226

Feature Request: QoS

Hi There, I would like to see two new features added to the app for managing my wifi network.  The first is just device usage so when I go in and see my devices listed can you show and track how much data each device is utilizing and report back that on the app?

Second is there any plan for adding device prioritization where I could give a certain device higher speeds for a designated amount of time?  So say give the XBOX top priority for the next hour or see a device and even turn down the bandwidth it might be using?

Two features that would greatly enhance an already awesome WiFi solution!

141 replies

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    • davethenerd
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I think, eero should automatically detect when the WAN interface is congested

    While I completely agree with the sentiment, the technology exists to not even have to worry about when to enable it. QoS can simply be enabled all the time, at least in terms of bufferbloat protection/prevention.

    Using fq_codel eero can (and, according to eero, gen 2 already does) manage bufferbloat quite well. FQ_codel is stellar at this, and really is the current best-in-class "general QoS" algorithm. I'm not exactly sure why it's not implemented in gen 1 hardware, but if it could be, that would be stellar. Regardless, gen 2 has this now, so perhaps this problem is solved?

      • davethenerd
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      mattv123 I did some digging, and talked with some folks at eero, and have confirmed that the information I initially received was incomplete... and led to an incorrect conclusion (on both the part of the eero folks with whom I was speaking and, of course, me 😉).

      eero does use fq_codel, but not on the WAN port, only for Wi-Fi and, specifically, only for airtime fairness. There is no shaping done on upstream traffic of any kind, at least not currently (and this was before v3.5 came out, so I suppose it's possible that has changed, but not likely).

      So we're back to wanting this as a feature request. So important.

      As a helpful hint (and the topic of an upcoming article of mine, probably next week): most BufferBloat is caused by the crappy queuing algorithms in cable modems. Turns out that CableLabs mandated a change to that for DOCSIS 3.1 modems and, indeed, those modems basically eliminate any upstream BufferBloat because of it. Here's the hint: that change is implemented modem-wide in D3.1 modems, including scenarios where just a DOCSIS 3.0 connection is used. So you could go and get a D3.1 modem, use it in D3.0 mode, and you'd still get the BufferBloat improvements/reductions. I've tested this here with great results.

      • mattv123
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      davethenerd Interesting!  OK, so does that mean that if eero implemented fq_codel on the WAN interface, then the issues with pre DOCSIS 3.1 crapy queuing should in theory be masked / mitigated (as the bandwidth management queuing is now happening on the router instead of the modem)?

      Or will the problem still happen regardless of any improvements made by eero?

      • davethenerd
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      mattv123 indeed, WAN QoS (fq_codel being the current best algorithm for that) would help mitigate this. But that’s done at the cost of *slightly* reducing one’s bandwidth. After all, the idea is to keep the upstream from hitting the limit of the modem and suffering the modem’s crummy queuing algorithm. But, obviously, that’s the only thing one can do with current Docsis 3.0 modems.

      The solution in D3.1 modems is much better, since you can take full advantage of your available bandwidth... and that especially matters if its variable.

      So, yes, eero should offer this, if possible (I don’t know if their CPUs can do it, for one). But those looking to eek out the best performance will get that with a DOCSIS 3.1 modem.

    • pflood
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Fine so long as some devices can be throttled.  That is important for some users.  

    • Christian
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    +100 to what Mattv123 suggests.  Really well thought out suggestion. 

     

    I agree that qos configuration for the consumer market is really terrible. This is a great opportunity for eero to change that and stand out as a leader in this area 😎

    • sschnath
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Another vote for QoS in Gen 1 please.

    • davethenerd
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I wrote a longer reply in the thread to my original comment, but TL;DR: neither gen1 nor gen2 eero supports any sort of WAN-based QoS or BufferBloat protection, so we're back to voting for this for the entire product line.

    • DanB4me
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I have gen 1 Eeros runnng behind both a Windstream bonded DSL router and an IQrouter handling BufferBloat. As you can see, the IQrouter does a great job with BufferBlloat. 

      • sschnath
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      DanB4me Are you using bridge mode or double NAT?

      • DanB4me
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      sschnath My technical skills fall more towards "good at following directions" so I asked one of our local residents, Jonathan Foulkes to help me with the answer. Jonathan is the creator of the IQrouter I use for BufferBloat management and he guided me through the setup. Jonathan indicates that it is really a triple NAT. Both the Windstream router and his IQrouter are doing NAT. Because the Eero doc said I would lose features if set up in bridge mode, I left as NAT as well. I lose a bit of speed with Jonathan's router in the mix but his BufferBloat management more than makes up for it. This setup has been rock solid for me for many many months now. 

      • sschnath
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      DanB4me I had looked at the IQrouter before I pulled the trigger on eero because my primary concern at the time was improving my wireless coverage and I knew a single router was not going to help me with that. eero has certainly helped with that.

      I had my fingers crossed that eero might help with the buffer bloat I already knew that I had but no such luck. I know part of eero's selling point is simplicity but they're also selling quality of the internet experience and QoS is a big part of that so I'm surprised that there is no advanced QoS setting to allow it to be fine tuned when needed.

      I had also recently upgraded my cable modem but that also did nothing for the bloat. 

      I did recently increase my internet bandwidth to 60 Mb down but still only getting 5 Mb up. I hoped I might be able to get away with it as-is but my daughter was complaining about us having "the worst WiFi ever!" while I was backing up to a new cloud backup service. Rather disappointing to hear that after all the upgrades but she was right.

      I though that even if the backup service was monopolizing the upload path we might still be ok for streaming downloads but apparently not and now I'm going to have to buy the IQrouter too. Should have done that first before maxing out the eero system!

      Does anyone know what eero features are lost in bridge mode? Sounds like either bridge mode or double (triple) NAT will work but I would think bridge mode might be a little faster?

    • memis
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I would like to see QOS implementation too since I am not very pleased by euro's management in my low bandwidth connection. I would like to be able to prioritize streaming and web browsing over all the other. Hope it will be implemented in the near future.

    • harambur
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Another vote for QOS since I depend on Google voice for all my calls.  Also for wireless calling on my TMobile cell phone.

     

    Does anyone know if I setup the T-Mobile wireless modem that is optimized for wireless calling will it interfere with eero? Was hoping to avoid another device on my network but I need solid connection for my conference calls.

    Note it's been more than a year since this was requested.

      • harambur
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      harambur sorry, meant wireless router.

    • Craig.1
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I've noticed all devices latencies shoot up when one device is streaming. While this one device is not remotely saturating the bandwidth, it's causing mega-latency issues across the network. the QoS feature should allow me to prioritize devices I'd like to not be affected by this type of traffic. 

    • tstrand
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    EXCELLENT!

    My bufferbloat rating from dslreports went from "D" to "A" on a Comcast cable connection.

    • Yufasa
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Now this is what I am talking about! Very nicely done guys (the engineers for your work and Eero for listening) my network feels faster already 

    • All out of bubblegum.
    • Daniel_Basse
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I read the article on the latest SQM release.  That's great, thank you!   However, we'd still appreciate improved visibility and transparency to pinpoint bandwidth hogs and throttle them on the fly, or prioritize traffic for key devices when needed, or shape traffic rules to fit our regular usage patterns.
    We all love automated magic, but what geeks really need is better feedback and control of our networks.  Thank you.

    • Craig.1
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Since the SQM update I have noticed far more balance on the network while multiple devices are demanding bandwidth. At first I was a little disappointed at the lack of custom control but with how well it manages automatically it just saves time and headaches. Brilliantly executed. 

    👏

    • Dewroc
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    This thread seems silent. I wanted to kick it back to life. I’d still love to see prioritization. Possibly by profile. Then users could create tiers out of their profiles and prioritize the most critical devices via the “tier one“ group. 

    • Ericrivard
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Definitely QoS support and the ability to give specific devices priority (upload and download) over any other device. I work from home a lot and have a voip phone and use video conferencing a lot. Would love to ensure my voip phone and conference device always have priority. Sometimes my voice gets choppy when other devices are streaming or downloading on my network. 

    • Aristotle16
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    SQM has not handled the recent work+study from home bandwidth demands well at all in my home. Our MSFT Teams and Zoom calls were all suffering, especially on the upload side, as it competes with Dropbox/GDocs/OneDrive real-time collaboration, not to mention the kids streaming content like crazy. I had to get a different router (non-mesh) with manual QoS and it's a night and day difference. Whereas before, on my eero Pro + 2 Beacons, my voice would constantly cut off to other meeting participants and my video would not work, I can now reliably work in MSFT Teams with full audio+video+content sharing (while everyone else in the house does the same) plus have Spotify and Apple TV running without any issues. I went with a TP-Link Archer router and so far the only downside has been loss of range in the house, which I now fully appreciate being a benefit of the eero. So please, please, please let us manually prioritize traffic somehow.  This work+study from home scenario might be here to stay longer than most imagine and whatever companies can deliver the tools to facilitate this will be winners, just look at Zoom (i'll ignore their security issues).  

    • yirenng
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    New to Eero. I’m surprised there is no QoS that allows one to prioritize a device or profile. SQM is nice but not a replacement. Is such QOS patented by a competitor? This could be a dealbreaker...

    • yirenng
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Here is the use case. Covid home isolation. 2 parents and 2 kids on 4 zoom calls. How can SQM know that today it should prioritize Mom’s important zoom presentation? Is there a way to accomplish this with Eero? 

    • maggiegrigs
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Jeff C. I read a reply you gave that said you love real-world examples (sorry if you regret that lol) yirenng and I have the same problem.

    I have two computers pulling a lot of bandwidth while I'm working. One computer is a continuous Zoom feed so all of us coworkers can be "in the room together." It's a necessity for the job for us to be able to call things out and for me to be able to see the video that's being streamed back to me.

    My other computer is where I'm actually doing my work, which is download- and upload-heavy. I need my main work computer to take major priority at all times, even if I lose some quality on the Zoom temporarily. I have 1G internet and looked at the Zoom computer's usage vs my work computer and that Zoom computer is really sucking up all the bandwidth. I've done my best to minimize the quality as much as I can. Also, I can't run the Zoom on my main work computer because I'm already at my limit what it can handle.

    I know that's not what this forum is for, but I am open to any and all advice if there's another way I can accomplish the same goal.

    I really do appreciate the idea of the Smart Queue Management when I'm not working, but if I could just wave a wand and have exactly what I wanted (we call it fantasia at my job), I could turn on and off the priority device mode.

    My ISP, WOW! provided the eero mesh system and the positive change in my ability to have Wifi throughout the house is phenomenal!

Content aside

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