Anti-Bufferbloat and Bandwidth Allocation.. clarifications

[wizrdburialgrnd]

Hey team!

Hoping to ask a few simple questions to get clarity on what's going on with these settings, so that I might properly optimize my setup.

I've read a lot of the knowledge base, and a lot of discussions on here, and trying to wade through my confusion.  I have over 20 devices connected at all times (smart home items, consoles, etc.), and so I'm trying to get the best distribution available. The last thing I want is a dozen smart bulbs and outlets stealing bandwidth from my consoles, computers and streaming devices.

And now, the fun bits: 

Is Bandwidth Allocation always active? For example, if Anti-Bufferbloat is set to "Never", is Bandwidth Allocation still actively throttling my devices?  And whether or not it is, is there a way to toggle it on/off?

And if Bandwidth Allocation is always on, do you have any recommendations for managing excessive smart devices? Light bulbs, smart outlets.. all these items that use virtually no bandwidth, but qualify for even distribution... what are you and/or other people doing about these in the Bandwidth Allocation settings? Hardcoding each and every one?

Anti-Bufferbloat: Let's presume I have the sliders at 70/70 at all times. Are all devices using the primary 70%, and then being governed by the Bandwidth Allocation?  What's happening with the other 30%?  I've seen this question asked before, I understand this, I just feel like there's been conflicting messaging around this topic.  My hope is that we can break it down like this:

70% - XBOX ONLY

30% - ALL OTHER DEVICES

-or-

70% - All devices governed by Bandwidth Allocation

30% - reserved for top secret... space.. plans.

In this example I'm happy to ignore the "share excess" function and its impact for the sake of achieving clarity, though for the record I have it always on.

I appreciate everything you do and thanks in advance!

 

 

[Netduma Fraser]

Hey, welcome to the forum!

For all intents and purposes Bandwidth Allocation is 'always on' unless you disable QoS completely from Anti-Bufferbloats menu. Given you have share excess on it's not really 'throttling' in the traditional sense in the way that it would if it was off. Toggling on/off would be disabling QoS fully but also leaving it as default is sort of the same as you're not actually allocating bandwidth yourself, the router does it based on need.

As they don't use much bandwidth they will never cause your other devices issues. I personally would always recommend share excess to be on because if a device needs extra bandwidth above it's default or set allocation then it will only take it from other devices if they don't need all their allocation. That means you don't have to worry about a device being too greedy because if other devices need it then it can't take it all. I usually leave mine with Share Excess enabled and default distribution.

Yes all devices would use that 70% so then Bandwidth Allocation would treat that 70% as 100% of the available. This creates headroom so that no device can completely saturate the network which is what causes lag. So although you may think it's not being used, it actually serves an important purpose.

[wizrdburialgrnd]

8 minutes ago, Netduma Fraser said:

 

As they don't use much bandwidth they will never cause your other devices issues. I personally would always recommend share excess to be on because if a device needs extra bandwidth above it's default or set allocation then it will only take it from other devices if they don't need all their allocation.

This is perfect. So they're not truly "locked into" the distribution that's set for them.  Excellent.

11 minutes ago, Netduma Fraser said:

Yes all devices would use that 70% so then Bandwidth Allocation would treat that 70% as 100% of the available. This creates headroom so that no device can completely saturate the network which is what causes lag. So although you may think it's not being used, it actually serves an important purpose.

So... space plans?  

I think I get it now, and thanks so much.  If I have 350mb down speed, which in general is more than ample for all of my needs, would it make sense that my Download percentage can be higher than 70% (in anti-bufferbloat), so that the "headroom" lands ~50mb? I imagine there's something of a sliding scale in which, higher internet speeds = less headroom needed?

[Netduma Fraser]

In general the higher the speeds you have the less need for QoS you have because in theory it would be very hard to saturate your connection anyway. In theory though that is true but it also depends what works best for your connection as to what percentage you need. Some people use 99% for example some use 50%, it's all relative really. I usually recommend trying to saturate your connection as much as possible with downloads etc while following this guide and trying different percentages to see what brings the ping down the most and keeps it stable: http://support.netduma.com/en/support/solutions/articles/16000074717-how-to-test-your-internet-ping

Even if you find a low percentage to be the best you can just allow 'When High Priority Traffic Detected' so you're only throttling when gaming.