Is the Netduma R3 really the best router for me?

[Iced Soul]

Friends, I'm a Call of Duty enthusiast, and it's practically the only game I can still enjoy.

I have a Netduma R1 and want to upgrade. I had already decided to buy a friend's Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 for an attractive price, but after reading a little more about the Netduma R3, I had doubts.

I've seen many experts saying that a modern gaming router must have "Smart Queue Management" – also known as SQM. It seems to be a more modern version of QoS. I've read a lot about the Duma R3, but I haven't seen anywhere mention the term "Smart Queue Management" or SQM with any relevant features it offers.

My choice of router is solely based on gaming. For other purposes, I already have another good router that works perfectly, with Wi-Fi even better than the Duma R3. Price isn't important either. I insist on being the best for playing Call of Duty.

That said, I asked the experts if the Netduma R3 is the most recommended router for me, if it has Smart Queue Management technology, or if the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 is the best choice.

[Netduma Fraser]

SQM isn't really new per se and is already what we offer with our QoS solution which will only get better with the next update we're working on. 

It really depends on how you're going to integrate your gaming router into your setup. If for example your setup will be:

Main Router (All Devices Connected) > Gaming Router (Just Gaming Device Connected)

then QoS/SQM is irrelevant because the router won't be able to control the entire network. It would only be able to control the gaming device which from the gaming router perspective isn't competiting with any other device. However, it's actually competing with every other device connected upstream to the main router. If you really wanted to do it this way then the main benefit you would get would be from using the Geo-Filter on the R3, something no other gaming router has.

If for example your setup will be:

Main Router > Gaming Router (All Devices Connected Including Gaming Device)

or some variant of that then QoS/SQM is a lot more relevant as it can control most if not all (it really should control everything for max effect) of the devices on the network. In which case I'd still suggest the R3 for our current QoS implementation but then even more so for the next iteration of QoS that we have planned.

[Iced Soul]

On 9/9/2025 at 11:15 AM, Netduma Fraser said:

SQM isn't really new per se and is already what we offer with our QoS solution which will only get better with the next update we're working on. 

It really depends on how you're going to integrate your gaming router into your setup. If for example your setup will be:

Main Router (All Devices Connected) > Gaming Router (Just Gaming Device Connected)

then QoS/SQM is irrelevant because the router won't be able to control the entire network. It would only be able to control the gaming device which from the gaming router perspective isn't competiting with any other device. However, it's actually competing with every other device connected upstream to the main router. If you really wanted to do it this way then the main benefit you would get would be from using the Geo-Filter on the R3, something no other gaming router has.

If for example your setup will be:

Main Router > Gaming Router (All Devices Connected Including Gaming Device)

or some variant of that then QoS/SQM is a lot more relevant as it can control most if not all (it really should control everything for max effect) of the devices on the network. In which case I'd still suggest the R3 for our current QoS implementation but then even more so for the next iteration of QoS that we have planned.

First of all, thanks for the reply.

I have two internet connections at home. One for my PC and one for the rest of the house. Therefore, I wouldn't need to connect one router to the other. They will use different internet connections.

I understood you to say that the R3 has SQM technology. I had doubts because I watched several videos about the R3 and didn't see the option to enable SQM in DumaOS, but I did see it in the operating systems of other routers.

Is SQM already native and can't be enabled or disabled in DumaOS? Where in the technical specifications is it mentioned that it has SQM technology?

In your opinion, should I choose the R3 because it has superior SQM? Is this its biggest advantage over the Asus GT-AX11000?

I spent many years without updating myself about routers and ended up becoming obsolete in relation to new technologies and I'm still having a bit of difficulty processing so many new features and innovations that manufacturers promote in their hardware.

[Netduma Fraser]

This blog may help: https://netduma.com/blog/how-to-fix-bufferbloat so our current implementation, Congestion Control & SmartBOOST is literally a form of SQM. The ACC referenced there is what I mentioned we're also working on that goes beyond this. 

As before, the fact you have a whole connection I assume purely dedicated to gaming even further reduces your need for QoS/SQM as that's only working on your side of the router to reduce bufferbloat/lag etc but with literally an entire connection just for gaming it really isn't needed. So if that is correct then the R3 would be the one to get with the idea that ACC will be more useful for you in the future.

[Iced Soul]

On 9/9/2025 at 12:23 PM, Netduma Fraser said:

This blog may help: https://netduma.com/blog/how-to-fix-bufferbloat so our current implementation, Congestion Control & SmartBOOST is literally a form of SQM. The ACC referenced there is what I mentioned we're also working on that goes beyond this. 

As before, the fact you have a whole connection I assume purely dedicated to gaming even further reduces your need for QoS/SQM as that's only working on your side of the router to reduce bufferbloat/lag etc but with literally an entire connection just for gaming it really isn't needed. So if that is correct then the R3 would be the one to get with the idea that ACC will be more useful for you in the future.

Well, I'm having problems with buffer bloat after moving to a state far from the COD servers. In waveform tests, I'm experiencing 10 to 15ms of jitter during peak hours, after 5 PM. This only stopped happening after I moved. And since I sold my R1, I don't know if it's something other than buffer bloat.

I don't know if it's my biggest problem, but in Black Ops 6, my controller has been feeling heavy, slow, lethargic, and unresponsive.

[Netduma Fraser]

38 minutes ago, Iced Soul said:

Well, I'm having problems with buffer bloat after moving to a state far from the COD servers. In waveform tests, I'm experiencing 10 to 15ms of jitter during peak hours, after 5 PM. This only stopped happening after I moved. And since I sold my R1, I don't know if it's something other than buffer bloat.

I don't know if it's my biggest problem, but in Black Ops 6, my controller has been feeling heavy, slow, lethargic, and unresponsive.

If that's with just the one device on the network then it's peak time congestion, nothing to be done on your side. What ping do you get to the game on average?

[Iced Soul]

1 hour ago, Netduma Fraser said:

If that's with just the one device on the network then it's peak time congestion, nothing to be done on your side. What ping do you get to the game on average?

So, I'm using the QoS of a TP-Link AX5400, and it's improved considerably, but it's not perfect. I also use Exitlag.

I'm getting between 45 and 50 ping.

[Netduma Fraser]

28 minutes ago, Iced Soul said:

So, I'm using the QoS of a TP-Link AX5400, and it's improved considerably, but it's not perfect. I also use Exitlag.

I'm getting between 45 and 50 ping.

You're using it with 1 device only? Exitlag may improve the routing to the game servers if your routing is less than optimal. That's a fairly high ping, where abouts are you located?

[Iced Soul]

23 hours ago, Netduma Fraser said:

You're using it with 1 device only? Exitlag may improve the routing to the game servers if your routing is less than optimal. That's a fairly high ping, where abouts are you located?

Only my PC. I'm in Brazil, 1,300 miles from the server.

[Iced Soul]

I'd also like to ask if the Netduma R2 has the same SQM, ping reduction, and optimization features as the R3.

Geo-Filter 2.0, Ping Heatmap, and Hybrid VPN are unnecessary for me.

I'm asking because I just found a Netduma R2 for sale near me.

[Netduma Fraser]

Okay that would explain that ping then, I still don't believe you need it for SQM but yes it does have the same implementation as the R3 currently although in Early Access though you can try pre DumaOS 4 but you won't get many more updates for that router.

[Iced Soul]

3 hours ago, Netduma Fraser said:

Okay that would explain that ping then, I still don't believe you need it for SQM but yes it does have the same implementation as the R3 currently although in Early Access though you can try pre DumaOS 4 but you won't get many more updates for that router.

Sorry I don't understand, but could you explain what you meant by "I still don't believe you need it for SQM?"

Wouldn't that be the most important feature to eliminate the feeling of my mouse feeling heavy, lethargic, and unresponsive in Black Ops 6?

[Netduma Fraser]

7 minutes ago, Iced Soul said:

Sorry I don't understand, but could you explain what you meant by "I still don't believe you need it for SQM?"

Wouldn't that be the most important feature to eliminate the feeling of my mouse feeling heavy, lethargic, and unresponsive in Black Ops 6?

You have 1 device using a dedicated internet connection. Smart Queue Management does just that, it manages network queues, with just one device being used there is no network queue, there is just 1 'lane' and the gaming device is in it, nothing for it to get stuck behind. Its very unlikely that would eliminate those feelings in BO6, it's more likely your distance/routing to the game server.

[Iced Soul]

1 hour ago, Netduma Fraser said:

You have 1 device using a dedicated internet connection. Smart Queue Management does just that, it manages network queues, with just one device being used there is no network queue, there is just 1 'lane' and the gaming device is in it, nothing for it to get stuck behind. Its very unlikely that would eliminate those feelings in BO6, it's more likely your distance/routing to the game server.

So, I just bought the Netduma R3. However, after your explanation, allow me to contextualize my reading of the entire situation.

When I run the bufferbloat test on waveform.com before 5 PM, I get very good results, with less than 4 ms of latency and about 8 ms of jitter. After 5 PM, I get a result with 10-15 ms of jitter, plus an increase in download latency of about 14 ms and 10 ms of upload latency.

Won't the Duma R3 help me get results as good as the previous 5 PM result after 5 PM?

Did I waste my money? 😔

I'm referring to the waveform bufferbloat test, because when the test gives very good results, close to zero, I have very satisfactory gameplay.

[Krush]

Si ton FAI a de la congestion aux heures de pointes... Tu ne peux pas faire grand chose, le QoS est géré en Local pas en Amont de ton FAI !

Si tu as plusieurs lignes à disposition.. le mieux est d'utiliser celle qui n'a pas de congestion aux heures de pointes pour le jeux !!!!

 

[Netduma Fraser]

45 minutes ago, Iced Soul said:

So, I just bought the Netduma R3. However, after your explanation, allow me to contextualize my reading of the entire situation.

When I run the bufferbloat test on waveform.com before 5 PM, I get very good results, with less than 4 ms of latency and about 8 ms of jitter. After 5 PM, I get a result with 10-15 ms of jitter, plus an increase in download latency of about 14 ms and 10 ms of upload latency.

Won't the Duma R3 help me get results as good as the previous 5 PM result after 5 PM?

Did I waste my money? 😔

I'm referring to the waveform bufferbloat test, because when the test gives very good results, close to zero, I have very satisfactory gameplay.

As I mentioned before that is peak time congestion from your ISP, nothing has changed on your side when that happens so there is nothing you can do on your side at that time. When ACC is available for the R3 it may help with that but I can't guarantee it. 

[Iced Soul]

On 9/10/2025 at 3:33 PM, Netduma Fraser said:

As I mentioned before that is peak time congestion from your ISP, nothing has changed on your side when that happens so there is nothing you can do on your side at that time. When ACC is available for the R3 it may help with that but I can't guarantee it. 

 

 

On 9/10/2025 at 2:57 PM, Krush said:

Si ton FAI a de la congestion aux heures de pointes... Tu ne peux pas faire grand chose, le QoS est géré en Local pas en Amont de ton FAI !

Si tu as plusieurs lignes à disposition.. le mieux est d'utiliser celle qui n'a pas de congestion aux heures de pointes pour le jeux !!!!

 

 

Hello. I had to travel and couldn't reply.

My Netduma R3 hasn't arrived yet. It will probably arrive tomorrow.

Considering what you said, I want to report a peculiarity. Regardless of the time I play, my gameplay is better with QoS enabled on my current router, which is an AX5400, even if I'm the only one connected to the network.

What exactly is this ACC?

[Netduma Fraser]

ACC is mentioned in that link I provided but we haven't provided any more information about it just yet. You can enter the poll here to be in with a chance to test it early on if you fulfil the requirements for this early test: https://forum.netduma.com/topic/60353-answer-this-topic-to-be-in-with-the-chance-to-beta-test-a-firmware-with-new-features/

 

[Greg_lino]

On 9/17/2025 at 12:38 PM, Iced Soul said:

 

Hello. I had to travel and couldn't reply.

My Netduma R3 hasn't arrived yet. It will probably arrive tomorrow.

Considering what you said, I want to report a peculiarity. Regardless of the time I play, my gameplay is better with QoS enabled on my current router, which is an AX5400, even if I'm the only one connected to the network.

What exactly is this ACC?

E ai cara, vou mandar a msg inglês. Tmj 

Hey man! I read your posts and I’ll try to help. I also play COD (Warzone) and had a lot of issues with my internet, but I managed to improve it a lot. Went from a 1.3 K/D to 3 in WZ. Hopefully this helps you decide which setup to go for.

 

The Netduma R3 is really good at what it’s made for. The QoS works well and the geofilter is by far the best feature for COD/WZ. But it does have some issues, especially with PPPoE. If your ISP uses PPPoE, keep in mind that the R3 doesn’t handle it well. Here’s what I did to fix my connection:

 

Step 1: Call your ISP and ask for a static or public IP. This takes you out of CGNAT, which usually gets overloaded during peak hours. Just this change alone gave me about 50% improvement.

 

Step 2: Put your ISP’s ONU in bridge mode and let the Netduma handle the whole network (QoS, packets, IPs). This gave me another 20% improvement.

 

Step 3: Swap your onboard NIC for a PCIe card with the Intel i226-V chip. Highly recommend it! Even footstep audio got cleaner. This chip avoids micro-delays and improves reg hit. I’d say around 15% improvement here.

 

Step 4: Replace the ISP’s ONU with a switch that has an SFP port. This improves the network infrastructure and also solves the PPPoE problem with the Netduma, since the PPPoE dial-up is handled by the switch, leaving the R3 only with QoS and traffic management.

👉 But keep in mind: depending on your ISP, this swap is pretty technical, so I only recommend it if you already have some networking knowledge. For me, it added another 10% improvement.

The rest is just using quality cables and optimizing your PC.

 

Overall, I do recommend the Netduma R3. It still has things to improve, but it offers some great features.

[Iced Soul]

9 hours ago, Greg_lino said:

E ai cara, vou mandar a msg inglês. Tmj 

Hey man! I read your posts and I’ll try to help. I also play COD (Warzone) and had a lot of issues with my internet, but I managed to improve it a lot. Went from a 1.3 K/D to 3 in WZ. Hopefully this helps you decide which setup to go for.

 

The Netduma R3 is really good at what it’s made for. The QoS works well and the geofilter is by far the best feature for COD/WZ. But it does have some issues, especially with PPPoE. If your ISP uses PPPoE, keep in mind that the R3 doesn’t handle it well. Here’s what I did to fix my connection:

 

Step 1: Call your ISP and ask for a static or public IP. This takes you out of CGNAT, which usually gets overloaded during peak hours. Just this change alone gave me about 50% improvement.

 

Step 2: Put your ISP’s ONU in bridge mode and let the Netduma handle the whole network (QoS, packets, IPs). This gave me another 20% improvement.

 

Step 3: Swap your onboard NIC for a PCIe card with the Intel i226-V chip. Highly recommend it! Even footstep audio got cleaner. This chip avoids micro-delays and improves reg hit. I’d say around 15% improvement here.

 

Step 4: Replace the ISP’s ONU with a switch that has an SFP port. This improves the network infrastructure and also solves the PPPoE problem with the Netduma, since the PPPoE dial-up is handled by the switch, leaving the R3 only with QoS and traffic management.

👉 But keep in mind: depending on your ISP, this swap is pretty technical, so I only recommend it if you already have some networking knowledge. For me, it added another 10% improvement.

The rest is just using quality cables and optimizing your PC.

 

Overall, I do recommend the Netduma R3. It still has things to improve, but it offers some great features.

Fala, meu querido!

Muito obrigado pela disposição em me ajudar com tantas dicas, muitas inéditas pra mim. Vou te dar um toque por mp, ok?

[Greg_lino]

4 minutes ago, Iced Soul said:

Fala, meu querido!

Muito obrigado pela disposição em me ajudar com tantas dicas, muitas inéditas pra mim. Vou te dar um toque por mp, ok?

Fique a vontade 

[Iced Soul]

27 minutes ago, Greg_lino said:

Fique a vontade 

Enviei

[KinGzzy]

On 9/20/2025 at 7:12 AM, Greg_lino said:

E ai cara, vou mandar a msg inglês. Tmj 

Hey man! I read your posts and I’ll try to help. I also play COD (Warzone) and had a lot of issues with my internet, but I managed to improve it a lot. Went from a 1.3 K/D to 3 in WZ. Hopefully this helps you decide which setup to go for.

 

The Netduma R3 is really good at what it’s made for. The QoS works well and the geofilter is by far the best feature for COD/WZ. But it does have some issues, especially with PPPoE. If your ISP uses PPPoE, keep in mind that the R3 doesn’t handle it well. Here’s what I did to fix my connection:

 

Step 1: Call your ISP and ask for a static or public IP. This takes you out of CGNAT, which usually gets overloaded during peak hours. Just this change alone gave me about 50% improvement.

 

Step 2: Put your ISP’s ONU in bridge mode and let the Netduma handle the whole network (QoS, packets, IPs). This gave me another 20% improvement.

 

Step 3: Swap your onboard NIC for a PCIe card with the Intel i226-V chip. Highly recommend it! Even footstep audio got cleaner. This chip avoids micro-delays and improves reg hit. I’d say around 15% improvement here.

 

Step 4: Replace the ISP’s ONU with a switch that has an SFP port. This improves the network infrastructure and also solves the PPPoE problem with the Netduma, since the PPPoE dial-up is handled by the switch, leaving the R3 only with QoS and traffic management.

👉 But keep in mind: depending on your ISP, this swap is pretty technical, so I only recommend it if you already have some networking knowledge. For me, it added another 10% improvement.

The rest is just using quality cables and optimizing your PC.

 

Overall, I do recommend the Netduma R3. It still has things to improve, but it offers some great features.

Bullpoopy don't listen to this advice, you'll waste money for nothing... Do you even know what QOS is?
1: Prioritize traffic
2: Distribute bandwidth fairly
3: Guarantee performance levels
4: Ensure reliability for critical services
You only have one PC with an internet connection, a QOS won't do you much good.

[Greg_lino]

1 hour ago, KinGzzy said:

Bullpoopy don't listen to this advice, you'll waste money for nothing... Do you even know what QOS is?
1: Prioritize traffic
2: Distribute bandwidth fairly
3: Guarantee performance levels
4: Ensure reliability for critical services
You only have one PC with an internet connection, a QOS won't do you much good.

Bullpoopy? My K/D went from 1.3 to 3 after fixing my connection. The R3 isn’t perfect, but QoS + geofilter do work. I also mentioned other relevant stuff in the process. Not a waste of money for me. Don’t do what I did and use the Netduma in PPPoE — that’s nonsense and actually a waste of money!

[KinGzzy]

53 minutes ago, Greg_lino said:

Bullpoopy ? Mon K/D est passé de 1,3 à 3 après avoir réparé ma connexion. Le R3 n’est pas parfait, mais QoS + géofiltre fonctionnent. J’ai également mentionné d’autres choses pertinentes dans le processus. Ce n’est pas une perte d’argent pour moi. Ne faites pas ce que j’ai fait et n’utilisez pas le Netduma dans le PPPoE – c’est un non-sens et en fait un gaspillage d’argent !

Okay, let's admit that what you say is "true." Explain to us why it's better.
Why an Intel card and not Marvel, for example?
Why SFP? SFP+ RJ45/FIBER.
Which L2/L3 switch should you choose and why does it improve your network?
Why do you get better sound when you change your network card?
What is bridge mode and why should you enable it? And if you don't have one, what should you do?