Gbps+) are examples.

Granted, a recent mini-PC can crush any ARM SoC for heavy tasks (VPN, NAT, QoS, etc.), and possibly have much better long term value. However, they are not plug-and-play, and they can become quite expensive if matching the wireless throughput of those newer Asus routers is also a requirement. The real question becomes how much one is willing to pay for the mostly diminishing returns of high bandwidth QoS. YMMV.

Edit: I meant Dream Machine - the Dream Router is an entry level device...

 

[Tech9]

However, they are not plug-and-play

Hmm, have you seen MikroTik RouterOS settings? For someone coming from home AIO router it may be more challenging than setting up OPNsense x86 box by following YouTube videos.

and they can become quite expensive

The price of better hardware, long term support, better software quality and features not available in most AIO home routers. Everyone is free to decide which way to go and how much is willing to learn.

 

[dave14305]

SQM (to me) implies a “fairness” component, but don’t gamers usually want “unfairness” in favor of their gaming device? Adaptive QoS would probably deliver the most gamer-friendly unfairness, compared to CAKE which is all about fairness.

 

[Furious]

I just want low latency to be exact for better responsiveness to my games. What do i need to do to achieve that? The only info i got i told you. My results on speedtest and dslreports waveform everywhere seem problematic. Got fiber to the home and a mother and aunt using it for browser gaming or netflix. What do i need to buy to fix it? Cant have 80 download and 600 upload latency anymore

 

[RMerlin]

If you have 600 ms of latency, then you have a more serious problem than just bufferbloat, and no amount of SQM will resolve that. Even if you were to be running a torrent at the same time, your latency shouldn't be that high. I recommend you start by troubleshooting the basics, i.e. test performance with nothing else using the connection at the same time, also check with traceroute if your latency jump is within your LAN or at your ISP level.

 

[Tech9]

What do i need to buy to fix it?

This is a good start:

upgrading my connection... to 500down/50upload

 

[dave14305]

I currently have a connection of 100download/10upload speed

Right now i have a Speedport 2 modem router provided by my ISP

I think any Asus router with basic QoS set to 90 down/9 up would be an improvement over the ISP device. Will you be able to disable the router function of the ISP device?

 

[DocUmibozu]

I had to post a reply to this, because it's a misleading statement. While it is true for AIO consumer routers that stubbornly use low power A53 SoCs or similar (B53), larger out-of-order ARM SoCs can handle higher speeds while having NAT acceleration disabled and FQ_CoDel/smart QoS enabled. The Dream Router/Pro (750 Mbps+) and the MikroTik RB5009 (1 Gbps+) are examples.

Granted, a recent mini-PC can crush any ARM SoC for heavy tasks (VPN, NAT, QoS, etc.), and possibly have much better long term value. However, they are not plug-and-play, and they can become quite expensive if matching the wireless throughput of those newer Asus routers is also a requirement. The real question becomes how much one is willing to pay for the mostly diminishing returns of high bandwidth QoS. YMMV.

Problem is: the routers you mention are as expensive as a x86 box and without wifi, just as an x86 box.
Not to mention the proprietary OS....

 

[Furious]

If you have 600 ms of latency, then you have a more serious problem than just bufferbloat, and no amount of SQM will resolve that. Even if you were to be running a torrent at the same time, your latency shouldn't be that high. I recommend you start by troubleshooting the basics, i.e. test performance with nothing else using the connection at the same time, also check with traceroute if your latency jump is within your LAN or at your ISP level.

Kind of a noob. Could you please explain what i need to do? Here is my results on speedtest. My latency is measured while it downloads or uploads if i am not mistaken(so this is exactly like downloading a torrent while it is pinging) but i might be wrong.