How To Split Broadband Bandwidth

[Lucrecio Houle]

Iam not aware of a direct method for equally distributing your bandwidth using only a router, but you can assign bandwidth priority for certain applications (web-browsers, bit torrent clients, etc) and that way make sure that you have enough bandwidth to surf.

Have a look at this article it will give some ideas on how to achieve priority based bandwidth management for applications by configuring the QoS ruleset of your router. The article does recommend a router too but you can also look for other routers with the same specifications as the router could be an outdated model.

Another option is using a firewall OS, you should have a look at PFsense and this article. It has very meager hardware requirements, or you could set it up as a virtual machine (if you don't want to invest in separate hardware for this project) in your own computer and that way all you will need to invest in will be a 1 or 2 extra network cards (depending on your setup) and a little bit of effort in setting it up on your end.

Pfsense (free and open source) is able to do this for you. You need a separate computer to run pfsense but you can now split your network into separate subnets and/or assign priorities.The traffic shaper may also work better for you than limiting the network to 4mbps.

I have a TP-LINK ADSL2+ Modem and want to know if there is a way to split the bandwidth allocation of WiFi connections and LAN connection with the ratio that I want?

e.g. 1/4 of bandwidth for WiFi and the rest for LAN

OS: Windows 7

Model: TD-W8901G

Edit: According to Abhioxic's suggestion I found QoS on 192.168.1.1 and it looks like below. I think I'm closer now, but what next?

There's a trick I can suggest.Make your computers IP static, either by reservation or by DynDNS.On ur router page ( 192.168.0.1 / 192.168.1.1 ) Search for QoS service.If ur router supports it, u can allocate bandwidth along varous IPs connected to ur network, or do The 1/4th of bandwidth stuff. Do a little research as u havent gave much informations.Dynamic DNS : www.dyndns.comQoS: _of_serviceEdit: It's very hard to figure out the QoS setup shown above, even the support is not answering it.However here's a link to the manual by TPLink , QoS info is given in it. Link: -link.in/resources/software/2008529201864.pdf

Ron Hranac wrote an excellent article for Broadband Library back in February 2020 ( understanding-band-splits-in-two-way-networks/) which details the history of the various splits available for HFC networks, from the perspective of the change to hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) network. This article looks at how band splits have been driven by broadband service needs.

A driver for more upstream broadband is the result of folks doing more at home. Upstream video is a key reason. Video requires more bits compared to just voice flows. A simple phone call uses under 100 kbps while a video call is nominally 1 Mbps, which is 10x more bits than a phone call. Video calls add up quickly across an entire service group.

Over the years there have been many different splits which recently have been standardized by the DOCSIS specifications as sub-split, mid-split and high-split. The accompanying table translates each split to the available broadband capacity using DOCSIS 3.1 technology.

It is easy to see that mid-split and high-split allocate more spectrum to the upstream, which means more upstream capacity and faster upstream speed tiers. Today in North America, sub-split is predominant; driven by broadband adoption and usage, several operators are operating mid-split plant and trials with high-split are underway. In Europe there are several operators already using high-split.

In 1997 when DOCSIS products became available there was a single upstream RF channel, and it could be as narrow as 200 kHz. That 200 kHz channel provided about 300 kbps of upstream capacity, which today that would not be enough to support even one Zoom call (wider bandwidth upstream channels were available). What existed back then were Internet bulletin boards intended for dial-up connections.

Speeds higher than dial-up were needed. It was in 1993 when America Online (AOL) started mailing CDs to homes trying to get people online to use their content. The web browser Netscape appeared in 1994. Microsoft offered Internet Explorer in 1995, which was the year CableLabs first investigated broadband. Google was founded in 1998. You could say that cable was paying attention to market trends and that DOCSIS technology showed up at the right time.

In the early versions of DOCSIS specifications (1.0, 1.1, and 2.0), the equipment could not use all the sub-split upstream spectrum. DOCSIS 1.0 and 1.1 equipment supported up to a single upstream 3.2 MHz channel. DOCSIS 2.0 doubled the width of that single upstream channel to 6.4 MHz, still not nearly enough to use up the sub-split return spectrum. There was no need at that time because the predominant applications were web surfing which used very little upstream, and simple text-based email.

But then a series of advancements took place which meant that more upstream was needed. In the early 2000s, Wi-Fi started to go mainstream. In 2002 the iMac first included Wi-Fi, and consumers started adopting wireless which meant that more than one computer in the home could use the broadband connection at the same time. YouTube launched in 2005, and now consumers wanted to upload videos (large files) to the Internet. In 2007 the iPhone was introduced and now phones had cameras, and consumers wanted to share their pictures and videos among family and friends.

And then it was off to the races; the adoption of consumer broadband was mainstream. In 2013 the DOCSIS 3.1 specification introduced high-split and new technology to allow even faster speeds with the available spectrum. DOCSIS 3.1 modems have the capability to use all the spectrum of a high-split return.

As the needs of consumer broadband have advanced over the last 20 years, so have the capabilities of DOCSIS technology. New splits were needed to support more upstream capacity for applications that consumers want to use, while also increasing downstream speeds. The cable broadband network has not only kept up with consumer needs, in fact, cable broadband has facilitated the launch of popular consumer applications.

Doug Jones is a principal architect at CableLabs and is responsible for developing the DOCSIS 4.0 certification program. With 28 years in cable as both an operator and a supplier, Doug has been focused on driving fiber deeper into the HFC network, the evolution of DOCSIS technology, and FTTH and PON technologies. Doug participates in several SCTE standards working groups including the SCTE Rocky Mountain Chapter.

Copyright 2023 Lundwall Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Broadband Library is published quarterly and distributed to members of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers in the U.S. CPM # 40065056 Printed in U.S.A.

The following figure shows several options available for band splits on the cable broadband network, allowing various mixes of upstream and downstream bandwidth depending on the needs of consumers. Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) designates separate bands for upstream and downstream traffic.

Band splits determine how much bandwidth is dedicated to downstream and upstream channels. Downstream traffic is usually transmitted on a high-band frequency range, whereas the lower band is dedicated to upstream traffic. Two-way amplifiers are used to amplify signals in both directions. These amplifiers have something called diplex filters to separate downstream and upstream frequencies to prevent interference.

Not all band splits are created equal: In North America, there are sub-splits, mid-splits and high-splits, and Europe has its own band split. This situation has to do with how the operator divides the available bandwidth pipe between downstream and upstream traffic.

Although sub-splits are still prevalent in North America today, mid-split and high-split bands require an upgrade. In a sub-split, a spectrum range of 5 MHz to 42 MHz is used for upstream traffic and 54 MHz to 1.2 GHz or 1.8 GHz is for downstream traffic. In a mid-split scenario, 5 MHz to 85 MHz is dedicated for upstream and above 108 MHz for downstream. And high-split extends the upstream range to 204 MHz while reserving 258 MHz and higher frequencies for downstream.

If we go back to the early pre-internet days, information on cable networks traveled one way, delivering analog TV signals to millions of homes over coaxial cable, with no data traveling back from the consumer to the hub. Eventually, as consumer needs evolved, so did the industry, and networks began to send signals both ways, to and from the consumer, opening doors to cable broadband Internet, video chatting and much, much more.

As noted by the company, the platform's high-split support increases the upstream capacity on DOCSIS 3.1 networks, enabling cable operators to deliver faster speeds and meet consumer demand for increased upstream bandwidth.

While many North American networks have an upstream spectrum range of 5 MHz to 42 MHz or 85 MHz, high-split increases the range to 204 MHz. With this increase in usable spectrum, cable operators can deliver Gigabit upstream speeds over their HFC networks.

Significantly, Hitron products feature a software switchable return path that enables operators to remotely change between 5-85 MHz and 5-204 MHz at any time. As a result, broadband providers can seamlessly upgrade customers to more lucrative higher tier upstream speeds without changing hardware or sending out a technician.

With all the talk about WiFi routers, the need for a quality modem can sometimes get overlooked, yet modems are still an integral component used for getting online. As with routers, a better modem, or cable modem router, will improve connection speeds and reliability, allowing your whole family to enjoy unprecedented download speeds up to 2.5Gbps and faster upload speeds up to 1Gbps.

3a8082e126