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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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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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