Netduma R3 Feels Underwhelming – What Am I Doing Wrong?

[RiSK]

Hi,

I’ve been using the Netduma R3 for about a year and a half, but I feel like I’m not fully taking advantage of it or setting it up properly.

My current setup:

• Fiber modem is set to Bridge mode
• DMZ is enabled to the Netduma R3
• The only device connected to the R3 is my PC
• Geo-Filter is enabled and in use
• UPnP is enabled

Despite this, I feel like I’m not getting the best possible performance.

My questions:

• Are there any essential settings I’m missing besides Bridge mode and DMZ?
• What’s the best way to configure Congestion Control?
• Is SmartBOOST useful, and what are the recommended settings?
• Are there any commonly overlooked settings that could improve performance?

I’d appreciate any guidance on how to fully optimize the R3.

Thanks.

[Netduma Fraser]

Just to clarify, you said your modem is in bridge mode and the R3 is in its DMZ - it can only be one or the other, which one are you using? By the only device being connected to the R3 is the PC do you mean you have no other devices in your home using internet or that they are connected to a different router? If the latter could you explain how they fit into the network please. How have you enabled the Geo-Filter exactly? 

Currently you're not using Congestion Control with it set to 100 so that won't be helping. Try with 70% and experiment from there to find what percentages work best for you. You've reserved bandwidth for certain games (gaming barely uses any bandwidth so 40Mbps is overkill and won't get anywhere close to needing that much so you could remove this) but then you haven't prioritized those games. Prioritize Gaming overall so it covers all the games you want to play. Also prioritize the device as well as a backup. Is the PC the risk device? In which case you should absolutely remove the DMZ rule and the port forwarding rules as it's a major security issue for PCs. If it was a console however the port forwarding rules would be unnecessary because its in the DMZ already.

[RiSK]

No, I don’t have other devices heavily using the internet.
My setup is: I have a fiber modem connected to the Netduma R3 using PPPoE. The R3 is used only for my PC.

As for the main fiber router, it only has two iPhones connected to it.
My internet speed is 300 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload.

Regarding the Geo-Filter, since I’m located in Saudi Arabia, the closest server I get is around 20 ms ping. I have enabled Steady Ping and set it up in a simple way like shown in the screenshot.

About Congestion Control, I understand that having it at 100% doesn’t help. I will try setting it to 75% download and 68% upload and see how it performs.

I have already removed the 40 Mbps bandwidth allocation after writing this post, as I’m trying to fully utilize the R3 in the best way possible.

Regarding these two points, I haven’t set them up before, so I would appreciate it if you could explain how to do them, preferably with screenshots:

• Enabling “Prioritize Gaming” globally (so it covers all games)
• Prioritizing my PC as a device as a backup

 

[Netduma Fraser]

So the fiber router connected to the R3? For the Geo-Filter you're covering a huge area so you could be getting servers that are a way higher ping, reduce it so you're covering just the closest server to you. Just on SmartBOOST, add Gaming as the activity, then switch to device on SmartBOOST and select your device.