Question – Bufferbloat

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Hi,

Not sure if this is the right forum for this question, but here goes. I have been reading lately about bufferbloat slowing down internet access. I ran several tests and all got a failing grade. I am connected to the Internet via 4G LTE throuth a Huawei B315. Normally downloads are 9Mb speed but it goes down to 1 to 3 in times of high community utilization (evenings, streaming). I posted a question to Reddit and they said to daisy chain another router on the LAN side of the B315 to improve the bufferbloat. Can anyone explain why this will work?

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That is probably not buffer bloat, but over utilization at peak times. Not much you can do except change provider.

cheers, Paul

p.s. please post a link to your reddit post so we can avoid duplicated effort – someone may already have answered your question.

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HI Paul,

Sorry I was not clear in my original post. I was not equating the evening slowdown to bufferbloat, that was only reference info. I get the “failing” grades for bufferbloat in the best of times.Hoping to improve my daytime performance, and accepting there’s nothing to be done about evening streaming until Starlink comes here. Scheduled for 2023 now.

Here’s a link to the reddit post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/sh5imq/bufferbloat_on_4g_lte/

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I tested my PC and the results are here: https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat?test-id=d59c6938-ff56-4b27-8748-75bcce7c2d2c
What does your system produce?

I think the suggestion of another router is to allow you to use SQM (cake), but this may not help if the 4G router is the problem. To find out you need to run a tracert while performing a download – this will show where the ping latency occurs.

cheers, Paul

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Thanks for that, Paul. Here’s my result:

https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat?test-id=499255df-ead5-4d81-ab0a-7c73192afd1f

Not a computer novice, but not an expert either. It has been (many) decades since my awk, sed and grep days, so can you explain in more detail how  to run a tracert while performing a download? Thanks!

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Ouch, 1.2 second latency is not good at all.

Open a DOS box and enter this command: tracert google.com
You will see a list of hops all the way to Google with response times for each hop.

Now start a large download / stream and while it is running enter the tracert command again. Where the response times suddenly jump is the source of the bottleneck.

If the issue is your router then you may need to have a word to your ISP / router supplier.

cheers, Paul

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First no other activity, second with youtube stream. Not sure I detect a difference but you may understand better.

 

Tracing route to google.com [142.250.65.78]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.8.1
2 384 ms * 355 ms 172.18.174.142
3 1142 ms 1361 ms 49 ms 172.18.174.141
4 1210 ms 33 ms 30 ms 172.18.178.18
5 71 ms 70 ms 57 ms 172.18.254.228
6 75 ms 58 ms 57 ms 172.18.254.17
7 56 ms 71 ms 55 ms 172.31.13.41
8 1377 ms 59 ms 84 ms 63.143.80.9
9 1039 ms 135 ms 126 ms 66.54.127.167
10 519 ms 509 ms 715 ms 108.170.229.38
11 887 ms 104 ms 107 ms 108.170.249.30
12 122 ms 104 ms 101 ms 142.250.213.55
13 138 ms 109 ms 122 ms 142.250.61.154
14 123 ms 114 ms 109 ms 142.250.213.67
15 539 ms 121 ms 119 ms 142.250.236.136
16 113 ms 116 ms 108 ms 142.251.49.72
17 639 ms 495 ms 400 ms 108.170.246.33
18 845 ms 209 ms 117 ms 142.251.52.63
19 105 ms 106 ms 121 ms iad23s91-in-f14.1e100.net [142.250.65.78]

Trace complete.

C:\Users\xxxx>tracert -4 google.com

Tracing route to google.com [142.250.65.78]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1326 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.8.1
2 52 ms * 64 ms 172.18.174.142
3 50 ms 29 ms 27 ms 172.18.174.141
4 31 ms 36 ms 48 ms 172.18.178.18
5 55 ms 54 ms 76 ms 172.18.254.228
6 53 ms 73 ms 62 ms 172.18.254.17
7 70 ms 58 ms 56 ms 172.31.13.41
8 1130 ms 248 ms 262 ms 63.143.80.9
9 119 ms 103 ms 106 ms 66.54.127.167
10 120 ms 105 ms 106 ms 108.170.229.38
11 107 ms 103 ms 110 ms 108.170.249.30
12 114 ms 102 ms 107 ms 142.250.213.55
13 234 ms 103 ms 106 ms 142.250.61.154
14 370 ms 141 ms 115 ms 142.250.213.67
15 449 ms 101 ms 106 ms 142.250.236.136
16 1096 ms 119 ms 105 ms 142.251.49.72
17 104 ms 105 ms 101 ms 108.170.246.33
18 1323 ms 120 ms 117 ms 142.251.52.63
19 129 ms 101 ms 108 ms iad23s91-in-f14.1e100.net [142.250.65.78]

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Hop 1 (your router) goes from 1ms no load to 1300ms under load. Assuming this is consistent – check by repeating the tracert several times during download – then your router does suffer from buffer bloat.

This may be a factor associated with being a mobile network connected router as you need to make up for poor signal.
You could try relocating the router to get better reception. Make sure it is away from other phones as well.

cheers, Paul

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I routinely get 2 – 3 seconds latency (loaded) on my 4G LTE home internet service, so as you can imaging my bufferbloat performance is terrible. Would a WiFi extender be available with SQM or CAKE that I could install, instead of a new router? They seem much less expensive and I could disable the WiFi on the existing one.

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I suspect it’s the nature of the service – being wireless to your router. Changing router may help, changing provider may help, adding a wifi extender will not – the issue is at the router ISP boundary.

What does your provider say about the issue?

cheers, Paul

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The ISP sent me a new router, finally, but no change in performance. Just a slightly newer model of the same manufacturer (Huawei B311 this time). There is no other wireless provider here, only other options is wired DSL. Provider is not knowledgable about technical things and has nothing to say about latency or bufferbloat.  Hoping that starlink comes here soon.

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DaveBoston wrote:

Hoping that starlink comes here soon.

And that it doesn’t have the same issue and doesn’t cost a fortune!

cheers, Paul

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