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Scenario. I'm in Tbilisi, Georgia. I have very high ping to EU servers (100ms+) plus a huge buffer bloating problem, this test gave me the F rank: https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat

I use an optical Fiber connection, 100 Mbps from Magti ISP, and a wired connection PC <-> Router.

I can't solve the high ping issue, but I can solve the Buffer Bloating.

I have a router or modem from the ISP, not sure what it is. The router admin panel is locked and I can't access it. No login details at all. The ISP router model name is unknown. There is no S/N or vendor name at all.

I found UISP EdgeRouter X on Amazon which has SQM support so it can manage the buffer bloating. But this router doesn't have the Fiber input as far as I know.

The question is. If I will buy the UISP router, and create this wired network:

PC <-> UISP (with SQM enabled) <-> ISP router (default settings),

will I solve the Buffer Bloating issue or I will face new problems + the same issues + some latencies?

p.s. I'm a complete newbie here, please don't be harsh :>

MrVerde
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  • The ping issue is well outside your purview. The Atlantic is generally about 100ms to cross, no matter which side you start from, or how fast your line. Once you've traversed, your actual DL speed is easy to maintain [the lines are a thousand times faster than the one to your home]. Conversely, bufferbloat is right there in your home setup. Whether or not you can swap out the ISP's router for your own will depend on your service contract. In the US it seems common, in the UK in most cases you cannot remove the ISP router. – Tetsujin Dec 20 '22 at 11:55
  • Thanks, but that was not the question. I don't want to change the ISP router, because a router with the fiber optic input and SQM will cost me $150-200. The question is, can I use the setup with both, the ISP router and UISP EdgeRouter X to solve the Buffer Bloat problem? – MrVerde Dec 20 '22 at 14:03
  • You're still going to have to talk to your ISP. You need to knock your existing device down to pure modem mode, otherwise not only do you have to still deal with that, but you're also going to have to deal with double NAT. – Tetsujin Dec 20 '22 at 14:20

1 Answers1

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Yes, you can solve bufferbloat using your own SQM-capable router, even if you're stuck with a bloat-prone ISP-provided fiber ONT (or modem, or other piece of "customer premises equipment" or CPE).

The trick is to make your SQM-capable router be a slight bottleneck for all traffic going in or out of your house. That way its SQM algorithm will take anti-bufferbloat countermeasures (such as using ECN, or strategically dropping a few packets) before bloated buffers can build up on the other devices in the path, such as the ISP-provided CPE or the ISP's router on the other end of your fiber link.

So you have to get a good clean measurement of what your upstream and downstream bandwidth through your ISP-provided CPE really is, and then configure traffic shaping (bandwidth throttling) in your SQM-capable router to be maybe 5% less than what you measured for each direction. You also need to make sure your SQM-capable router is the only thing connecting directly to the ISP-provided CPE.

Some of the most SQM-savvy routers, such as EvenRoute.com's IQrouter, will periodically run their own throughput tests to keep their router tuned to be a slight bottleneck even if your residential broadband Internet service link's bandwidth varies over time.

Spiff
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