Buffer bloat is a major cause of high lag in networks caused by excess buffering of packets or information. Buffer bloat can also cause packet delay or jitter, as well as reduce your overall network speed. When a router is configured to use excessively large buffers (like HD video or several streaming devices), even very high-speed networks can become practically unusable for many interactive applications like voice over IP (VoIP), online gaming, and even ordinary web surfing.
For example, if you have a device or multiple devices like Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV Stick or smart TVs, they preload content in a buffer to show you your movie or TV show without interruption. It’s great that they can serve up that content immediately, but it contributes to buffer bloat. All of those devices add up and consume a little of your overall bandwidth until things start to slow down.
Anti-buffer bloat is designed to remedy this problem by reserving a percentage of your overall Internet bandwidth for interactive applications like VoIP and online gaming. This allows you to prioritize bandwidth for things like gaming traffic while preventing other apps like from stealing that bandwidth.
For more information about Nighthawk Pro Gaming and DumaOS features:
- NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming home page
- What are the features of DumaOS on Nighthawk Pro Gaming routers?