[SOLVED] Replacing ISP Modem

Charseza

Honorable
May 26, 2015
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I recently got a new isp, and they provided like an all in one router modem and its a Huwaei HG8145V5.

I would like to limit bandwidth to some users connected to the network but the isp provided modem doesn't have qos (correct me if im wrong but that is the thing that lets you limit their speed right)

So Im looking into buying this TP link AC1200 archer, and I just want to ask...

Do i put away the isp router and use this stand alone? Or Do i still need the isp one, and that the new router should connect to it via ethernet?

Please enlighten me
 
Solution
Depends why you get the dips.

QoS only function is to decide when there are multiple data packets to be sent which goes first. If you have not overloaded your connection there will be no queue and so there is no choice which to send first it is the only packet so it will be send as soon as it can. Using QoS on a connection that does not have overload pretty much does nothing but use up the CPU on your router to preform no function.

You can easily get slow downs because the server on the internet has some kind of contention for resources

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
You should be able to continue using the ISP provided modem router.

However there are two basic requirements: 1) that the ISP's Huwaei router's DHCP functions are disabled, and 2) that the TP Link Router is on the ISP's list of supported routers.

As for QoS that may only provide some basic level of "end user" controls. For the most part, you need to read the applicable router or router/modem User Guide/Manual to discover how much "control" is really there.

I found the following User Guide/ Manual (TP-Link website seemed to falter on me.):

https://fccid.io/TE7C54/Users-Manual/5-Users-Manual-4967670

QoS information and configuration options are presented on physically numbered Page 45.

However, you need to ensure that that is the correct manual applicable to your router model/version.

If not, you should be able t find the documentation at the TP-Link website.
 
Your problem is the "modem" is actually a router that has a fiber optic wan port. These are almost impossible to replace because of the fiber connection. The hardware itself is not real common and many times you need to know information to configure it that the ISP will not share.

But for what you want to do you can just leave the ISP router and work around some of the inconvenience it causes.

I am not sure if you can actually run it as a simple modem/bridge. You can just disable the wifi and pretend it is a modem. You might have to do more if you need port forwarding or to run server type functions.

After that you can just place your own router behind it and configure the QoS on the new router. So that is the short answer.



QoS is not as simple as they make it out though. First it depends on how much bandwidth you have to start with. There are issues you need to be concerned with no matter the size.

On a large connection say greater than 100mbps you really need to worry about the overhead of using the QoS to examine all the traffic. It takes quite a bit of CPU power to do this and this increases the cost of your router even if you do not need fancy wifi stuff. Even very high end routers have fairly limited cpu.
You really want to keep your QoS rules as minimal as you can that accomplishes what you want. The good news is the TPLINK routers are pretty easy to configure and on faster connections they work ok without worrying about all kinds of technical details to tune it.

On smaller connections say less than 50mbps but say higher than 5-10mbps you want to use a very special form of QoS. It has a couple different multiletter name but if you search for the term bufferbloat and QoS you will quickly find discussion of the software. In general you need a router that can run third party firmware
These systems are also pretty easy to configure without knowing huge amounts of stuff. They work best to favor game traffic. It does very poorly though if you are attempting to limit abusive traffic like torrent. Torrent is designed to get past most kinds of QoS limits

On very small connections it is extremely hard to get qos to work well and it takes pretty detailed knowledge of how QoS works to even attempt it. I suspect though this is not a concern of your because most fiber based systems are much faster.

In general I think the linksys ac1200 will not have enough cpu power but it all depends on your traffic and what you are trying to limit.
 

Charseza

Honorable
May 26, 2015
135
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@bill001g @Ralston18 thank you both so much for such thorough answers. But when I said enlighten me, I really meant enlighten me because honestly speaking i dont even know the difference between routers modems and switches. I have 0 clue about networking stuff, im only good on building computers and the such but when it comes to networking, damn I need some help.

As for the QOS, Im only running a 35mbps plan with my isp, its a good deal for me since I get 200 down, 100 up on Ookla, and actual download speeds go for up to 28mb/s. But sometimes it dips to the kbps lows, but mostly stuck on 1-3mb/s downloads.

Can you conclude that by using qos, with 5-6 mobiles connected to the wifi apart from my pc using the Lan, I wont get dips as far as kb/s??
 
All that matters is the total bandwidth being used by all devices not so much how they connect. Wifi can easily run 300mbps on many modern routers. So in theory a phone could use up all the bandwidth.

It is mostly theory there is very little need for huge bandwidth on a phone. It is not like you download some 20gigabyte game to the phone.

Your drops to low KBs maybe something else. I guess a good test would be to turn off the wifi radios and hook up your pc and see if you are experiencing issue when you are the only device connected. QoS can only fix problems related to a over used connection. If the connection is not fully used it likely is something else.
 

Charseza

Honorable
May 26, 2015
135
2
10,715
All that matters is the total bandwidth being used by all devices not so much how they connect. Wifi can easily run 300mbps on many modern routers. So in theory a phone could use up all the bandwidth.

It is mostly theory there is very little need for huge bandwidth on a phone. It is not like you download some 20gigabyte game to the phone.

Your drops to low KBs maybe something else. I guess a good test would be to turn off the wifi radios and hook up your pc and see if you are experiencing issue when you are the only device connected. QoS can only fix problems related to a over used connection. If the connection is not fully used it likely is something else.
So youre saying even If i get a qos capable router, it still wont fix my dips?
 
Depends why you get the dips.

QoS only function is to decide when there are multiple data packets to be sent which goes first. If you have not overloaded your connection there will be no queue and so there is no choice which to send first it is the only packet so it will be send as soon as it can. Using QoS on a connection that does not have overload pretty much does nothing but use up the CPU on your router to preform no function.

You can easily get slow downs because the server on the internet has some kind of contention for resources
 
Solution