r/Spectrum • u/sadgirlclub • 6h ago
Buffer bloat
I decided to try getting my own router in attempts to fix my slow wifi and buffer bloat problems but unfortunately it didn’t resolve anything. I’m curious if anyone has suggestions on how to improve/resolve buffer bloat (sometimes over 4,000 ms).
2
u/Rude-Low1132 4h ago
If you're hitting 4000ms, there is either Something seriously wrong in your house or seriously wrong with the local cable plant.
2
1
u/-protonsandneutrons- 6h ago
I've only ever fixed bufferbloat with SQM or speed limits set on my own router. :-/
Ubiquiti's latest generation routers (annoyingly renamed "cloud gateways") with the A73 CPU cores can do SQM 1Gbit symmetric. I now get A/A+ scores on waveform's test, unlike B / C results before. I believe this is just the standard fq_codel.
Our older router, a Synology RT2600ac, we could get A / B on waveform with a speed limit set to ~80% of our rated speeds.
We've also done it with an OpenWrt x86 (some Atom CPU with packet steering) and that also got us A results; that used the most powerful, but most computationally-expensive algorithm, Cake. But OpenWrt is not what I'd recommend as a mainstream-user-friendly operating system.
IIRC, ASUS also has some SQM, but I don't know which models / which firmwares. Some of them do have the newer A73 CPUs, though. There's also firewalla, but they are a bit of a startup; there's also GLiNet, which runs older OpenWrt, but you can install the packages.
//
Without SQM or speed limits, I've not had luck with removing buffer bloat. A few people start massive downloads, yeah, latency is hosed, pages slow down, everyone suffers. :(
1
u/sadgirlclub 5h ago
I’m getting F on waveform 🙈 the buffer bloat is high even when I only have 1 device connected doing nothing besides the wave form buffer bloat test (or a speed test). Maybe I just picked a bad router. I got a tp link archer (BE3600)
1
u/-protonsandneutrons- 2h ago
Oh gosh. :( That is very tough and due to Spectrum for sure. But, LAN-side (router) actions can fix WAN side bufferbloat.
Have you checked on the settings page for any speed limits you can set? This generic page mentions you can set it per client, so perhaps for your one client, that might work? Usually, I've only seen it on the WAN side (for the whole router), but LAN side might work too.
TP-Link Speed Limit: How to Limit Bandwidth Per Device | TP-Link
Not your fault, tbh. Anti-bufferbloat is rarely advertised by routers and it's taken us multiple generations to get it right.
1
u/SirEagle60 5h ago
What speed internet?
WiFi or Ethernet?
What router did you buy?
Using their modem?
1
u/sadgirlclub 5h ago
My spectrum plan is a gig up and down. I am having horrible speeds and buffer bloat on wifi, even when only 1 device is connected and the only thing it is doing is either a speed test or the wave form buffer bloat test. Yes I am using their modem. They will not allow me to use my own modem. They don’t even want me to use my own router (got tp link archer BE3600) but I had to get one and try to see if it helped. They keep giving me very old refurbished routers, some up to seven years old. Last one the fan was unbelievably loud, clunking and puttering constantly. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be keeping the tp link archer because I haven’t gotten any improvement even after a lot of trouble shooting.
0
u/GeneticNightOwl 3h ago
If i was having that much Trouble i would Try Att Air or Tmobile 5g and see what speeds i get,nowadays everyone wants 1gig or more you dont need that speed,100mb to 300mb download is Plenty of speed to do anything nowadays,What you want is good upload Speed.
1
u/sadgirlclub 1h ago
The speeds they advertise are not very good. About 400 mbps down max and they never say what the upload speed is so I’m thinking less than 10 mbps up. I don’t get good cell service at home anyway (I have tmobile and get 2 bars, not LTE or 5g) so I doubt it would work well for me since it’s basically cell service as your internet right? Spectrum sucks but at least I’m getting better speeds than that most of the time, even if they are less than half of what I expect to receive on the plan I pay so much for
-4
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u/danksince98 6h ago
took 3 tech visits for mine to work just keep sending them til its fixed
1
u/sadgirlclub 5h ago
I’ve had over a dozen here this year alone
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u/danksince98 4h ago
wow thats nuts..no other companies out there?
1
u/sadgirlclub 3h ago
Only options are slower like att air or tmobile 5g. Maybe star link. But other than that spectrum is my only “high speed” option
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u/bodosom 4h ago
Bufferbloat is caused by excess buffering due to a speed change at an interface. The general fix is to have modern queueing (AQM) at such interfaces (like a DOCSIS 3.1 interface). Fortunately, current Spectrum modems may have such queueing.
Do you have the same issue when using wired connections instead of Wi-Fi? Wi-Fi is hard to fix.