[ale] need help allocating / limiting broadband bandwidth between users

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

Hi all,

I've got an interesting and frustrating problem here at home that I need 
help with.  My wife works at home using a Citrix connection.  Everything 
she does comes from a remote system.  I have several computers that I 
use here as well, some of which are periodically doing automated data 
transfers and backups, etc.  Periodically, she complains that her system 
is running so slow that it's unusable.  This is an intermittent 
problem.  Immediately after she mentioned it today, I connected to her 
wifi router and did a speed test.  I got .6 Mbps.  Typically, I get 
around 28 Mbps for downloads.  I switched her to my router and the 
problem went away.  Now, her system is blazing fast again.

The routers are configured as follows.  This may or may not work as a 
text diagram.

Old Setup

Ron's wifi router (a) --->\
                            Master wired router (c) ---> cable modem
Wife's wifi router (b) -->/

New Setup

Wife's wifi router (a) -->\
                            Master wired router (c) ---> cable modem
Ron's wifi router (b) --->/

Hopefully, if that diagram survives the email, you can see that she has 
a wifi router and I have one.  Both of those are connected to a master 
wired router that is connected to the cable modem which is connected to 
the internet.  Normally this works very well.  I like to keep her stuff 
and my stuff on separate networks.  You might think, from this 
description, that router (b) is failing.  And that is a possibility.  
I'm prepared to replace router (b) if I have to.  However, I'm not 
convinced.  I rebooted router (b) and did a speed test and it's back up 
in the 28 Mbps range again.

I'm wondering if router (c) is getting confused during times when both 
(a) and (b) are putting heavy demands on the link and trying to send / 
receive more data in aggregate than the link is capable of.  If it's a 
problem of bandwidth hogging by my stuff, I'd rather just curtail that 
and make sure that her stuff has at least, for example, 3 Mbps up / 6 
Mbps down at all times.  All the routers are NetGear equipment.  The 
wifi routers have QOS settings that I've tried to tweak in the past to 
address this type of problem.  I haven't had much success with that.  
The wired master router does not have QOS settings.  I have set up a 3 
Mbps upstream bandwidth limit on my router, but I don't have any option 
to limit downstream bandwidth.  My total upstream capacity is about 6 Mbps.

I need to stick with off the shelf equipment here.  I could replace the 
master router (c) if needed, or stick something in between my router and 
the master router to limit my maximum bandwidth if necessary.  I would 
be willing to reflash a router's firmware if necessary, but I have to 
have something that resets automatically in case of a power failure.  I 
don't really want to be running another pc just for this purpose.

Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

Sincerely,

Ron


-- 

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Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com