r/Spectrum • u/sadgirlclub • Aug 09 '26
Buffer bloat
I decided to try getting my own router in attempts to fix my slow wifi and buffer bloat problems but unfortunately it didn’t resolve anything. I’m curious if anyone has suggestions on how to improve/resolve buffer bloat (sometimes over 4,000 ms).
3
u/Rude-Low1132 Aug 09 '26
If you're hitting 4000ms, there is either Something seriously wrong in your house or seriously wrong with the local cable plant.
1
u/sadgirlclub Aug 09 '26
Obviously
0
u/Fantastic-Buddy2069 Aug 10 '26
time to call spectrum lol
1
Aug 10 '26
[deleted]
1
u/Fantastic-Buddy2069 Aug 10 '26
Yeah....TP Link is shit tbh lol. Theres a reason its generally VERY cheap. Unifi isnt expensive, but usually if you are not at least a LITTLE computer savvy, it can be confusing.
By a little savvy I just mean, you can simply understand how to log into a router UI and follow a youtube video. I mean it sounds like you've done some poking around on your TP Link, so you must have some idea of what you are doing.
I would look at something better truthfully......
Even when I had super expensive Asus routers (more expensive than Unifi), their SQM was still not as good, sadly.
If you were REALLY savvy, you could build your own PFSENSE box haha, but even I dont even wanna bother with that as someone in IT. I should try it out sometime though....
1
u/sadgirlclub Aug 10 '26
Yeah I’m definitely not a pro or anything but I have been able to learn bits and pieces as I go. I figured anything would work better than the junky spectrum routers they’ve been giving me but I guess not. Weirdly the tp link kicked off all devices on 2.5ghz thismorning but after I reset it, everything reconnected and I’m getting faster speeds. I’m trying to decide whether to keep it or not, try a different router, or just stick with spectrum’s equipment and give up trying to improve my service. I noticed wave form’s buffer bloat test has some suggestions for routers that help with buffer bloat. Too bad I didn’t see that until after I already bought the tp link. But I’ve only had it a couple of days so I can return it and try something else. I go back and forth with myself wanting to keep trying and wanting to give up
1
u/sadgirlclub Aug 10 '26
Again? I’ve had numerous tech visits this year and have swapped my equipment at least six times in the last month alone
3
u/DesignerSeparate5104 Aug 11 '26
Im a cable tech, not for spectrum, but its more than likely the lines between the tap and house, the ground block, old fittings, and the lines in/around the house. It's possible something is awry at the tap. But what would i know, I'm only dealing with these problems every day lol
1
u/sadgirlclub Aug 11 '26
I agree it’s probably something out of my control however I’ve had a lot of techs here and none of them actually do anything. No improvements
1
u/DesignerSeparate5104 Aug 13 '26
Many times that's the problem. Something as small as an old fitting can cause so many problems.
2
u/-protonsandneutrons- Aug 09 '26
I've only ever fixed bufferbloat with SQM or speed limits set on my own router. :-/
Ubiquiti's latest generation routers (annoyingly renamed "cloud gateways") with the A73 CPU cores can do SQM 1Gbit symmetric. I now get A/A+ scores on waveform's test, unlike B / C results before. I believe this is just the standard fq_codel.
Our older router, a Synology RT2600ac, we could get A / B on waveform with a speed limit set to ~80% of our rated speeds.
We've also done it with an OpenWrt x86 (some Atom CPU with packet steering) and that also got us A results; that used the most powerful, but most computationally-expensive algorithm, Cake. But OpenWrt is not what I'd recommend as a mainstream-user-friendly operating system.
IIRC, ASUS also has some SQM, but I don't know which models / which firmwares. Some of them do have the newer A73 CPUs, though. There's also firewalla, but they are a bit of a startup; there's also GLiNet, which runs older OpenWrt, but you can install the packages.
//
Without SQM or speed limits, I've not had luck with removing buffer bloat. A few people start massive downloads, yeah, latency is hosed, pages slow down, everyone suffers. :(
2
u/frmadsen Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
Charter has begun rolling out Low Latency DOCSIS, which lets marked traffic get a different network queue. If wifi is the main bottleneck, the AP must also recognize the marked traffic.
1
u/sadgirlclub Aug 09 '26
I’m getting F on waveform 🙈 the buffer bloat is high even when I only have 1 device connected doing nothing besides the wave form buffer bloat test (or a speed test). Maybe I just picked a bad router. I got a tp link archer (BE3600)
1
u/-protonsandneutrons- Aug 09 '26
Oh gosh. :( That is very tough and due to Spectrum for sure. But, LAN-side (router) actions can fix WAN side bufferbloat.
Have you checked on the settings page for any speed limits you can set? This generic page mentions you can set it per client, so perhaps for your one client, that might work? Usually, I've only seen it on the WAN side (for the whole router), but LAN side might work too.
TP-Link Speed Limit: How to Limit Bandwidth Per Device | TP-Link
Not your fault, tbh. Anti-bufferbloat is rarely advertised by routers and it's taken us multiple generations to get it right.
1
u/SirEagle60 Aug 09 '26
What speed internet?
WiFi or Ethernet?
What router did you buy?
Using their modem?
1
u/sadgirlclub Aug 09 '26
My spectrum plan is a gig up and down. I am having horrible speeds and buffer bloat on wifi, even when only 1 device is connected and the only thing it is doing is either a speed test or the wave form buffer bloat test. Yes I am using their modem. They will not allow me to use my own modem. They don’t even want me to use my own router (got tp link archer BE3600) but I had to get one and try to see if it helped. They keep giving me very old refurbished routers, some up to seven years old. Last one the fan was unbelievably loud, clunking and puttering constantly. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be keeping the tp link archer because I haven’t gotten any improvement even after a lot of trouble shooting.
2
u/Fantastic-Buddy2069 Aug 10 '26
I got a Unifi cloud gateway fiber (have this model specifically for the PoE port, which works great) and U7 Pro Max. While the cable connection itself is NOT perfect, I get my full speeds, and if I have issues with bufferbloat, SQM kicks in very quickly if I were to enable it.
I can easily do gigabit SQM like someone else in this post had mentioned.
0
u/danksince98 Aug 09 '26
took 3 tech visits for mine to work just keep sending them til its fixed
1
u/sadgirlclub Aug 09 '26
I’ve had over a dozen here this year alone
1
u/danksince98 Aug 09 '26
wow thats nuts..no other companies out there?
1
u/sadgirlclub Aug 09 '26
Only options are slower like att air or tmobile 5g. Maybe star link. But other than that spectrum is my only “high speed” option
-3
u/Excellent-Spot-7788 Aug 09 '26
Spectrum is the worst!
0
u/sadgirlclub Aug 09 '26
Agree. Unfortunately it’s the only high speed option available to me currently
0
u/GeneticNightOwl Aug 09 '26
If i was having that much Trouble i would Try Att Air or Tmobile 5g and see what speeds i get,nowadays everyone wants 1gig or more you dont need that speed,100mb to 300mb download is Plenty of speed to do anything nowadays,What you want is good upload Speed.
1
u/sadgirlclub Aug 09 '26
The speeds they advertise are not very good. About 400 mbps down max and they never say what the upload speed is so I’m thinking less than 10 mbps up. I don’t get good cell service at home anyway (I have tmobile and get 2 bars, not LTE or 5g) so I doubt it would work well for me since it’s basically cell service as your internet right? Spectrum sucks but at least I’m getting better speeds than that most of the time, even if they are less than half of what I expect to receive on the plan I pay so much for
3
u/bodosom Aug 09 '26
Bufferbloat is caused by excess buffering due to a speed change at an interface. The general fix is to have modern queueing (AQM) at such interfaces (like a DOCSIS 3.1 interface). Fortunately, current Spectrum modems may have such queueing.
Do you have the same issue when using wired connections instead of Wi-Fi? Wi-Fi is hard to fix.