Any way OTHER THAN QoS/Shaping to Resolve Bufferbloat?

Hi folks:

Yet again, I'm trying to figure out what causes the intermittent VoIP problems I have. My scores on bufferbloat tests are truly awful.

Is there any way to:

1. Diagnose for certain if it is the bufferbloat that's affecting my VoIP functioning

2. IF so, resolve any bufferbloat issues without setting up QoS or other traffic shaping functions.

That's not so much work.

Edited by Shplad, 07 October 2024 - 09:52 AM.

I have found an interesting test that monitors your network's health. It's the VSee Network Stability Test. It's at: bit.ly/vsee . It continually checks the health and has charts to show when packet loss or latency get high

Edited by richb-hanover, 08 October 2024 - 10:00 AM.

My guess, the issue could be with the service provider.  It could also be your computer.  To eleminate other possibilities, disconnect all other Internet devices.  Now, to further narrow the issue further, you need a backup, either another computer than yours (and make sure drivers are up to date), or another VOIP provider.

Thanks. Without meaning to offend, I've done a lot more extensive troubleshooting than that. It occurs with both the phone attached to my ATA, and a PC Softclient, so it's likely network-based.

Googling yields almost no other reports of the same symptoms for my ITSP (VoIP provider).

I believe it's bufferbloat.

Edited by Shplad, 08 October 2024 - 01:14 PM.

To fix a problem, you must first identify it.  My reply may have been "simplistic" in your opinion, but the principles remain.  Is there a minimum network traffic that won't cause VOIP issues?  A strategy you can use is setup a load balancing configuration in your router to allow lots of Ethernet packet to your VOIP device.  If it seems to work, tone your load balancing config down so your other Ethernet devices can have some fun too.

Does your VOIP Provider require any special ports being open on your router?

I didn't see this earlier. Remember Dan, I have attention problems due to my health. No, no special ports to open. Even so, I tried it, and had exactly the same problems. 

To fix a problem, you must first identify it.  My reply may have been "simplistic" in your opinion, but the principles remain.  Is there a minimum network traffic that won't cause VOIP issues?  A strategy you can use is setup a load balancing configuration in your router to allow lots of Ethernet packet to your VOIP device.  If it seems to work, tone your load balancing config down so your other Ethernet devices can have some fun too.

Yes, certainly. However, I don't want to change my router configuration for that. I think it's just time I learned some theory

and how to set up QoS. 

I just did a bufferbloat test and the results were that everything got a checkmark, except under load. The thing is, I rarely use 10% of my bandwidth, and these VoIP problems happen whenever. Something tells me QoS may not fix it. 

Meh, I'll get around to reading about QoS.

Thanks folks.

Edited by Shplad, 08 October 2024 - 05:52 PM.

Does your VOIP Provider require any special ports being open on your router?

 
I didn't see this earlier. Remember Dan, I have attention problems due to my health. No, no special ports to open. Even so, I tried it, and had exactly the same problems. 

Trust me, my router is more than up to the task. It's just me here, and most days I don't even use 10% of my bandwidth. That's one reason I've been reluctant to set up QoS...I don't think it's a bufferbloat problem. Then again, I've tried dozens of other things and nothing's worked completely. 

Asus RT-AC68U.
 
CPU1: Broadcom BCM4708A0 (800 MHz, 2 cores) 
RAM1: 256 MiB

Edited by Shplad, 08 October 2024 - 06:25 PM.

I'm not using any of those features. I'm using FreshTomato, not the stock firmware.