QOS on 1gbps network speeds

[John DeLuca]

Hello I was just reading somewhere that you can’t really use cake QOS above 400mbps. I don’t have a Merlin router yet but I was wondering is there a “special” QOS that is not in the standard firmware that you can use for faster networks that help bufferbloat?

 

[L&LD]

Unless you're hammering on a 1Gbps ISP connection continuously, you don't need QoS. Bufferbloat is only apparent when you're at the ISP's limits (that they impose on you) and they're actively throttling it.

I have a 1Gbps symmetrical ISP Fibre connection so that QoS isn't an issue (ever) for anything I care to do. If I was maxing out that connection frequently enough that it was impacting my online experience, I would just jump to the next level of 1.5Gbps speeds. The hardware requirements to 'tame' Bufferbloat at those speeds would not be worth the effort (or the decreased top speeds too).

 

[Morris]

Hello I was just reading somewhere that you can’t really use cake QOS above 400mbps. I don’t have a Merlin router yet but I was wondering is there a “special” QOS that is not in the standard firmware that you can use for faster networks that help bufferbloat?

You will need a powerful processor to do this. There is a version of OpenWrt for Intel processors a fast I3 and due Gig links should be able to do if for you.

 

[Tech9]

faster networks that help bufferbloat

Your ISP connection is as fast as your LAN. There is no speed bottlenecks. What bufferbloat?

 

[Morris]

Your ISP connection is as fast as your LAN. There is no speed bottlenecks. What bufferbloat?

OP did not mention Cake. Even if Cake, if either of the edge routers can't keep up, there will be bufferbloat.

 

[Tech9]

there will be bufferbloat.

Only close to ISP line saturation speeds. I wouldn't run QoS just in case, because bufferbloat may eventually happen sometime someday. I don't have bufferbloat on my 500Mbps ISP line with normal Internet use, family of four. I didn't have bufferbloat on my previous 300Mbps ISP line.

 

[John DeLuca]

So I wonder then if I would be getting better performance disabling QOS, I have to check my bufferbloat score. Is it true that when you have such high bandwidth QOS is pointless? I have to do more testing.

 

[Tech9]

Well, every time you hit the test you get line saturation and eventually bufferbloat with no QoS. Eventually, because online tests are far from accurate. In real life Internet use you may never have bufferbloat on a Gigabit ISP. Online tests confuse most folks, thinking they have constant bufferbloat. No, it may happen only at close to ISP line saturation speeds. Even when it happens, you may never notice it. You have read about bufferbloat somewhere, you perhaps hit some tests, you know your router has QoS options - and you're trying to solve non existing issue.

 

[L&LD]

The only test you have to do is ask yourself if you are hammering your ISP connection, continuously.

If you are (and when you check for bufferbloat you are hammering the connection), then you need some serious hardware to fix it (and you'll have lower speeds as a result).

If you aren't, then just enjoy the ride.

Bufferbloat isn't something that needs fixing if your WAN network requirements are below your ISP speeds.

 

[sbsnb]

I have a 500 Mbps symmetrical connection and I see buffer bloat when I'm downloading an ISO or something. At least I see ping times triple or more while the download is active. Whether that's technically buffer bloat I don't know, but I know QoS stops it from happening.

 

[Adooni]

there is no Asus router that can handle 1Gbit QoS - if you have a lot device (downloads torrents etc) and you really need it you need to go with custom miniPC solution with OnenWRT for example.

 

[L&LD]

@sbsnb, during that iso download, are you actually hitting 500Mbps download speeds? If the server you're downloading from can provide that, then yes, while downloading from that or similar powerful servers, you will experience bufferbloat.

What does 'triple or more' ping times mean in absolute terms for you? Even if mine triples, it is still well below 'excellent' values, I believe.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-386-3-is-now-available.73815/post-702496

 

[sbsnb]

@sbsnb, during that iso download, are you actually hitting 500Mbps download speeds? If the server you're downloading from can provide that, then yes, while downloading from that or similar powerful servers, you will experience bufferbloat.

What does 'triple or more' ping times mean in absolute terms for you? Even if mine triples, it is still well below 'excellent' values, I believe.

I usually hit those speeds, especially with bittorrent. Really good servers I can get <10ms normally, but I can see anywhere from 50 - 100 during downloads. It's not often, but it's a drag when one of the kids starts downloading Steam games or something and everything gets a little slower. I rather just incur the little bit of penalty setting QoS and having everything run smooth all the time.

 

[L&LD]

And you're using it exactly as you should then.

 

[Tech9]

I rather just incur the little bit of penalty setting QoS and having everything run smooth all the time.

Yes, based on your Internet use experience. If you need QoS - it's available.

 

[Kanji-San]

there is no Asus router that can handle 1Gbit QoS - if you have a lot device (downloads torrents etc) and you really need it you need to go with custom miniPC solution with OnenWRT for example.

Surprisingly, some can such as the AX86U. See this thread.

 

[John DeLuca]

I will have to run some test and let you guys know I always figured QOS is good at any speed even though I did know about at higher speeds it does less for you.

 

[John DeLuca]

I think with me gt-ac 5300 with adaptive QOS I can get up to 900mbps wired but I have to check.

 

[sbsnb]

The trick to smooth QoS is getting the speed set right. The general rule of thumb is to set it to 90% of your actual speeds (not ISP's advertised speed). My experience has been that this is more important at lower speeds. At higher speeds it seems like smaller margins work fine. I suspect that's because 10% at 20 Mbps leaves 2 Mbps to work with, but at 500 Mbps it's leaving 50 Mbps to work with, so the margin needed by QoS may be smaller at higher speeds.

 

[vit5421]

What you recommend to set if I have non symmetrical 1gbs download and 60 mbs upload internet. The upload buffetbloat is about 300 mls or more.
I can't setup QoS for upload side only like OpenWrt.