Is SQM relevant to my network setup?

[hugalafutro]

Hi,
My home network consists of an openwrt router which connects to zyxel 24 port managed switch to which all other wired clients connect. Wifi on router is disabled and is provided via mesh wifi system that's also connected to the zyxel switch.

For years I used cfosspeed on my windows host and it served me well, but the more linux / other non-windows boxes I add, the less effective it is as it only communicates between its windows clients, which is why I've set up sqm in hopes it would just shape the traffic on the router, but I'm not really sure how it all works exactly if I'm honest. I'm not really all that technical to properly understand sqm, I understand the theory of traffic shaping, but that's about it.

My question is: In this particular network setup do I still benefit from using sqm on the wan uplink, or am I better of using the qos features present on the switch, or both (router to shape the wan traffic, qos on switch to prioritize router + gaming computer ports)?

I've only recently switched from my web of unmanaged switches strewn across the household to a single switch so no idea what would work better.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Sparks]

Probably depends mainly on your internet bandwidth , anything above 500mb is a bit of a stretch for SQM on consumer router hardware (x86 is one possible solution there) .

Ultimately, you’ll probably need to just test out all the different combinations in your environment. Start with your router and your PC/laptop connected directly into it. I like https://www.dslreports.com/speedtest but you could use any Speedtest tool with a continuous ping running alongside it.

Once you have a baseline, progressively add in the other components, watching for any changes in bandwidth speed reducing , or increases in bufferbloat.