Can I lower streaming video priority on a WNR1000v3?

[SlowBro]

Is there a setting I can make in my router to either decrease the priority of streaming video or increase the priority of my Citrix remote desktop connection?

I use Citrix remote desktop to the office (ports 80 and 443) which does not require much bandwidth but does require low latency. When test pings to 4.2.2.4 go over 100ms or so I start to notice it, so when the family is watching videos and it goes to 800ms or so I'm hating life. When no videos are playing I usually average 30-40ms to 4.2.2.4.

Netflix is already at the lowest bandwidth selection, 0.3GB/hour. And even that is killing me. But the kids also stream vids from PBSKids.org which has no such bandwidth selection. The wife sometimes streams a series from Vimeo and it's embedded into a web page so I think the bandwidth selection is disabled there?

All this said, it's clear I need to do something to change the priority of streaming video and/or my office connection. I'm going to try upgrading my Comcast connection (currently 3 Mbps, upgrading to 25 Mbps within a day or three, order already placed), is there anything I can do with my router in the interim? I have a WNR1000v3. Connecting using Ethernet, not Wifi. There are QoS settings but are for upstream only. Anyway I've enabled Upstream QoS to no effect. My firmware is the latest, 1.0.2.68_60.0.93NA.

[ElaineM · Accepted solution]

There are no other settings you can adjust aside from using the QoS.

QoS will help you to prioritize which devices/application that needs more attention and that's the only thing it can do.

There is no specific setting in the router that lets you define how much speed should a specific device/application should have.

You may perhaps look into some 3rd party software that would let you configure the settings you require.

[SlowBro]

May need a DD-WRT or similar device to do this. I'm not interested in flashing my Netgear so probably I will stand up a small computer as a pfSense router then turn the Netgear into a switch/AP. That is, if upgrading Comcast to 25 Mbit doesn't do the job, which it may.

Here's what I see with two Netflix streams going, even at the lowest bandwidth:

Reply from 4.2.2.4: bytes=32 time=1498ms TTL=57
Reply from 4.2.2.4: bytes=32 time=1344ms TTL=57
Reply from 4.2.2.4: bytes=32 time=1264ms TTL=57
Reply from 4.2.2.4: bytes=32 time=1824ms TTL=57
Reply from 4.2.2.4: bytes=32 time=2075ms TTL=57

[SlowBro]

Although I'd still like to know if it's possible to do this within the router, the upgrade in speed fixed the problem. It was applied MUCH faster than I anticipated it would be applied. Kids are in the front room watching Netflix and here's my ping times now. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Reply from 4.2.2.4: bytes=32 time=71ms TTL=57
Reply from 4.2.2.4: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=57
Reply from 4.2.2.4: bytes=32 time=52ms TTL=57
Reply from 4.2.2.4: bytes=32 time=29ms TTL=57
Reply from 4.2.2.4: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=57
Reply from 4.2.2.4: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=57
Reply from 4.2.2.4: bytes=32 time=42ms TTL=57
Reply from 4.2.2.4: bytes=32 time=42ms TTL=57

[ElaineM · Accepted solution]

There are no other settings you can adjust aside from using the QoS.

QoS will help you to prioritize which devices/application that needs more attention and that's the only thing it can do.

There is no specific setting in the router that lets you define how much speed should a specific device/application should have.

You may perhaps look into some 3rd party software that would let you configure the settings you require.

[SlowBro]

And the QoS only adjusts the upstream. I'd said above I'll likely use third party software so it looks like that's my only choice.

[ElaineM]

That's right. Best option for you is to look for a 3rd party software that can manage the settings you want.