WMM - What's really the side affect for turning this off?

[rdonnelly333]

I have a Netgear R7900P router.

I couldn't figure out why I was getting lag every so often while gaming. It got to a point last night when it was happening every 30-60 seconds. My bandwidth is 400mbps. No one else was on the network. My speed tests came in at 350-400mbps. I tested both connected to modem directly, connected to wireless router directly, and over 5g wireless. There was no lag when connected directly to modem and router. However, over wireless I was getting a lag spike every 30-60 seconds.

I did some research and found some articles that said to turn off QoS and WMM. QoS has been off since it's not necessary for speeds above 300mbps. WMM was turned on. So, I turned off WMM and walah! The lag spikes are gone. Speed tests are the same, maybe slightly faster. What I don't understand is while doing research I also read that turning off WMM bascially turns your wi-fi into "g" mode meaning (54 Mbps). I am definetly NOT getting "g" speeds with WMM off. Speed tests were still 350-400. So what's the deal with WMM? Did something change recently where WMM being off doesn't slow your speeds? Or am I misinterpreting something?

 

[kanewolf]

Here is an (old) article on WMM -- https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-features/30833-does-wi-fi-multimedia-wmm-really-do-anything-part-1 It is also a form of QOS.

 

[rdonnelly333]

I understand the purpose of it. Just not sure it's necessary for me and confused by other posts saying it will slow your speeds with it off. With the bandwidth I have I don't think I am concerned about any form of QoS.

 

[bill001g]

It is not related to your internet bandwidth it is only used on the wifi network. I can't see it having any affect ether way. It is a pretty useless feature since the main problems are the end devices transmitting over the top of each other and interference from outside wifi sources.

In theory more important traffic would be sent first when the router has multiple things to send out on the wifi. It only works on data being sent from the router to the end stations. Problem is all the traffic must have packet markings and packet marking is not supported over the internet.

I can see only a very limited use for some rather unusual installation. For your average home user it is pretty much a useless feature.

Still like most QoS it does nothing if there are no data queues and if all data has the same marking...which it does for you common install...all data is in the same queue anyway.

 

[Peter Martin]

i think you have latency issues on the pc. I was pointed to this on the forum

http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

and it already helped me solve an issue on one pc

 

[rdonnelly333]

I'll take a look at that but I tested two different computers connected to the wi-fi and they both had the latency at the same time. The pattern was on point. About every 30-45 seconds pings would shoot up for 2 seconds, then back down to normal.

 

[Peter Martin]

cable modem/router issues no doubt

 

[rdonnelly333]

Tested cable modem. Even got a new one. That is fine. If anything it's the router but not 100% sold on there being an issue there. So far I am gathering QoS and WMM are useless for my situation. Turning off WMM has fixed my issue for now.