Flashing OpenWrt on my Archer C60 v2 for Competitive Gaming Stability?

[darKz_here]

Hey Everyone, after hearing about this badass OpenSourced Firmware. I'm interested on flashing my TP-Link Archer C60 V2 with OpenWRT just because of the newer and a lot better SQM algorithms like fq_codel and cake and a better stability than it's factory TP-LINK Firmware. My internet speeds are 35 Mbps Down and 5 Up but lately not sure if my QoS in the router probably kind of bugged the upload speeds to be lower that zero basically like 0.20-0.40 from 4 or 5 PM to 7 AM in the morning then it gets fixed then it does again the same thing after 4 or 5 PM. I'm not sure yet if it could be the ISP or the QoS from the router interfering with the speeds, I did reset the router even the ISP modem and called them but they said that they will send a team to check about my issues. I have also tried my neighbor wireless which they have the same Internet Service Provider and they had the same issue unknowingly on the upload slowed down speed. I'm not yet sure but after messing with QoS of my router it kind of seems to be "bricking" the Internet Upload speeds. I wouldn't be bothered of such low speed honestly but the lower and unstable upload speed makes my keyboard inputs on competitive gaming bugged which looks like ghosting but the buttons are pressed it just doesn't register them which I think it should be from Upload speed issue. So I want to flash the OpenWRT the most reliable version for my Archer C60 V2 without bricking it, also I want to be guaranteed that it can fully revert back on it's stock firmware without causing any issues with it's booting or it's own router's partition in the same way as flashing an android phone and leaving any traces of customization the firmware since my router is new and is the only one I have in my house.

My router specifications:

TP-LINK Archer C60 V2 - https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/TP-LINK_Archer_C60_v2.0

Official TP-Link Archer C60 V2 website - https://www.tp-link.com/uk/support/download/archer-c60/v2/

OEM Homepage: https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/wifi-router/archer-c60/

OpenWRT compatible version of my router - https://openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/tp-link/tp-link_archer_c60_v2

P.s: Don't get me wrong, the router is working just fine and the bufferbloat doesn't really affect any other program or browsing too noticeably that will ruin your experience expect of that little uploading speed problem which could even be caused by my ISP which is ridiculous the way it happens, would rather have it at night that in the morning since I'm not home almost half of the day, so I would like my internet connection to be stable in the evening. I just want to make it to the perfection for my competitive gaming experience due to those newer SQM algorithms and newer firmware.

Also as I can see it looks like the CPU and RAM of my router is just not capable of maintaining the bufferbloat in the most optimized way or it is either the old QoS algorithms are not reliable and efficient enough or "smart" to make it easier for the CPU and RAM to handle this management of my Internet so I can feel like the CPU and RAM kind of throttles giving me spikes and jitters when I limit my bandwidth to a stable value. If needed and it is worth it buying an EdgeRouterX, then I'll buy an EdgeRouterX SFP since my last ISP upgrade will be on a FIBER Network when it comes available on my region..

[mk24]

If your uplink really slows to 0.2 Mbps (presumably also with high unloaded pings, since it's likely a bad layer 1 connection), there's nothing SQM can help.

Log into your modem and check the signal levels. This applies to cable or DSL. What type of connection do you have?

The C60 has enough CPU for a 35 Mb link. Everything related to gaming should be wired since wifi inherently adds several ms of ping and is subject to interference.

[darKz_here]

Then I guess it is the ISP itself or my area (street) that has this problem, not sure if the others on my city have the same problem but I've asked some people of different cities with the same ISP but someone said he had upload to 0.00Mbps which it is technically an error but he wasn't awared of, someone else said he had it just fine but didn't sent a screenshot, the others who had other ISPs had it just fine even seen it on their screenshots they basically had no jitters nor packet drops as I usually have 130-165ms jitter and 30.0 to 36.03% of packet drops when this problem occurs. So I guess it could just be my area, basically on my neighborhood who has the same ISP as me. I did a test on two of my neighbors, one has the same ISP, the other one has it different, also tested even mine with the same ISP as the first neighbor's one. Those are the LIVE results:

Neighbor 1 with the same ISP as me (Artmotion): https://www.speedtest.net/result/10436860980 ; I got it tested with an stable enough WIFI range, so no worries about the signal quality( just focus on the upload speed and not on the download one since it can get up to 35Mbps but had little bit of limitation due to the WIFI range), that is below 0 basically on 0.14Mbps UP. PING: 48MS , Download: 14.35 (can go up to 35Mbps) and Upload: 0.50Mbps (could be limited to below 0 for some reason)

Neighbor 2 with different ISP (TelKos): https://www.speedtest.net/result/10436884463 ; This one I tested with a little bit more stable WIFI range but doesn't matter as he doesn't have the same problem as our Internet Provider on the Upload speed as you can see. PING: 24MS , Download: 37.57Mbps and Upload: 3.28Mbps ( It should usually be 5.00Mbps+ but he could be using it on certain things, also shouldn't be forgotten as it even the WIFI range could impact it but overall it seems just stable and as it should be for the standard plan of Upload Speed on my country; 5.00Mbps+)

My Network while being wired connected: https://www.speedtest.net/result/10436925272 ; Don't mind the Download speed since I set my router QoS to 20 Down and 5 UP to get better and stable BufferBloat while in the morning of 7 AM and on down to 4 or 5 PM it is stable 5.00Mpbs+, so some might even think that my QoS is limiting my Upload Speed but not, it's indeed not the QoS at this moment as I'm on yet on that "limitation time zone" that slows my upload down but it can sometime slow down to 20Mbps the Download Speed as well even without the QoS being enabled, there's my stable connection on 5 or 7 AM in the morning https://www.speedtest.net/result/10432233089 , yesterday it interestingly changed the "time limit zones" to different ones so I got it stable from 5 AM while usually I get it on 7AM, this problem started since 2 weeks or let's say I noticed it now could be even happening for months but wasn't too noticeable on normal browsing or watching something).

As for the SQM, I'm not trying to use the SQM to fix my Slow Upload Speed problem but contrariwise fixing the BufferBloat of my router when I get stable connection on both speeds, that they probably are really old and not optimized algorithms of my Router's QoS is not able to maintain a good latency on BufferBloat on my network. But I wanna try out the OpenWRT fq_codel and cake algorithms since they are known to be a lot more better and decent than the old ones that typical Stock Firmwares of most routers provide today.

Should have mentioned that. I have Coaxial Cable Network Connection and this is the connection signal levels of my Technicolor ISP modem.

I actually meant about maintaining the BufferBloat and not the speed overall since about that the Router is working just fine and have never occurred any buffers on YouTube or somewhere else. The Router is just powerful enough to handle all those as I stated above but when it comes to precision of maintaining the packets on Competitive Gaming which the NetCode of that game is too sensitive about those latencies, I'm not even blaming the router but would doubt the QoS stability and reliability, it is kind of high and I can even feel the latencies when competing.

I was never a fan of competing on WIFI Connection as I'm fully aware of it's disadvantages myself, so everything is wired on the RJ 45 ports.

[mk24]

Those signals look good, of course you have to check during a bad time. Checking when it is working properly won't show anything.

The concept of bufferbloat is that your network should not put data into the modem's buffer faster than it can be removed by sending it out on the cable. So upload speed has to be consistent for any SQM scheme to work well.

[darKz_here]

I am already on that bad time. I would wish it was working.

I completely understand the concept of BufferBloat. That's why I even mentioned when I had a stable network connection with the max of speed and low jitters and packet loss, I tried to limit the Speeds on QoS and found the sweet spot was Download 30Mbps and Upload was 5Mbps setting on the QoS while the actual speeds on the SpeedTest's was 26-27Mbps and 3.47-3.75Mbps Upload. I got once A grades on DSLReports for my Network and Bufferbloat but just once then it started to give me bad grades like C or D immediately after the other test on both, which I think is the Network Connection. The browsing felt snappier and just good enough as before but even better and faster, but when I hopped in on a Competitive Game which is too sensitive on such BufferBloat latencies, it started to kind of throttle and was significantly noticeable that something was "struggling" to maintain that "BufferBloat" on such low latencies, and the overall experience on that Competitive gaming was indeed really bad. So I just wanna try out OpenWRT and it's newest QSM algorithms and probably making the CPU and RAM more stable and reliable on SQM maintaining. But I wanna be sure I would be able to get everything at it's factory state after flashing it's own TP-LINK Stock Firmware.

This is my current SpeedTest from my Router's WIFI 5Ghz Connection after disabling completely the QoS and running on 100Mpbs Full Duplex (not auto, the other options doesn't make any effect whatsoever) with nothing running in the background since the Desktop SpeedTest doesn't show the jittering and packet losses;

MultiConnection:

SingleConnection:

The funny thing is it is stable only on 5 or 7 AM (mostly 7 AM) in the morning and down to 4-5 PM in the evening after that it is completely at this bad state with 165ms of jttering and 35.6% of packet loss on average. So indeed I have to sleep at that time obviously, also in the morning my power electricity isn't that great which is even worse to play on that time if it wasn't for the sleep.

[darKz_here]

The Cycle started to kick in, it got better from 7 AM in the morning and now it will last down to 4 or 5 PM on evening then get unstable again with 165ms jitters and 30% packet drops. The connection became fully stable with 1 to 2ms jitter and 0,0% packet losses on both Multi and Single Connection in SpeedTest No QoS Enabled with 100Mbps Full Duplex.

MultiConnection SpeedTest:

SingleConnection SpeedTest:

Anyways, I know that this is indeed the ISP Layer 1 Connection Problem but the main question is about flashing OpenWRT on my TP-Link Archer C60 V2 router. I'm not yet sure if I should flash it and have it 100% guaranteed that I can recover my stock firmware at it's original version and settings without having any problems then since my router is the only one I have in my house, so I indeed don't want to brick it and have problems after changing firmwares to it's stock ones if anything goes wrong.

[Hegabo]

@darKz_here

PM. I'm not sure yet if it could be the ISP or the QoS from the router interfering with the speeds, I did reset the router

You can just disable QoS if you want to see how the speed is without it (or just plug in a different router or connect to the modem directly).

[darKz_here]

It's the same, I even get more prolonged delays now especially on competitive gaming. it does repeat the same cycle no matter what; it works from 6-7 AM in the morning till 4-5 PM in the evening. I get stable jitters (1-2ms) and 0,0% Packet Drops on good time while from 5 PM in the evening it gets completely worse the upload speed goes 0.20-40Mbps with high 'bufferbloat' spikes, 165ms jitters and 30-32,6% Packet Drops.

I indeed did tried several times having it connected directly to the modem even with different ethernet cables but no effect at all since it all showed the same.

[Hegabo]

@darKz_here

it works from 6-7 AM in the morning till 4-5 PM in the evening

Well, then does seem like some aggressive QoS by ISP gone wrong, or otherwise something environmental worth the line that makes it work during the day only.

[darKz_here]

Could it even be my ISP secretly throttling the Upload Speed (even Download Speed sometimes but not in a such considerable amount, but let's say on half of the speed or less out of 35Mbps) of all their clients bandwidth to ease their customers network congestion during peak hours? Does this mean the ISP is kind of dissapointing their customers right now? Most of the people don't even notice this problem here, this ISP used to be the best with the most reasonable for the price as for low pings/jitters ,speed, stability and reliability. It's 2021 and yet ISPs do throttle their customers speeds like this? It's not even a big country here, not even a big city where I live at the first place. If this is true, this would dissapointing by a lot. Especially for their reputation if someone exposes them up. They just didn't used to be like this. I noticed this whole year something wasn't right since the problem was variable and always blamed my own old PC but recently after buying a new PC I focused onto it more and it was too noticable especially on competitive gaming. First thing I would wanna do is to call them out to come over and inspect the problem for any possible bad wirring connection on my house and neighborhood before any conclusion, then I would want to try the OpenWRT firmware and it's new QSM Algorithms.

[Hegabo]

I don't really wish to speculate. But I imagine ISP foul plays would (if intentional) typically would occur at the download side. The numbers you mentioned for upload seems incredibly low, and I don't imagine an ISP would want to set it to that, even if they took more consumers than they can handle. So my best guess is that they made a mistake or the is something wrong with the line, possibly affected by temperature or so

[darKz_here]

Hopefully so, as they were the only ones who were real in this business. But things can change, especially the moneys the way it can change people. But I hope they will stay like that forever. And I highly hope they will fix this issue, since right now I'm having fully stable network it is even noticeable how smooth and stable and reliable it is right now. I guess I have to talk with the owner of their ISP, so I might give them some clue about this problem. Anyways thanks to everyone here for their will to help.

[mk24]

Cable service will slow down when everyone uses it heavily. The bandwidth on the cable is shared by many modems at a neighborhood or even larger size area connected to one CMTS box.

[darKz_here]

Live. Not just that they even just got the prices up after 2 years of being the cheapest, fastest and the most reliable ISP for the price. But they just confirmed it by raising the prices right in the pandemic state where the financial state here is completely fucked up. And looks like things did indeed change.

https://www.speedtest.net/result/10460610899 (it's been running for 4 days without QoS, what I've noticed is it got even worse, there's times while playing I stuck for like 3-5 seconds like the whole game freezes up (not hardware related). But I'll let it like that one more day and see if things change. I guess I got to put the QoS back again. (the ISP is not from Serbia but they might partnered somewhat with them that shows theirs servers in the SpeedTest and even the IP's sometime do show Serbian locations but should be the "partnering thing" in their network or who knows).

P.s: It does it always in that cycle time, exactly at 4 or 5 PM in the evening right up to 7 AM in the morning. If this isn't intentionally then I don't know what is. On the contrary they should change the cycle time while it should be from 4-5 PM in the evening to 7 AM in the mornig with fully stable speed since there's no single way it could be used heavingly during that period of time since most of people sleep on that time and indeed it shouldn't be like that. it's just beyond stupidness as it ruins my whole experience on competitive gaming which they ain't even aware that people could be needing that stable and decent upload speed without high jitters and packet losses.