the ultimate 4G LTE tragedy

[mozamcrew]

I have two boys who online game at the same time. Add to that a couple of their friends who bring their laptops over so they can all play together. That is really nothing new in our house though. Friends with Ipod Touchs, DSs, phones and laptops. The guest network password is posted on the fridge.

 

A few months ago the boys started complaining. It was a while before I took them seriously. Then I noticed the lag in loading web pages when they were both playing. I know I said I read Comcast is increasing the performance from 15 down but I think in our area we had 12/2.

 

 

Part of the problem might be "buffer bloat". Instead of dropping packets, and thus throttling back on upload or download speed,  in a timely manner so devices share the internet equally, router buffers fill up in increase latency before dropping packets. Thus things like Skype or web surfing, where latency is more important that having a LOT of bandwidth.

[dmaxx67]

DDWRT does wonders to the routers it supports. Been running it for 4 years now and it has served me very well with all its customization options and reliability it offers.

[Ascertion]

OK...I've got PayPal donate up! Just need to do some format tweaking.

Is it worth flashing onto my wrt-610N router? Been considering it for awhile. Stock firmware sucks.

[WiWavelength]

 

OK...I've got PayPal donate up! Just need to do some format tweaking.

Is it worth flashing onto my wrt-610N router? Been considering it for awhile. Stock firmware sucks.

 

You want to flash PayPal onto your router???

 

(Next time, you might not want to quote a completely unrelated, year and a half old post.)

 

 

AJ

[Ascertion]

OK...I've got PayPal donate up! Just need to do some format tweaking.

Is it worth flashing onto my wrt-610N router? Been considering it for awhile. Stock firmware sucks.

You want to flash PayPal onto your router???

 

(Next time, you might not want to quote a completely unrelated, year and a half old post.)

 

 

AJ

I swear I quoted the ddwrt post above me! Tapatalk is at it again!

[bobbi]

Part of the problem might be "buffer bloat". Instead of dropping packets, and thus throttling back on upload or download speed,  in a timely manner so devices share the internet equally, router buffers fill up in increase latency before dropping packets. Thus things like Skype or web surfing, where latency is more important that having a LOT of bandwidth.

 

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind if we have issues in the future.

 

Since I switched everything is fine. Plus my bill is less, can't complain.

[dmaxx67]

Yea i install ddwrt on every router I buy. More stable and less issues.

[cardboardbox]

I almost never get LTE in a place that I want it. It works on the 2nd floor of my house but not first. It doesnt work at any family or friends houses. It rarely works when I'm out anywhere and especially not when I need a fast data connection. It does work on most freeways and at the gym I go to.

 

sigh

 

This is in Houston.

[bumonbox]

I'm just curious because I have 30/30 now I believe, and my Xbox experience is still the same. I just question at what point does speed become a marketing tool?

 

Check that, it already is.

 

Yeah. I get 3 mbps down, 768k up.  Mind you, I live in the country, so I am glad I've got DSL at all.  But I really do chuckle when I see these numbers tossed around.  For MOST users, I doubt that they'd notice a difference between 3 mbps and 30 for most regular things.   Now, downloading, streaming or running servers?  I can stream on 3 just fine, in fact, I can run 2 devices streaming simultaneously (yes there is a drop in quality, but it works).  What I can't do - stream HD.  

 

Overall, I'd say 3 mbps is sufficient to be comfortable.  10 mbps is enough for most of what people actually do, when I still lived in the burbs, 10 got me HD streaming easy.  Beyond that, it quickly becomes just a number.  Worse yet, it's not actually there for most people.  The upside of DSL is I get 3 mbps at all times of the day, I run a speed test, I will see that speed, and it will never change.  When I had 10 mbps on cable, it was not uncommon to see it drop severely, to less than 5.   So here is what is important for sprint.  Offer usable and consistant 5 mbps and over, with good response, the average user won't notice the difference.  Screw marketing, in fact I think word of mouth when it comes to usability on a local level has more sway.  If sprint user's get to keep talking about how their phone is always fast, the VZW user on the network offering peak 20 mbps, that is sometimes slow will take notice.  

 

Peak bandwidth is a joke.  Focus on the everyday.  Most user's do nothing more than browse and stream, they really don't need much.  (Although cloud computing will begin to have an increased impact on that)