Trying to understand bufferbloat in relation to UK ISPs

This is going to be a mass of drivel most likely but here goes.

I'm trying to understand how bufferbloat techniques like SQM pertain to UK ISPs. Most stuff online is about these ridiculous lines in the USA running symmetrical gigabit or whatever. I'm more interested in knowing about standard FTTC (50 Mbps) and slower than 500 Mbps FTTP packages.

Years ago I used to think that ping spikes in games when downloading/uploading happened because the router didn't have a fast enough CPU to process the data packets fast enough. I randomly found bufferbloat over the past few days and this is likely the cause. I ran dslreports and I'm getting a C rank.

Now I'm pretty sure most ISPs in UK are not supplying routers that have SQM techniques (CAKE or whatever) or even basic QoS. Does this mean most of the UK population just suffer from bufferbloat and not know it?

Trying to find a somewhat user friendly upgrade that has these SQM techniques is getting way too complex to understand. From what I get, you have the modem (tough luck if on BT that can't bridge the Smart Hub) which they plug into the specialised SQM router and then they run that off via PoE injection to a wireless access point if needed. The least clutter idea that should be "good enough" was just get an Eero device. In which case the setup would be:

Get a modem like HG612/8800NL in Bridge Mode > connect Ethernet from that to Eero unit. Then in Eero app enable "Optimize for Conferencing and Gaming". Doing the whole [email protected] in the setup should work ok?

Does bufferbloat behave differently based on the technology you have? i.e. will an FTTC connection have more bufferbloat variance than an FTTP connection if they both operated at the same download and upload speeds? (e.g. BT do Fibre Essential packages under 50 Mbps but are still FTTP). Obviously if the router stayed the same.

In the case of FTTP and aftermarket router (such as Eero) would you just connect ethernet from the ONT on the wall to the Eero and do Optimize for Conferencing and Gaming in the app?

Lastly, I see that the TP-Link Deco products seem to be very popular in the UK but I can't see any mentioning of SQM (can't blame it for the price of them). They do however mention QoS. I have no idea how the TP-Link products do the QoS but do you think it's good enough to not suffer from bufferbloat?

Edited by gameinn (Sun 01-Jan-23 12:00:42)

SQM is definitely beneficial on slower lines and not just for bufferbloat.

I used Stadia for game streaming and using a router (OPNSense) with SQM (fq_codel) allowed it to run perfectly when other people in the house were also using the internet.

It is my opinion that ISPs would make their lives so much easier if they provided routers that supported it.

Bufferbloat should only be an issue if you are saturating your connection. The simple answer is to not saturate your connection when doing anything which is latency sensitive.

Actually, you've written a pretty good post, covering lots of topics.

- Bufferbloat affects any situation where there's a fast-to-slow connection. If the router allows too many packets to queue up, you'll see high latency, poor responsiveness whenever there's a lot of traffic.

- Slower links, of course, make it more obvious when there's high latency, but routers attached to high speed/fiber links can still (briefly) queue too much data, increasing the latency.

- Advice "not to saturate your link" isn't helpful. Bufferbloat is often transitory, occurring at times you don't control: for example, others in your house watching videos, uploading photos from their phone, or even downloading big web pages (2+ megabytes average these days)

- If latency at your home is a problem, you are going to need to take control, either configuring your current gear with SQM (CAKE or fq_codel) or installing a second router "behind" your ISP's gear.

- There's a list of well-tested SQM gear at: What Can I Do About Bufferbloat? at https://www.bufferbloat.net/projects/bloat/wiki/What...

- Does SQM work? Yes. I had a very usable connection with an IQrouter on my 7mbps/768kbps DSL link. It would never be called "fast", but could support two Zoom calls while using other facilities (mail web, etc.)