[Bloat] Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Re: Consumer CPE with Modern AQM?

Livingood, Jason
2026-02-17T16:36:08Z

> One of the pieces of leverage that a major ISP such as Comcast has is its recommended hardware list, not just the hardware that you guys distribute directly.

Sure - and we did that for all the COAM cable modems years ago. We now have a subset of end users that run their own router, which they have purchased. Some of these are shockingly old. I’m working on an outreach campaign to those users now - with the idea being to offer advice on how to improve latency by replacing device X with a new device from a list at some TBD URL.

The motivation for an ISP is clear - we see complaints from users with these old routers saying service is poor. But their DOCSIS or EPON connection quality is great. The root cause is the router and/or AP - so working to help them understand and address this.

> If Comcast and other major ISP's made it clear to the vendors of home routers and other cpe equipment that they would be penalized explicitly if they failed Wi-Fi bufferbloat or other buffer bloat testing, that is probably the fastest way to get the Wi-Fi side of these CPE devices fixed, or at least reduced to a semi-manageable level.

We already do this for cable modems that connect to and authenticate on the network. AQM is build into every D3.1 CM that ships today - whether we provide it or a user buys it in retail.

But we do not have a way to qualify COAM routers and APs. But I suppose a company may ask how to get on the ‘suggested list’ of routers - in which case it is to implement AQM and/or other latency-reducing technologies. ;-)

JL