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Comcast Looking For Bufferbloat Test Volunteers

We've been talking a lot this year about the problem of buffer bloat, or the added latency and jitter in networking gear caused by buffering too much data in denser and higher capacity RAM. This degradation of performance is, of course, something you'll notice we now track in the updated DSLReports speed test. Bufferbloat mitigation techniques involve adjusting a modem’s buffer size to optimize the balance between capacity usage and latency.

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In doing their part, Comcast now says the company is seeking a limited number of participants for a technical trial in which we will test techniques for mitigating bufferbloat and improving performance.

In a post made to our Comcast forum, company VP of Internet Services Jason Livingood notes that the trial will focus on static queue management in the upstream direction, using a specific DOCSIS 3.0 modem.

"Test equipment, a splitter, and a coaxial cable will be provided to participants for the duration of the trial," notes Livingood. "The trial will take place entirely on this dedicated equipment and over a separate Internet connection from a participant’s current Internet connection. It should not affect your normal Internet use and will not count against any usage thresholds that may apply," he adds.

Comcast customers interested in being guinnea pigs in the quest to stamp out bufferbloat should contact the company at bufferbloat@hsdtrials.comcast.net, including your name, service address, and account number.

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Bufferbloat can be minimized using DD-WRT router firmware

If you can't join the Comcast test, you can still do something about bad latency and bufferbloat. You can minimize bufferbloat by using DD-WRT firmware in your home router(many routers supported »www.myopenrouter.com/ ). You do this using the QOS option in the firmware and setting the max download and upload speeds below the rated speed of your internet service. You give up some speed, but get better latency for gamers and for browsing.

Router Name DD-WRT
Router Model Netgear R7000
Firmware Version DD-WRT v24-sp2 (07/01/15) std - build 27261
Kernel Version Linux 3.10.60-rc1 #1 SMP Tue Jun 30 18:03:06 IST 2015 armv7l

An example of bufferbloat test using DD-WRT firmware turned on:
»[Cable Speed test: 116.02/10.34 16 ms]

QOS options used for the Bufferbloat test above: