topic Re: L4S & SQM for online gaming in Full Fibre

L4S & SQM for online gaming

Laconic — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 11:33:58 GMT

I'm on full fibre, 1000 down and 100 up currently using the HH2 router.

A couple of questions related to now using online gaming (specifically GeForce Now) in the house:

1. Is Plusnet planning to support L4S? I see EE is but I dont know if this means Plusnet will also get it (as I think Plusnet = BT and BT = EE now?).

2. Apparently routers with SQM can help with blufferbloat which can cause issues with online gaming. If I was to get a router that supports SQM is it as simple as swapping out the HH2 router, plugging the new one into the ONT, doing the PPPOE logging in thing with my plusnet username and password and then turning on SQM in the new router? ie Plusnet fibre supports SQM?

I appreciate ethernet would be the best method here but is not possible.

Re: L4S & SQM for online gaming

Dan_the_Van — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 12:43:32 GMT

@Laconic

1) I can not answer that question. @MisterW any thoughts?

2) The Hub two does not have any QoS or SQM settings so you would need to seek a 3rd party alternative. Either an off the shelf product or build your own hardware with openWRT or PFsense firmware. The easiest option would be a 3rd Party device.

Have you tested for bufferbloat? https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat or https://speed.cloudflare.com/

Should be performed on a wired connection to exclude and wireless limitations. I'd expect the Hub Two could be around Grade C with a following wind.

I have a TP-Link Archer AX53 with no SQM enabled, wired bufferbloat results are usually Grade A on Full Fibre 900.

Re: L4S & SQM for online gaming

Laconic — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 13:49:44 GMT

Thanks for the reply and suggestion. I'm getting grade A with the following numbers:

Unloaded 22ms

Download active +18ms

Upload active +0ms

I've run it a few times and the numbers are very consistent on different devices and on different locations in the house (near and far from HH2).

I'm unable to run the test over ethernet sadly.

Perhaps I don't need to bother with SQM/QoS? My network isn't ever especially busy.

Re: L4S & SQM for online gaming

Dan_the_Van — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 13:59:55 GMT

I wouldn't buy anything unless required, Grade A is good for a Hub two, it does suffer from bufferbloat on slower connections.

Mine was Grade D with Part Fibre 75.

Re: L4S & SQM for online gaming

Laconic — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 14:07:32 GMT

Thanks - I think I'll look to upgrade anyway as now have a number of devices in the house that are 6e compatible.

Would love to hear from @MisterW about L4S as well.

Re: L4S & SQM for online gaming

Dan_the_Van — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 14:15:55 GMT

He's sometimes takes a back seat at the weekend, maybe a Sunday lunch time beer is in order for him.

He might know, however either of us can put the question to the business for an update.

Re: L4S & SQM for online gaming

MisterW — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 14:52:35 GMT

1) I can not answer that question. @MisterW any thoughts?

He's sometimes takes a back seat at the weekend, maybe a Sunday lunch time beer is in order for him.

He's actually on holiday but since its raining...

L4S is not something I've heard of but a quick google says

L4S, which stands for Low Latency, Low Loss, Scalable Throughput, It seems its more applicable to mobile networks, which makes sense and would explain why EE might be looking to implement it.

@Laconic like @Dan_the_Van I've never really found the need for SQM/QoS on a FF900 connection. To be able to use QoS at gigabit speeds you need a router with serious processing power. I would suggest at least quad core 2ghz or better.

Re: L4S & SQM for online gaming

Laconic — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 15:15:17 GMT

Thanks for the reply! Enjoy your holiday.

They’re also doing it for their fibre as well. It’s meant to be especially helpful for things like online gaming.