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TotalTirpitz's avatar
TotalTirpitz
Aspirant
Jun 28, 2023

Is my router broken?

Router is a Essentials WiFi 6 (WAX204) 
Main problem is QoS interacting with an Xbox

previous posts if you need a breakdown of the setup/specs

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Business-Wireless/Limiting-bandwidth/m-p/2306748#M10744

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-with-WiFi-6-AX-and/Throttle-Bandwidth/m-p/2299873#M32304

I've tried limiting the Qos priority. There's no bandwidth limit on the Xbox side. And the metering and limiting I can find is just for the whole network not a specific device.

Looking on Xbox forums Microsoft allocates a set minimum download speed for multiplayer consistency. However, the Xbox user doesn't play online and is only downloading games in the background. As the Xbox is trying to stay up to do date it uses the whole household internet. My guess being that microsofts minimum allocation is higher then the amount we get. I'm 100% sure there is a solution that doesn't involve replacing my router with one with working QoS it must be my error.

I'm at my witts end with this thing. It'll just start downloading and kick me out of whatever I'm doing, and there's nothing I can do.
Been posting this same problem every few weeks and I'm no closer to a solution.

 

6 Replies

  • schumaku's avatar
    schumaku
    Guru - Experienced User

    TotalTirpitz> Main problem is QoS interacting with an Xbox

     

    I don't think so.

     

    To start with, what is the bandwidth available on the router Internet connection, based on what the router Speedtest discovered, and/or based on what you subscribe from the ISP?

     

    Download Speed (Mbps) field, Internet download speed in Mbps. decimal numbers.
    Upload Speed (Mbps) field, Internet upload speed in Mbps. decimal numbers.

     

    From the practical experience, we know that the auto-magic performance optimization database is not very effective on high bandwidth connections. 

     

    On the other side, we only have the WiFi Multimedia (WMM) , making it possible qualify WMM data where WMM data is available on the WiFi client. Time-dependent information
    such as video or audio is given higher priority than normal traffic. For WMM to function
    correctly, WiFi clients must also support WMM. By enabling WMM, you allow WMM to control upstream traffic flowing from WiFi devices to the access point and downstream
    traffic flowing from the access point to WiFi devices. WMM defines the following four
    queues in decreasing order of priority:

    This does not bring the guarantee for other traffic than the download (Internet->LAN) direction.

     

    Certainly, an ongoing download from a good source like Microsoft's distribution platform must not block or kill concurrent download, like simple web page traffic for example.
    Been posting this same problem every few weeks and I'm no closer to a solution.


    This won't bring you forward at all. As  mentioned in March already: 


    microchip8 wrote:
    You cannot manually set a max/fixed bandwidth per device on NETGEAR firmware. QoS is as best as you can get

    A fixed/reserved IP does not have influence on bandwidth, unless you use some tool to set bandwidth for a specific IP, which can't be done on NG firmware.
    This is correct - all what is available.

     

    The How do I set up a Quality of Service (QoS) policy for a MAC address on my Nighthawk router? is definitively not applicable to this WAX204 as the reference says:

    This article applies to:

    microchip8

    microchip8

    TotalTirpitz
    • TotalTirpitz's avatar
      TotalTirpitz
      Aspirant

       Great

      So with a test right now

      This is the upper limit. No other users, just the speedtest. No risk of that being the problem.

      "Microsoft's distribution platform must not block or kill concurrent download" But that does seem to be what's happening. Best as we've figured.
      "This won't bring you forward at all. As mentioned in March already:" So I really am shaffted there's nothing i can do about it. Whenever Microsoft wants to use my internet they can. And there's nothing I can do with the hardware or software to change that?

      • schumaku's avatar
        schumaku
        Guru - Experienced User
        Microsoft does not use your Internet connection. It's your Xbox downloading whatever games or related data.

        This can and will slow down other concurrent Internet usage, being for surfing the www, access email, or grind this to a halt.

        Sure, your Internet connection isn't a speed king for whatever reason, and does hardly compare to these symmetric 1 Gbit/s or the possible 10 Gbit/s connections some 80% of the population here in Switzerland has access to.

        What is your ISP, your home location, and how is it connected to the world? The numbers let me believe it is a two wire, former telephone only link. And the cable must be long or of limited quality for data usage.

        Not much even a fancy latest and greatest gaming router can change there.

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