Forum Discussion

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-Wireles...

schumaku

Guru - Experienced User

Jun 28, 2023

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:

Wireless AC Router Nighthawk (9)

R6700

R6700v2

R6900

R6900P

R7000

R7000P

R7500

R7500v2

RS400

microchip8

microchip8

TotalTirpitz

TotalTirpitz
Aspirant
Jun 28, 2023
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
  Guru - Experienced User
  Jun 29, 2023
  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.
  - TotalTirpitz
    Aspirant
    Jun 29, 2023
    I've noticed. I also tried the QoS to prioritize it appropriately. But if I'm watching Youtube on a "Highest Priority" I'll lose out to the Xbox "Lowest Priority" for bandwidth allocation. Which is why I point the blame at Microsoft.
    
    Let's not get into politics. My country COULD have had better internet speeds; but that would be Communism so it didn't happen. The internet I have is exactly as you guessed. My ISP options are BT, or a service that relies on BT Infrastructure but charges differently.
    If it helps. I'm on Anglesey, Wales, UK. There's meant to be Fiber optic running through from Ireland but I don't get that.
    The super Router was to try and fix these kinds of problems. One) IF the internet ever did get upgraded it would manage it no problems. Two) I assumed a commerical setting would have this kind of problem and have tools/methods to resolve it.