Technicolor TG582n & Multiasking

[#1]

Read through the instructions. For a customer to make a QoS rule, you have to have knowledge of the CLI. There are instructions to create a rule, but only using the expert interface that has not been enabled in plusnets revision of the firmware.
To create a rule you need to create an expression for the protocol/port of skype and then set the prescedence of the packets within this expression afterwards.
This isn't easy, and can be modified by Plusnet with a firmware upgrade?
Wouldn't it be in plusnets interest to introduce outbound QoS by default for an application like Skype? Similar to how they use QoS on downloads. I think upload in this case, for a popular application should be of priority.

[#2]

That is what I want to get Matt to have a go at doing.  I just need to make some time in his day for it

[#3]

I've just seen this thread... I'm not sure when I'll get around to doing this, I've never used this part of the router before and have little experience. I'll talk to Technicolor and get some background info.

[#4]

Quote from: Kelly

That is what I want to get Matt to have a go at doing.   I just need to make some time in his day for it

Brilliant! Thanks. Overall I want to stick with the Technicolor Router, its more reliable for network sharing and my extender than my old TP-Link.

[#5]

Quote from: Matt

I've just seen this thread... I'm not sure when I'll get around to doing this, I've never used this part of the router before and have little experience. I'll talk to Technicolor and get some background info.

Any luck?
Would be a great feature for everyone to be able to use QoS for outgoing traffic, especially since all ADSL customers have significantly less outbound than inbound traffic.

[#6]

This shows how to implement IPQOS on the TG852n.
http://npr.me.uk/ipqos.html
This places LAN IP's on high or low priority queues.
A brief look at the plusnet routers config file suggest it does set the priorities for different types of traffic eg VoIP, http, etc.
See the [ labelrule.ini ] section.
Strangely the fibre version of this router does not have any IPQOS queues configured while the adsl version does have these queues configured.
See the [ ipqos.ini ] section.
If you've got a fibre version let me know if you need any help adding these IPQOS queues.

[#7]

But how can I check I suitable rule is set? From using ipqos on my old modem/router it works not filtering by local ip but instead categorizing priority based upon ports. However this implementation may be different I'm guessing unless my Skype port is categorized correctly by default then it doesn't take effect.
I highly doubt the qos supports shaping based upon external sever addresses instead!
Oh and I'm using the standard modem/router. No fibre here sadly!
dick:quote

[#8]

AFAIK skype uses ports 80 and 443 outbound, the same as http and https. Don't see how you can make a port based QOS rule for skype without it also applying for web browsing / downloads -- defeats the object somewhat.
If the skype server has a manageable number of IP addresses I suppose you could use that to identify skype traffic.
You could try the link in my previous post and put your phone in a high priority queue. If that works it may then be worth looking for a skype specific rule.

[#9]

According to my Wireshark captures, Skype is using it own configured port for outbound as well as inbound during a call. (>Tools>Options>Advanced>Connection) to get the port number.

[#10]

Skype only falls back to 80 or 443 if its default port (or port of your choice) is set.
So really, there should be a way to make its own rule, or even better, for plusnet to roll out firmware with the default port of skype recognised.

[#11]

Outbound ports:
All destination ports above 1024 (recommended)
or
Ports 80 and 443
You can configure a custom port for inbound.
https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA148/which-ports-need-to-be-open-to-use-skype-for-windows-desktop

Note:
My firewall restricts skype to outbound ports 80, 443, 60067 TCP and UDP.
Never had a problem with it on my technicolor router and 3.8mbps connection.
Can't help thinking your problems are caused by some other issue.

[#12]

Forwarding the port doesn't prioritise that traffic through that port is given a higher priority than a ftp, file or torrent upload.
Btw, the problem isn't just outbound, its inbound too. There is some kind corruption heard inside the call. The best I can describe this is robotic and high pitched. Similar to how you may have heard a game crash mid sound effect continuously repeating itself, but this only happens for a second or two (sometimes less) and in the midst of sentances.
If you haven't had the problem, have you properly tested it? Try uploading a video to youtube whilst in a call and ask if the other person in the call can hear you clearly (whilst the upload is taking all your upload bandwidth).
Try to download a file that is going to maximise your connection speed (such as multiple torrents and connections) and then see if you can continuously hear the other person clearly.
I never had this problem before plusnet and I'm convinced somewhere down the line there is something going wrong with how the technicolor router deals with the traffic and perhaps for inbound traffic, the way plusnets QoS is working. Perhaps it is only related to the way skype compress their calls (I think they use a complicated protocol compared to VOIP).
It is a constant annoyance to have this problem and it happens on my phone and on my computer the same, so I can't really see how the problem can be related to just me!
I have a case open, about this coupled with various other problems, but Plusnet have no answer for me yet. I even included a sample file!!
dick:quote

[#13]

Quote from: Dodgexander

Forwarding the port doesn't prioritise that traffic through that port is given a higher priority than a ftp, file or torrent upload.

No one said that it did! 
We were discussing writing a QOS rule for skype but saying it was not feasible to identify this traffic by it's port number.

[#14]

Oh sorry!
Well my ticket is still unanswered with plusnet. Last I heard is they are waiting to hear back from Technicolor regarding the QoS rule, but this will only help outbound traffic and won't help, or answer the problem I have with inbound also.
dick:quote

[#15]

Quote from: npr

Strangely the fibre version of this router does not have any IPQOS queues configured while the adsl version does have these queues configured. See the [ ipqos.ini ] section. If you've got a fibre version let me know if you need any help adding these IPQOS queues.

Not actually possible to configure IPQOS for plusnet's current fibre routers. This is because the 'connection' is a pppoe link to the Openreach fibre box, a tunneled virtual connection down the ethernet connection between the TG585n and the Openreach box, which the Openreach box translates into a tunneled virtual connection down the telephone wires to the DSLAM in the cabinet. (Which is then translated onwards down the fibre...)
Since the TG585n never directly interacts with the VDSL hardware connection, it has no way of identifying what the 'real' speed of the connection is to set up division of the bandwidth between queues. And QOS works on the principle of balancing out queues against knowledge of what bandwidth is available.
There are alternative routers that do pppoe, and you can connect them to your Openreach box instead and get a conncection, and some of them do QOS. But you'll then need to manually input what bandwidth the Openreach box actually gets, and since Openreach boxes have their access to that disconnected from the end-user, you'll have to guess. And as this can vary due to things like weather conditions, you'll end up having to keep referring to https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer_speed to find out approximately what it is. Not to mention that support will expect a connected TG585n if you ever have problems.
I'd say QOS shaping from our end of the copper is probably not workable until after Openreach allow providers direct connection VDSL modem routers to be placed on their network.