GazGuzla

Tomato QoS differs from DD-WRT and other Router Firmware with QoS, with a “Rate” setting in addition to the standard “Limit”.

The “Rate” setting is a way to slow the packet transfer speed without effecting the total bandwidth for the Class. Setting a lower transfer Rate is a great way to manage Bandwidth fluctuation. Say for example your ran a speedtest and the Upload (Outbound) results were 2200kbps at 9:30am. A test at 2:00pm was only 1800kbps. If you had your Rata and Limit both set to 100% of of the 9:30am results, you will likely experience “Quality of Service” related issues, due to packet loss or corruption. On a VoIP phone, packet loss would be noticed as sound problems like echoes, static, dropped calls, can’t call, no rings or no sound. Setting the packet transfer Rate “slower” than the Bandwidth Limit allows you to compensate for fluctuation, while maintaining the higher Limit.

After months of tinkering with Rate and Limits, I found the settings below to have good results - a Lower Outbound Rate setting on a Comcast PowerBoost Broadband network where Upload Bandwidth fluctuates between 2400kbps weekday mornings, to 1400kbps some evenings and weekends. The VoIP (Skype) phone is part of the “highest” class, my PC High, gaming and everything else medium or less:

Note: Inbound is set to “none” in this example, meaning take whatever I can get, set no classes. I found no advantage for controlling Inbound packets other than fast web surfing for specific PC with my setup. The Rate is higher than the low end fluctuation, so there are times when the quality is not as good, but the trade off would be losing the high end bandwidth at optimal times, so its not perfect.

For information on Supported Routers, see the GazGuzla Tomato Compatible Router List, or 4+MB Master Router List